Volume VI Part 50 (1/2)
Monsieur Walter could not get over it, and watched Du Roy with startling eyes, thinking: ”Hang it, here is a fellow to be looked after”
George went on: ”I am now free I have some money I shall offer myself as a candidate at the October elections for my native place, where I am well known I could not take a position or make myself respected with that woht ed and ensnared ah, and added: ”It was poor Forestier as cuckold, a cuckold without i and tranquil Now I am free froet on” He had seated hi aloud, ”I shall get on”
And Daddy Walter, still looking at hi pushed up on his forehead, said to hie rose ”I a to write the article It must be done discreetly But you knoill be terrible for the ain The _Vie Francaise_ has no longer any interest to spare him”
The old fellow hesitated for a few moments, and then made up his mind
”Do so,” said he; ”so et into such messes”
XVII
Three ranted His wife had resumed the name of Forestier, and, as the Walters were to leave on the 15th of July for Trouville, it was decided that he and they should spend a day in the country together before they started A Thursday was selected, and they started at nine in thelandau with six places, drawn by four horses with postilions They were going to lunch at the Pavilion Henri-Quatre at Saint Germain Pretty-boy had asked to be the only man of the party, for he could not endure the presence of the Marquis de Cazolles But at the last moment it was decided that the Count de Latour-Yvelin should be called for on the way He had been told the day before
The carriage passed up the Avenue of the Cha trot, and then traversed the Bois de Boulogne It was splendid su lines across the blue sky that one fancied one could still see after they had passed
The three ladies occupied the back seat, the hters, and the men ith their backs to the horses, Walter between the two guests They crossed the Seine, skirted Mount Valerien, and gained Bougival in order to follow the river as far as Le Pecq
The Count de Latour-Yvelin, a azed tenderly at Rose They had been engaged for a e, as very pale, often looked at Susan, as pale too Their eyes often , to understand one another, to secretly exchange a thought, and then to flee one another Mada one Before starting back for Paris, George suggested a turn on the terrace They stopped at first to ad the parapet, and went into ecstasies over the far-stretching horizon The Seine at the foot of a long hill flowed towards Maisons-Lafitte like an iht, on the suainst the skyline its outline, reseed caterpillar, and Marly was lost beneath it in a thick cluster of trees On the ies could be seen dotted The pieces of water at Le Vesinet showed like clear spots ae of the little forest To the left, away in the distance, the pointed steeple of Sastrouville could be seen
Walter said: ”Such a panorama is not to be found anywhere in the world
There is not one to ently, to have a stroll and enjoy the prospect George and Susan remained behind As soon as they were a few paces off, he said to her in a low and restrained voice: ”Susan, I adore you I love you to madness”
She murmured: ”So do I you, Pretty-boy”
He went on: ”If I do not have you for my wife, I shall leave Paris and this country”
She replied: ”Ask Papa for esture of impatience ”No, I tell you for the twentieth time that is useless The door of your house would be closed to me I should be dismissed from the paper, and we should not be able even to see one another That is a pretty result, at which I am sure to arrive by a formal demand for you They have promised you to the Marquis de Cazolles They hope that you will end by saying 'yes,' and they are waiting for that”
She asked: ”What is to be done?”
He hesitated, glancing at her, sidelong fashi+on ”Do you love h to run a risk?”
She answered resolutely: ”Yes”
”A great risk?”
”Yes”
”The greatest of risks?”
”Yes”