Part 29 (1/2)

”I think I _have_ thought, and done, too, for myself, pretty well. You forget my twenty-five hundred _livres de rente_.”

”But twenty-five hundred _livres de rente_ are not a husband, Valerie.”

”I am not so sure about that. I daresay they would buy one at a pinch,”

I replied, laughing; ”at least, in our _poor_ country, where everyone you meet in society is not a millionaire, like those cold islanders.”

”I think you have grown almost as cold yourself, little sister, and as calculating.”

”To be sure I have,” I made answer; ”and to punish me, Monsieur Gironac swears that I shall die a sour old maid.”

”And what do you say?”

”An old maid very likely; but not a sour one, at all events. But, hark!

there is a carriage at the door--let me see who it is.”

And I jumped up, and running to the window, saw the Selwyn liveries, and Lionel, _en cavalier_, beside the carriage-window.

In a moment, the steps were let down; and Caroline speedily made her appearance, commissioned, as she said, by her mother-in-law, to take immediate possession both of myself and Auguste, and to bring us down straightway to Kew. Her husband, she said, would certainly have called on Monsieur de Chatenoeuf, and the Judge also, but that the courts being all in session, they were both so completely occupied, that, except after dinner, they had not an hour of the twenty-four disengaged.

She was commanded, moreover, she added, to invite Monsieur and Madame Gironac to dine at Kew on the following day. Me, moreover, and Auguste she was to carry down forthwith in the carriage.

”So now,” she said, ”get you gone, Valerie, and pack up as quickly as possible all that you require to make yourself beautiful for a week, at least.”

”And what do you say to all this, messieurs?” said I, laughingly, to my brother and Lionel; ”for there is much more necessity to consult you lords of the creation, as you call yourselves, who are in reality vainer by half, and care five times as much about your toilettes as we much calumniated women--what do you say about this summary packing up and taking flight--can it be accomplished?”

”It _is_ accomplished,” replied Lionel; ”in so far at least that I have promised on my own part, and for Monsieur Auguste de Chatenoeuf in the bargain, to overlook the preparation of his kit as well as my own, and to bring them down in a cabriolet, while you and your brother are rolling smoothly along in the Judge's venerable coach.”

”All that is arranged, then,” said I, ”and I will not detain you above ten minutes, during which time, I will send Madame Gironac to amuse you, and you can deliver your own message to her.”

And then, without waiting for any answer, I hurried upstairs to make my travelling toilette, and to put up things for a week's visit to my good friends.

In the meantime, Madame Gironac, who had always been a great favourite of Caroline's, had taken my place; and by the merriment which I could hear going on, I could not doubt that, on the whole, the party had been a gainer by the exchange.

Before I was quite ready to make my reappearance, there came a smart double knock at the door; and then, after a minute or two, I could distinguish a gentleman's footstep ascending the staircase to the dining-room.

My own room looked towards the back of the house, so that I had no means of seeing for myself who the new comer was; and I did not choose to ask any questions of the servant girl, who was bustling in and out of the door with trunks and travelling-cases innumerable.

So I finished my toilette with a heart that beat, I must confess, a little faster than usual, though I should certainly have been puzzled to explain why; put on my hat and shawl, perhaps a little coquettishly, and went down stairs, half impatient, half embarra.s.sed, yet fully persuaded in my own mind that I had not the least expectation of seeing anybody in particular.

I found all the company a.s.sembled round the luncheon-table when I entered, and busily engaged with the _cotelettes a la Maintenon_ and green peas. Among those present was Monsieur le Comte de Chavannes, whom I certainly did not expect to see.

He rose immediately from the table as I entered, and advanced a step or two to meet me, with a graceful inclination, and a few well-chosen words, to the intent that he had called in order to invite Monsieur de Chatenoeuf to go out and take a _promenade a cheval_ with him, in order to see the parks and the beauty of London.

All this was said with the utmost frankness, and in the most unaffected manner in the world; and a.s.suredly there was nothing either in the words, or in the manner in which they were uttered, which should have thrown me into a confusion of blushes, and rendered me for a moment almost incapable of answering him.

It must be remembered, however, that I had been rallied very much concerning him of late by Monsieur Gironac, and I could scarcely avoid perceiving that this exceeding a.s.siduity in doing the honours to Auguste could not but be attributed to some more potent cause than mere civility to a fellow-countryman.

My confusion produced, for a second or two, a slight similar embarra.s.sment in the Count, and the blood mounted highly to his forehead. Our eyes met, too, at the same instant; and though the encounter was but momentary, from that time a sort of secret consciousness was established between us.