Part 33 (2/2)
But, just as we were on the point of starting, the groom with the c.o.c.kade, whom we had seen following Colonel Jervis, trotted up, and, touching his hat, asked, ”I beg your pardon, gentlemen, but is any one of you the Count de Chavannes?”
”I am,” replied the Count; ”what do you want with me, sir?”
”From Colonel Jervis, sir,” replied the man, handing him a visiting card. ”The Colonel's compliments, Count, and he begs you will do him the favour, in case you hear anything more from that fellow, as you horsewhipped, Count, to let him know at Thomas's at once, for you must not treat him as a gentleman, no how, the Colonel says; and if so be he gives you any trouble, the Colonel can get his flint fixed--the Colonel can!”
”Thank you, my man,” replied the Count; ”give my compliments to your master, and I am much obliged for his interest. I shall do myself the honour of waiting on the Colonel to-morrow. Be so good as to tell him so.”
”I will, sir,” said the man; and rode away without another word.
”You see, Monsieur de Chatenoeuf, you must not dream of noticing the fellow as a gentleman,” said the Count.
”Impossible!” Lionel chimed in, almost in the same breath; and all the ladies followed suit with their absolute ”Impossible!”
A rapid drive brought us to the Judge's house at Kew, where we found dinner nearly ready, though not waiting: and the events of the day were the topic, and the Count the hero of the evening.
The next morning, we returned to town--Auguste and myself, I mean; Monsieur de Chavannes having driven up from Kew in his own cabriolet after dinner.
I called, according to my promise, and found Adele alone, and delighted to see me, and in the highest possible spirits. She was the happiest of women, she said; and Colonel Jervis was everything that she could wish-- the kindest, most affectionate of husbands; and all that she now desired, as she declared, was to see me established suitably.
”You had better let matters take their course, Adele,” I answered.
”Though not much of a fatalist, I believe that when a person's time is to come, it comes. It avails nothing to hurry--nothing to endeavour to r.e.t.a.r.d it. I shall fare, I doubt not, as my friends before me, dear Adele; and, if I can consult as well for myself as I seem to have done for my friends, I shall do very well. Caroline, by the way, is quite as happy as you declare yourself to be, and I doubt not are; for I like your Colonel amazingly.”
”I am delighted to hear it. He also is charmed with you. But who is the Count de Chavannes, of whom he is so full just now? He says he is the only Frenchman he ever saw worthy to be an Englishman--which, though _we_ may not exactly regard it as a compliment, he considers the greatest thing he can say in any one's favour. Who is this Count de Chavannes, Valerie?”
I told her, in reply, all that I knew, and that you know, gentle reader, about the Count de Chavannes.
”_Et puis?--Et puis_?” asked Adele, laughing.
”_Et puis_, nothing at all,” I answered.
”No secrets among friends, Valerie,” said Adele, looking me earnestly in the face; ”I had none with you, and you helped me with your advice. Be as frank, at least, with me, if you love me.”
”I do love you dearly, Adele; and I have no secrets. There is nothing concerning which to have a secret.”
”Nothing?--not this gay and gallant Count?”
”Not even he.”
”And you are not about to become Madame la Comtesse?”
”I am not, indeed.”
”Indeed--in very deed?”
”In very--very deed.”
”Well, I do not understand it. By what Jervis told me, I presumed it was a settled thing.”
<script>