"Perhaps I am now too late.Madame distrusts me.I dare say she has her reasons.She went to you.You were to occupy me.I was young, I liked the society of women, I was gay and careless.She has decked me out as one would deck a monkey (and doubtless she calls me one behind my back), and has offered me a sword to play with.
"In America, when a man puts a sword in his hand, it is to kill somebody.Here--aye, all over the continent, for that matter--swords are baubles for young nobles, used to slash each other in love affairs.I respect and admire you; had I not done so, Ishould not have spoken.Countess, be frank with me, as frank as I have been with you; have I not guessed rightly?""Yes, Monsieur," her head bowed and her cheeks white."Yes, yes!
it was a miserable game.But I love Madame; I would sacrifice my pride and my heart for her, if need be.""I can believe that."
"And believe me when I say that the moment I saw you, I knew that my conduct was going to be detestable.But I had given my promise.A woman has but little to offer to her country; I have offered my pride, and I am a proud woman, Monsieur.I am ashamed.
I am glad that you spoke, for it was becoming unbearable to throw myself at a man whose heart I knew intuitively to be elsewhere." She raised her eyes, which were filled with a strange luster."Will you forgive me, Monsieur?""With all my heart.For now I know that we shall be friends.You will be relieved of an odious part; for you are too handsome not to have in keeping some other heart besides your own."He then began gaily to describe some of his humorous adventures, and continued in this vein till they arrived once more at the chateau.Sometimes the countess laughed, but he could see that her sprightliness was gone.When they came under the porte cochere he sprang from his horse and assisted her to dismount;and he did not relinquish her hand till he had given it a friendly pressure.She stood motionless on the steps, centered a look on him which he failed to interpret, then ran swiftly into the hall, thence to her room, the door of which she bolted.
"It would not be difficult," he mused, communing with the thought which had come to him."It would be something real, and not a chimera."He turned over the horses to the grooms, and went in search of Fitzgerald to inform him of his discovery; but the Englishman was nowhere to be found.Neither was Madame.Being thirsty, he proceeded to the dining hall.Fadette, the maid, was laying the silver.
"Ah, the `pantry maid,'" he thought."Good day, Fadette.""Does Monsieur wish for something?"
"A glass of water.Thanks!"
She retreated and kept her eyes lowered.
"Fadette, you are charming.Has any one ever told you that?""O, Monsieur!" blushing.
"Have they?" lessening the distance between them.
"Sometimes," faintly.She could not withstand his glance, so she retired a few more steps, only to find herself up with the wall.
With a laugh he sprang forward and caught her face between his hands and imprinted a kiss on her left cheek.Suddenly she wrenched herself loose, uttered a frightened cry and fled down the pantryway.
"What's the matter with the girl?" he muttered aloud."I wanted to ask her some questions.""Ask them of me, Monsieur," said a voice from the doorway.
Maurice wheeled.It was Madame, but her face expressed nothing.
He saw that he had been caught.The humor of the situation got the better of him, and he laughed.Madame ignored this unseemly hilarity.
"Monsieur, is this the way you return my kindness?""Permit me to apologize.As to your kindness, I have just discovered that it is of a most dangerous quality.""What do you mean?"
"I mean that I could not kiss Madame the countess with the same sense of security as I could the-- pantry maid," bowing.
Just now Madame's face expressed a good deal."Of what are you talking?" advancing a step.
"I had in mind what our friend, Colonel Beauvais, remarked in his recent dispatch: I know no discrimination.The fact is, I do.
I found the dispatch on the floor this morning.Allow me to return it to you.I have kept silent, Madame, because I did not know how to act.""You have dared--?" her lips pressed and her eyes thunderous.
"To read it? Aye.I am a prisoner; it was in self-defense.
Madame, you do me great honor.A countess! What consideration to the indiscriminate! Au revoir, then, till luncheon;" and he left the room, whistling--Voici le sabre de mon pere!
