Frederique Volume II Part 74

"Hallo! there's someone here. But I can't see anything; it's like being in the clouds! Well! I won't stay here! I don't propose to have people think that I've been in barracks!"

And Georgette walked quickly from the smoking room, followed a corridor, opened the first door she saw, and found herself in a charming salon, where she paused a moment.

"This is better! one can at least see something here, and it isn't reeking with tobacco smoke!"

Meanwhile, the young man, surprised by his visitor's abrupt exit, rose from his couch, laughing, and saying to himself:

"This is a most amusing creature! But, after all, I couldn't have seen her here. Where in the devil has she gone! Let's look for her, let's play hide-and-seek; it will remind me of my boyhood!"

Pa.s.sing from one room to another, the young dandy arrived at last in that one in which Mademoiselle Georgette had taken refuge; he discovered her seated in an easy-chair and turning the leaves of an alb.u.m that lay on a table near by. The girl's utter lack of ceremony, and her perfect ease of manner in that elegant salon, astonished Edward, who gazed at her for several seconds, then said:

"It seems to amuse you to look at caricatures?"

Georgette rose and courtesied gracefully, as she replied:

"I was waiting for you to come, monsieur, and I thought there was no harm in looking through this alb.u.m."

"No, indeed! you have done nothing wrong, except running away from my smoking room, as if it were a bear's den."

"Faith! monsieur, I am not sure that I should not prefer a bear's den to a room where the smoke is so thick that you can't see, and makes your eyes smart and your head ache, to say nothing of the insufferable odor!"

While Georgette was speaking, Edward examined her from head to foot; and his examination was evidently favorable to her, for he muttered from time to time:

"Very good, on my word! very seductive! That devil of a Lepinette didn't deceive me!"

Then the viscount began to walk around the girl, who was standing in the middle of the salon; and he smiled as he observed the little white petticoat that outlined her hips so perfectly; until at last, vexed by this inspection, she exclaimed:

"Haven't you nearly finished staring at me, monsieur?"

"Why, you are exceedingly pleasant to look at!"

"Is that why you sent for me?"

"Well! suppose it were? My valet had praised your face and figure, and I wanted to see if he told the truth."

"If I had known that, I certainly would not have come into your apartment. Adieu, monsieur!"

"One moment, I pray! What a hurry you're in, Mademoiselle Georgette!--for Georgette is your name, I believe?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"From what part of the country do you come?"

"From Bordeaux, monsieur."

"From the South. I'd have bet on it."

"Why so?"

"Because you seem to have a little head that is very quick to take offence."

"Oh! I have a very good head."

"Do you live alone upstairs?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"How many lovers have you, Mademoiselle Georgette?"

The girl stared at the viscount with an impertinent expression, and finally answered:

"I have none, monsieur."

"What! not one? not the least little bit of a one?"

"No, monsieur."

"That is very strange."

"What is there strange about it, monsieur? Do you think that a girl cannot remain virtuous, and live without a lover?"

"It seems to me to be very difficult, to say no more, in Paris."

"No more difficult in Paris than elsewhere; a woman always does just what she chooses."

"Oh! not always! There is the desire to please, the instinct of coquetry, which is inborn in woman. She wants to have pretty gowns, and she can't buy them with what she earns. She wants to wear silk dresses and cashmere shawls! You are fascinating in this deshabille; still, you wouldn't go to Mabille's in such a costume."

"Oh! I have no desire to go to Mabille's."

"You don't mean what you say."

"Yes, I do, monsieur."

"No lover! what a phenomenon! Surely, with that figure, that dainty foot, you must have made many conquests?"

"Oh, yes!"

"And you have never listened to any man?"

"Never."

"Then you must have a lover in your province--some secret pa.s.sion that fills your heart?"

"No, monsieur; I have no secret pa.s.sion."

"In that case, I say again, you are a phenomenon, and I am very proud to have such a rarity for a neighbor. Are you afraid of loving, pray?

afraid of love?"