The Young Seigneur / Or, Nation-Making

od nature and compliments, sat near her and rising with the rest grasped me by the hand as I entered. Grace too, smiling, held out her hand. As we went to t

d pressed my arm. I laughed. It was not so undelightful

adows on the trees and mansions, lit her cheek and Greek-knotted hair on the side next m

tone, built thirty years before for one of the wea

ed portico, under which our carriage drove, and at the other end lurked the shades of a massive gate-way with cobbled road leading through. The carriage-road past the fro

o which Chinic and myself were shown and saw the windows stacked with tropical plants, the colored candles set about the walls in silver sconces; the bijou paintings and the graceful carving of the

hat does P

uffice it he is a millionaire, and I get summoned to drink his wine. Some say he is in politics, others that he deals with stocks; for me

but it only complicated the charm of

y glow, with a plant-filled window behind her, opening out into the summer darkness. The music of

f dances on her card, and introducing me to a slender young girl, with pretty ey

I stood silent beside the pretty eyes and looked at the scene. The walls were a perfect gallery of sublime landscapes, and small pictures heavily set; four royal chandeliers threw illumination over a ma

that scene ther

said the pretty eyes. "Montr

from Quebec,

New Orleans," she

we formed parts of one continuous Empire, though now divided by many thou

s in the spring, and the young men dress up for three or four days and throw bon-bons and flower

rn them smiles more

t me in fresh-n

New Orleans sometime, during

will assure me the ladies of Ne

sir. But judge from my sis

just then of Montreal,-was truly a noble type

you think

ful.-And she i

an; nor a blonde. Above all she detested Paris, and declared she would never live there. While she was here she left her portrait with Mde. De Rheims as a souvenir. Soon a young officer in the army of France comes out and visits

eal is a dangerous place fo

at me with s

t dangerous to

, ma'm'

e ladies and gentlemen who stood and sat chatting about, and saw that everyone else too made an art of cha

gh in more harmony with her name. Her build was commanding, she was of dark complexion and hair, in manner demure, alluring with great power by the instrumentality of lustrous eyes, though secretly, I felt, like the tigress itself in cruelty to her victims

fond of socie

t. After all," shrugging her shoulders, "we can confess, you know, and when we are old it will suffice to repent and be dev

a number of y

d over my face as a

t for ever. But look at my aunt'

-rather it was to the manner in which they wore it, brushed up high and away from their foreheads, like dowagers of yore. Standing in a corner together ve

là-là-à-là," softly humming and nodding her

rupted a young man with a close-cut, very thick, very black b

bo

heims requests the pleas

my excuses, she smiled, saying wi

ving and surveying her subjects,-a woman of majestic presence. Nodding dismissal to the

End.' You have lived among the English; enter now into my society." Mde. Fée smiled, and Mde. de Rheims taking a look at me continued: "The stock is incomparable out of Franc

ad an opportunity to survey the whole concourse and continue my observations. Brought up as I had been for the last few years, I foun

There was the graceful compliment, the antithetic description, the witty repartee. One could say the poetical or sententious without being insulted by a stare. Some of the ladies were beautiful, some were not, but they had for the most part a quite ideal degree of grace and many of them a kind of di

young man is a d'Irumberry-the pale one, a Le Ber-that young girl's mother

diculous side, for I recognized some about whom my grandmother was used to make merry, such as the youth who could "trace his ancestry five ways to Charles the Fat," and the stout-built broth

He was small in figure, but his features were clearly cut, and the falling of the cheeks and deepening of lines produced by approach of age, had but imparted to them an increased, repose. His clear gaze and fine balance of expression denoted that remarkable

nducted her into the large conservatory

. "You are the conquerors, the millionaires; yours are the palaces, and the high and honor

Madame, I am

e? But you h

uld prefer to that of

del

title, and prefers to be called Mr. Mondelet, holding his judicial office in greater esteem.

s true,

noble philosophy, and its profession th

e once took our share as rulers of the world-the shadow of the mighty wings under which our ancestors reposed. We all have Roman, blood in our veins. Do you see that face there?-that is a Roman face.

g to her refined converse,-dealing with books like "Corinne," and "La Chaumière Indienne,"-La Fontaine, Molière, Montesquieu,-and especially interesting me in the society which move

nts, as I stood so listening,

eful; the swirl of mingled feelings impelled me to recognize how superior she was in other things, and to proudly set her off against each lovely or dignified or sprightly figure there; and when the music closed abruptly, we started laughing together for the c

k head with th

ic floated in. Every

t. "Let me live as my people

I tending yo

gly, my

said it, because I spoke

her advantage. She had in her young way, the dignity of Madame de Rheims; all the gracefulness of the Southern girl with the pretty eyes; beauty as striking, though not the same as that girl's

fe of fashionable vanity. My desire f

ng, and mechanically looking aro

rrangement inviting, Ch

n place in each of the

d at them agai

is th

we are in,

nly-upon the Venus head, and could see a crimson bl

you give me more of your evening a

pt for you especially; I wish they were longer. But I a