The Maids of Paradise Part 3

She had opened again the book which she had been reading when I first noticed her. From my saddle I saw that it was Moliere. I examined her, in detail, from the tips of her small wooden shoes to the scarlet velvet-banded skirt, then slowly upward, noting the laced bodice of velvet, the bright hair under the b.u.t.terfly coiffe of Alsace, the delicate outline of nose and brow and throat. The ensemble was theatrical.

"Why do you tend turkeys?" I asked.

"Because it pleases me," she replied, raising her eyebrows in faint displeasure.

"For that same reason you read Monsieur Moliere?" I suggested.

"Doubtless, monsieur."

"Who are you?"

"Is a pa.s.sport required in France?" she replied, languidly.

"Are you what you pretend to be, an Alsatian turkey tender?"

"Parbleu! There are my turkeys, monsieur."

"Of course, and there is your peasant dress and there are your wooden shoes, and there also, mademoiselle, are your soft hands and your accented speech and your plays of Moliere."

"You are very wise for a hussar," she said.

"Perhaps," said I, "but I have asked you a question which remains parried."

She balanced the hazel rod across her shoulders with a faintly malicious smile.

"One might almost believe that you are not a hussar, but an officer of the Imperial Police," she said.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'ACROSS THAT MEADOW,' SAID THE YOUNG GIRL"]

"If you think that," said I, "you should answer my question the sooner--unless you come from La Trappe. Do you?"

"Sometimes."

"Oh! And what do you do at the Chateau de la Trappe?"

"I tend poultry--sometimes," she replied.

"And at other times?"

"I do other things, monsieur."

"What things?"

"What things? Mon Dieu, I read a little, as you perceive, monsieur."

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Oh, a mere n.o.body in such learned company," she said, shaking her head with a mock humility that annoyed me intensely.

"Very well," said I, conscious every moment of her pleasure in my discomfiture; "under the circ.u.mstances I am going to ask you to accept my escort to La Trappe; for I think you are Mademoiselle Elven, recently of the Odeon theatre."

At this her eyes widened and the smile on her face became less genuine. "Indeed, I shall not go with you," she said.

"I'm afraid I'll have to insist," said I.

She still balanced her hazel rod across her shoulders, a smile curving her mouth.

"Monsieur," she said, "do you ride through the world pressing every peasant girl you meet with such ardent entreaties? Truly, your fashion of wooing is not slow, but everybody knows that hussars are headlong gentlemen--'Nothing is sacred from a hussar,'" she hummed, deliberately, in a parody which made me writhe in my saddle.

"Mademoiselle," said I, taking off my forage-cap, "your ridicule is not the most disagreeable incident that I expect to meet with to-day.

I am attempting to do my duty, and I must ask you to do yours."

"By taking a walk with you, beau monsieur?"

"I'm afraid so."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then," said I, amiably, "I shall be obliged to set you on my horse." And I dismounted and went toward her.

"Set me on--on that horse?" she repeated, with a disturbed smile.

"Will you come on foot, then?"

"No, I will not!" she said, with a click of her teeth.

I looked at my watch--it lacked five minutes to one.

"In five minutes we are going to start," said I, cheerfully, and stood waiting, twisting the gilt hilt-ta.s.sels of my sabre with nervous fingers.

After a silence she said, very seriously, "Monsieur, would you dare use violence toward me?"

"Oh, I shall not be very violent," I replied, laughing. I held the opened watch in my hand so that she could see the dial if she chose.

"It is one o'clock," I said, closing the hunting-case with a snap.

She looked me steadily in the eyes.

"Will you come with me to La Trappe?"

She did not stir.

I stepped toward her; she gave me a breathless, defiant stare; then in an instant I caught her up and swung her high into my saddle, before either she or I knew exactly what had happened.

Fury flashed up in her eyes and was gone, leaving them almost blank blue. As for me, amazed at what I had done, I stood at her stirrup, breathing very fast, with jaws set and chin squared.

She was clever enough not to try to dismount, woman enough not to make an awkward struggle or do anything ungraceful. In her face I read an immense astonishment; fascination seemed to rivet her eyes on me, following my every movement as I shortened one stirrup for her, tightened the girths, and laid the bridle in her half-opened hand.