The Visits of Elizabeth Part 6

Heloise and Victorine have just been here. Heloise even has got an ugly dress on, and Victorine has scrubbed her face with soap--I suppose to get that greasy look off--until it shines like an apple, her nose is crimson, and her eyes look like two beads. They have gone downstairs.

More talking--I am sure he is putting his heels together. I'll finish this after they have gone, so as to tell you what happens.

_Evening_.--Such a day! After I had heard mumbling talking for quite a while--the windows were all open, and the salon is under me--suddenly the piano began. Victorine plays really well generally--that is, she has brilliant execution--but you should have heard the jumble! hardly a note right, and in the middle of it up rushed Heloise to me and sank into a chair. It was going as badly as it possibly could, she said.

Victorine was so nervous that her voice was like a file, and her face so crimson that the Marquis must think she has erysipelas! And then, to complete matters, when she is told by G.o.dmamma to show her accomplishments, to think that she should play like this! Especially as the Marquis is very musical! Heloise said she could see he was quite "degote," and the only thing for it now, was for me to change my frock instantly, and to put on a becoming one, and to go down and talk. Then he would go away having enjoyed his visit, he won't reason why, and will come again; and then when I am gone, he can be pushed into the marriage with Victorine!

She rang for Agnes while she spoke, and I was simply pitched into the blue _batiste_, and hustled downstairs.

Such a scene in the salon! The Baronne seated on the large sofa with Jean; G.o.dmamma and the mother of the young man in two of the armchairs; while Victorine fumbled with some music on the piano with the _dame de compagnie_, whom Heloise calls "_le Remorqueur_," because she looks like a teeny tug pulling along a coal barge (Victorine). The Marquis was standing up by himself--with his hat and gloves in his hand--first on one foot, then on the other; and Marie and Yolande were making horrid, shuffling, squeaking noises, sliding on the _parquet_ by the window.

[Sidenote: _Wandering Glances_]

When I was introduced and had made a reverence to the old ladies, the Marquis was presented, and when we had done bowing, he said: "Vous etes anglaise, mademoiselle?" and, even for that, Victorine's eyes shot two yellow flames at me! Heloise nipped my arm to tell me to talk, so of course everything went out of my head, and I could only think of "Oui, monsieur." Just then breakfast was announced, and we all went in arm-in-arm, G.o.dmamma and the Marquis together. It is a huge round table, and I had done the flowers, because they wanted to be shown how we have tables in England. I was next but one to the Marquis, with Heloise between. We had scarcely sat down, when he began. How beautiful the table looked, and what taste in the flowers! Upon which Heloise said, that they _were_ lovely, and were the arrangement of her "_chere pet.i.te belle-soeur!_" and she smiled angelically at Victorine, who looked down with conscious pride. Then Heloise said that it was a great joy in life to have the absorbing love of flowers as Victorine had! and I could not help laughing, because Victorine doesn't know one from another, and would not even help me this morning. The Marquis looked and looked at me when I laughed, and then lifting his gla.s.s of _vin ordinaire_, he said: "Les belles dents rendent gai." Wasn't it nice of him? I think it is hard he should be tied to Victorine. He talked to me all the time after that, across Heloise, and considering she told me to be agreeable to him, I don't see why she should have been annoyed.

After breakfast--which we left as usual arm-in-arm--we sat in the salon, while the Marquis and Jean went back to smoke. It was appalling!

If Victorine had been a four-legged cat, she would have spit at me, but fortunately the two-legged ones can't spit in drawing-rooms, so I escaped. The Baronne, after a good deal of manoeuvring, got by me near the window, and then said in a distinct voice, "Ma pet.i.te cherie j'ai trop chaud, donnez-moi votre bras un instant;" and so we got outside on the terrace, where the huge orange trees in pots stand.

[Sidenote: _A Lecture on Duty_]

As soon as we were out of earshot, she began to scold me. Why had I attracted the Marquis? how naughty of me, when it was essential his debts should be paid, etc., etc. If she had not been so nice, I should have been furious, and you can see, Mamma, how impossible to understand them it is; to be told one moment to be nice, and then, when one is, to be scolded! I just said as respectfully as I could, that I had done nothing, and that Heloise had told me to do it, and the reason why.

That made the Baronne think a little. I am sure she wished for the advice of Hippolyte; but the end of it was, that she asked me how much _dot_ you were going to allow me! I said I did not know, and that seemed to stump her. At last she said she supposed, as we were people of consideration, and that I was the only child, it would be something considerable. I do believe, Mamma, she was thinking that I might do for the Marquis! It was only a question of having his debts paid--any one who could do that would answer. It did make me _cross_, just as if I would dream of marrying into a nation that eats badly, and doesn't have a bath except to be smart. Think of always having to shout across the table, day after day, and never to be able to do anything except by rules and regulations; and the stuffy rooms and the eight armchairs! I saw myself! and probably ending up with a moustache, or an _embonpoint_, or something like that.

The Baronne at last patted my hand, and said: Well, well, she supposed I had not meant anything, but that I _must_ leave the Marquis alone, and turn my attention to "Gaston" (the Vicomte), who was really in love with me. Then if I made him sufficiently miserable, he would be willing to fall in with another plan of hers, when I was gone, through sheer _desoeuvrement_. So you see, Mamma, they look upon me as a regular catspaw, and I won't put up with it. I shall just talk to the Marquis or "Gaston" whenever I like, I was quite polite to the Baronne, because she is such a dear; but I am afraid, if G.o.dmamma had said it all, I should have been impudent.

[Sidenote: _An Alternative Plan_]

By this time the others had joined us on the terrace. They had all been up to fix their hats on, because even if you have been out, and are running out again just after, you always have to take your hat off, and make a _toilette_ for _dejener_; it does seem waste of time. The Baronne is considered quite eccentric because she keeps hers on sometimes. I had not even a parasol. G.o.dmamma looked as if she thought it almost indecent. Presently Jean and the Marquis came out of the smoking-room and joined us. The Marquis at once began to pay compliments about the sun on my hair, and was really so clever in getting in little things, while he was talking to G.o.dmamma, that I quite took to him. Victorine had to converse with her future _belle-mere_ all the time, and finally the carriage came round, and they went.

They were no sooner out of sight, than G.o.dmamma said, with a long rigmarole, that she felt it her duty to you to look after me, and she must tell me that it was _inconvenant_ for a young girl to smile or speak to a man as much as I had done to the Marquis. I was so furious at that, that I said, as I found it impossible to understand their ways, I would ask Agnes to pack my things at once, if she would kindly spare a servant to go with a telegram to you, to say I was coming home immediately. She was petrified at my answering her! It appears no one else ever dares to; and she at once tried to smooth me down, especially when I said I should just like time to write and tell the Baronne why I was leaving, as she had been so kind to me. After that they all tried to cajole me, except Victorine, who left the room and slammed the door.

And so I have consented to stay, and here I am finishing my letter to you.--With best love, from your affectionate daughter, Elizabeth.

CHAMPS ELYSeES

Champs Elysees,

_Friday, 26th August_.

[Sidenote: _A Visit to the Dentist_]

Dearest Mamma,--You will be surprised to see this address, but Heloise and I are only staying here for the night, and go back to Croixmare to-morrow. Early this morning she had bad toothache, and said she must go to Paris to see her dentist G.o.dmamma and Jean made as much fuss about it as if the poor thing had suggested something quite unheard of; and one could see how she was suffering, by the way she kept her handkerchief up to her face. G.o.dmamma said she could not possibly accompany her, as she had to pay some important calls; and Jean had promised to be at St. Germain to see some horses with the Vicomte, so Heloise suggested I should go with her; and that we should stay the night at the _appartement_ in the Champs Elysees, so that she could have two appointments with M. Adam, the dentist. She has such beautiful teeth, it seems hard that they should ache, and I felt very sorry for her. After a lot of talking it was arranged that we should go up by the 11 o'clock train, and accordingly we started with as much fuss as if we had been departing for a month. We had no sooner got to Paris than Heloise felt better. She left me to go on with the maids and luggage to the Champs Elysees, while she went to see M. Adam.

Paris looked out-of-seasonish and full of Americans as we drove through. I am sitting in the little salon now, waiting for her to come in, and I have got awfully tired just looking out of the window.

Everything is covered up with brown holland, but I dare say it is nice when they are here. The tapestries are beautiful, so is the furniture, judging by the piece I have lifted the coverings from. If she does not come in soon I shall go for a walk with Agnes.

[Sidenote: _Paris in August_]

_9 p.m._--Heloise came in just as I was writing this morning, and we had a sc.r.a.ppy kind of _dejener_ on the corner of the dining-room table. Then she said we had better go to her _couturier_ in the Rue de la Paix. She seemed all right now, and said M. Adam had not hurt her much, and that she was to go to him again to-morrow morning. I always like Paris even out of the season, don't you, Mamma? it is so gay. We had a little victoria and rushed along, not minding who we ran into, as is always the way with French cabs. When we got to Paquin's there were n.o.body but Americans there, and every one looked tired. Heloise tried on her things, and we went to Caroline's for some hats. They were too lovely, and Heloise gave me a dream; it's an owl lighting on a cornfield, which perhaps is a little incongruous as they only come out at night, but the effect is good.

After that she said she felt she should like to go and see her _confesseur_ at the Madeleine, and we started there on the chance of finding him. She kept looking at her watch, so I suppose she was afraid he would be gone. We stopped at the bottom of the big steps, and she said if I would not mind waiting a minute she would go in and see. I always thought one only confessed in the morning, but she seemed so anxious about it that perhaps if you have anything particular on your mind you can get it off in the afternoon; it might have been the stories she told about Victorine's liking flowers. I thought she would never come back, she was such a time, quite three-quarters of an hour; and it was horrid sitting there alone, with every creature staring as they pa.s.sed.

Directly after she went in I caught a glimpse of "Antoine" in a _coupe_, going at a great pace, but I could not make him see me before he had turned down the street that goes to the back of the Madeleine. I wish he had seen me, for, although I never like him very much, he would have been better than n.o.body to talk to. I believe I should have even been glad to see Lord Valmond. At last I got so cross, what with the people staring, and the heat and the smells, that I jumped out and went to look for Heloise in the church. She was nowhere to be seen, and I did not like to peer into every box I came to, so at last I was going back to the cab again, when from the end door that leads out into the other street at the back, the rue Tronchet, she came tearing along completely _essoufflee_. So I suppose there must be some confessing place beyond. She seemed quite cross with me for having come to find her, and said it was not at all proper to walk about a church alone, which does seem odd, doesn't it, Mamma? As one would have thought if there was any place really respectable to stroll in, it would have been a church.

[Sidenote: _Church Etiquette_]

I told her how bored I was, and about "Antoine" pa.s.sing, and how I had tried to make him see. She seemed more annoyed than ever, and said I _must_ have made some mistake, as "Antoine" was not in Paris. She was awfully shocked at the idea of my wanting to speak to him in the street anyway, and said I surely must know it was the custom here for the men to bow first. She was altogether so cross and excited and different that I felt sure her _confesseur_ must have given her some disagreeable penance. We went for a drive in the Bois after that, and Heloise recovered, and was nice to me. We met the Marquise de Vermandoise and a young man walking in one of the side _allees_, and when I wanted to wave to them Heloise pinched me, and made me look the other way; and when I asked why, she said it was not very good form to "see" people in Paris out of the Season--that one never was sure what they were there for--and that I was certainly not to mention it either at Tournelle or Croixmare! Isn't this a queer country, Mamma?

[Sidenote: _Morals and Manners_]

We drove until quite late, and just as we were arriving at the door, who should pa.s.s but the Marquis? He stopped at once and helped us out.

Heloise told him directly that we were only up seeing the dentist, and seemed in a great hurry to get into the _porte cocher_; but he was not to be shaken off, and stopped talking to us for about five minutes. He is quite amusing; he looked at me all the time he was talking to Heloise. I am sure, Mamma, from what the people at Nazeby talked about, he would have asked us to dine and go to a play if he had been an Englishman, and I told Heloise so. She said no Frenchman would dream of such a thing--us two alone--it was unheard of! and she only hoped no one had seen us talking to him in the street as it was! I said I liked the English way best, as in that case we should be going out and enjoying ourselves, instead of eating a s.n.a.t.c.hy meal alone.

It is now nine o'clock, and all the evening we have had to put up with just sitting on the balcony. It has been dull, and I am off to bed, so good-night, dear Mamma. I shan't come up to Paris with French people again in a hurry!--Your affectionate daughter, Elizabeth.

CHaTEAU DE CROIXMARE

Chateau de Croixmare,

_Monday, 29th August_.

[Sidenote: _The Sights of the Foire_]

Dearest Mamma,--Oh, we had such fun yesterday! After Ma.s.s the Baronne sent over to ask if Jean, Heloise, and I would go with them to the _Foire_ at _Lavonniere_, a village about ten miles off. It is a very celebrated _Foire_, and in the last century every one went from Versailles, and even now lots of people who spend the summer there attend. You go in the evening after dinner, and there are no horrid cows and things with horns rushing about, or tipsy people. G.o.dmamma looked awfully severe when she heard of the invitation; but since the row, when they had to cajole me, she has been more civil, so she said I might go if Heloise would really look after me, although if I was Victorine she would not have permitted it for a moment.

[Sidenote: _On a Motor Car_]

We left here about six, and then picked up the party at Tournelle. They all went--the old Baron, and every one, except the Marquis's mother. We dropped the brougham there, and went on with them in a huge motor car (that is another fad of the Baron's). It is lovely motor-carring; you get quite used to the noise and smell, and you fly along so, it takes your breath away; even with your hat tied on with a big veil, you have rather the feeling you have got to screw up your eyebrows to keep it from blowing away. We seemed to be no time doing the ten miles. The Baronne and Heloise hate it, and never go in it except under protest.

The _Foire_ is just one very long street, with booths and merry-go-rounds, and _Montagnes Russes_, and all sorts of amusing things down each side. There are rows of poplar trees behind them, and evidently on ordinary occasions it is just the usual French road, but with all the lights and people it was gay.

We stopped at the village inn, the "_Toison d'Or_" which is famous for its restaurant and its landlady. In the season the Duc de Cressy's coach comes here from Paris every Thursday. Hippolyte was there already; he had been sent on to secure a table for us. We had no sooner sat down under the awning than the Vicomte and "Antoine" and two other officers turned up. They had ridden from Versailles, which is near.

Such extraordinary people sat at some of the tables! Families of almost peasants at one, and then at the next perhaps two or three lovely ladies, with very smart dresses and big hats, and lots of pearls, and some young men in evening dress. And then some respectable _bourgeois_, and so on. I could hardly pay attention to what the Marquis, who sat next me, was saying, the sight was so new and entertaining.

The tables had cloths without any starch in them, and the longest bread rolls I have ever seen. One of the beautiful ladies with the pearls used hers to beat the man next to her before they had finished dinner.

We did not have fresh forks and knives for everything, but the famous dish of the place made up for it. It is composed of _poussins_--that is, very baby chickens--raw oysters, and cream and truffles. You get a hot bit of chicken into your mouth and think it is all right, and then your tongue comes against an iced oyster, and the mixture is so exciting you are stimulated all the time; and you drink a very fine old Burgundy with it, which is also a feature of the place. I am sure it ought to poison us, as oysters aren't in for another month, but it is awfully good.

[Sidenote: _Chevaux au Galop_]

One of the strange officers is so amusing; he looks exactly like the young man the Marquise de Vermandoise was walking in the Bois with, but it could not be he, as she seemed so surprised to see him at the _Foire_, and said they had not met for ages. The Comte sat on my other side; he said I would be greatly amused at the booths presently, and was I afraid of _Montagnes Russes_? That is only an ordinary switchback, Mamma, so of course I am not afraid. There were Tziganes playing while we dined, and it was all more amusing than anything I have done here yet. When we had drunk our coffee we started down the _Foire_. There were hundreds of people of every cla.s.s, but not one drunk or rude or horrid.

The first entertainment was the _Chevaux au Galop_, a delightful merry-go-round with the most fiery prancing horses, three abreast, and all jumping at different moments. The Marquis helped me up, and Jean got on the other side; we all rode except the Comtesse and the old Baron. It was _too_ lovely; you are bounced up and down, and you have to hold on so tight, and every one screams, and the band plays; and I wish you could do it, Mamma. I am sure the thorough shaking would frighten your neuralgia away. I could have gone on for an hour, but there was such a lot to see, we could not spare the time for more than one turn. The Marquis whispered when he helped me off that his walk down the Champs Elysees had indeed been fortunate, as he had seen me, and that it was he who had suggested to the Baronne to come to the _Foire_. So of course I felt grateful to him. We walked all together more or less, but Jean kept glued to my side, which was rather a bore, only the Marquis or the Vicomte were always at the other side.

[Sidenote: _The Ennui of the Lions_]

The next place we came to was a huge menagerie of clever animals, with their _Dompteurs_--cages of lions, bears, tigers, &c. There were sets of seats before the cages where anything interesting was going on, and the audience moved up as each new Dompteur came in to the animals. We sat down at first in front of the tigers' cage, the Baronne next to me this time. The creatures went through astonishing tricks, and looked such lazy great beautiful cats. The _Dompteur_ was a handsome man, just the type they always are, with a wide receding forehead and flashing eyes. They positively blazed at the brutes if they did not obey him instantly. I wonder why all "tamers" have this shape of head? I asked the Vicomte, but he did not know. The bears came next, horrid cunning white things, and turning in their toes like that does give them such a frumpish look.