The Cornhill Magazine

scorn and anger which must have disgusted him with her had he not been so very much in love. As it was, his passion was increased rather than diminished by Jeanne's harshness, though she often made him wince by her sharp speeches. She never lost an opportunity of snubbing him, and seemed to delight in causing him pain or humiliation; but he bore it all meekly enough, telling himself that by gentleness and perseverance he might conquer in the long run. Meanwhile he continued to be very civil to Léon, little supposing that by so doing he was injuring his own

cause.

His chief object, indeed, in asking the young man to dinner was to have an excuse for talking about Jeanne-a subject upon which the latter was always ready to dilate with enthusiasm ; but as for Léon, it is to be feared that baccarat and lansquenet, not Saint-Luc's society, were the attractions that led him, night after night, to the Hôtel d'Orient.

"Don't let us waste any more time out here," he said, one evening shortly after his return, when he had been dining with Saint-Luc as usual, and the pair were leaning over the parapet of the Boulevard de l'Impératrice, smoking their cigars in the moonlight. "Doncourt and Delamarre and the rest must have been expecting us this last half-hour."

It was a still, warm, cloudless night. The great white mosque in the Place du Gouvernement, the lighthouse at the end of the Mole, the silent ships in the harbour, and the gently heaving sea beyond, lay bathed in such a soft brilliant moonlight as we, in these northern latitudes, have no knowledge of. The broad boulevard was thronged with loungers, Jew, Turk, and Christian; and in one of the cafés down by the waterside somebody was singing to the tinkling accompaniment of a guitar.

"Let them expect us a little longer,' answered Saint-Luc; "one can lose one's money any night of the year, but one cannot always have fine weather. Here comes your English friend; let us ask him what he thinks. Mr. Barrington, is it not better to sit out here doing nothing than to spend the night over a card-table in an atmosphere laden with the fumes of bad cigars?'

"A great deal better, I should say," replied Barrington, with a quick glance of distrust at Saint-Luc and of commiseration at Léon, which did not escape the notice of either of them. "Take my advice, de Mersac, and don't play for high stakes; it is very nearly as exciting to play for sous, if you only knew it. For my own part, I gave up loo and lansquenet, and such games, years ago."

for

“M. Barrington a passé par là,” said Léon, with a laugh, which imperfectly concealed some natural annoyance at being lectured; "he has tasted all the forbidden pleasures, and found them worthless. As me, I suppose I am not old enough or wise enough to give up cards." "And I," remarked Saint-Luc, "am too old. Life has not so many amusements that I can afford to sacrifice one of them; unless, indeed, I could discover some equivalent," he added, with a half-sigh.

"Equivalent!" echoed Barrington, rather scornfully. "I don't know what your idea of an equivalent for gambling may be; but if you only look upon it as a means of making time pass, it ought not to be a hard matter to find some substitute for it."

"Everybody has not your talents, monsieur," returned Saint-Luc. "You have art to fall back upon, which I, unfortunately, have not."

"Oh, I don't pretend to any talent," said Barrington generously. Anybody who is not colour-blind can learn to paint well enough to make an amusement for himself with a little study and perseverance; and, if he have no turn for drawing, he can easily take up something else. The world is full of pleasant occupations, if idle people would only take the trouble to look for them."

Saint-Luc did not dispute the accuracy of the statement. He smiled, lighted a second cigar, and puffed at it in silence for a few minutes; then, "Do you go to Madame de Trémonville's dance to-morrow, Léon?" he asked.

"Undoubtedly; and you?"

"I hardly know; it will depend upon how I may feel disposed when the time comes. She wearies me, this Madame de Trémonville, whom you admire so much. Has she sent an invitation to Madame la Duchesse, and your sister?"

Léon laughed.

"Madame de Trémonville does not want courage," he said, "but she has not yet had the audacity to ask the Duchess to one of her dances. I have been begged to bring Jeanne, though."

"And will she go }"

"Ah! that I can't say. She is a little capricious, as all women are, even the best of them," said Léon, who flattered himself that he had some acquaintance with this subject. "Will you accompany us, Mr. Barrington? It may amuse you to have a glimpse of our Algerian society."

"I don't know the lady," answered Barrington.

"Oh! that is of no consequence; she will be delighted to receive any friend of mine. Shall I ask her to send you a card?"

"Thank you. I should like very much to go, especially if I am to have the pleasure of meeting Mademoiselle de Mersac. She did not say anything about it this morning."

Saint-Luc stared. He had known Mademoiselle de Mersac much longer than this Englishman, but it had never occurred to him to take the liberty of calling upon her on any other day than that on which she was accustomed to receive visitors; still less would he have dreamt of entering her presence before three o'clock in the afternoon, at the earliest. He was fairly startled out of his good manners, and exclaimed, half involuntarily, "You were at El-Biar this morning, monsieur?"

Barrington saw his dismay, and rather enjoyed it. "I rode up after breakfast," he answered; "I wanted to try the horse you sold me."

"And I hope you found him satisfactory," said Saint-Luc, recovering himself.

Barrington would have like to say that the horse was a little touched in the wind; but, not being quite sure of his French, had to smile and reply, "Perfectly."

"I am charmed to hear it. For the rest, I was sure you would be contented with him.-What is it, Léon? Ah, mauvais sujet ! you are longing for the green cloth. As you will, then! Come, let us go and earn a headache for to-morrow morning. Monsieur will not be of the party? Au revoir, then."

And so the two gamesters strolled away.

"Do you know," said Léon, confidentially, as soon as they were out of earshot, "I am not sure that I like Mr. Barrington so well as I did at first. Sometimes I think he is a little too conceited and dictatorial."

"You say that because he gave you good advice," laughed the other good-humouredly. "Bah! he was right, mon garçon; high play leads to no good; and if my past gave me the right to offer advice to any one, I should back him up. Unhappily for you, you made the acquaintance of a worthless fellow when you met me. What would you have? it is too late to mend now. Video meliora proboque; deteriora sequor."

And, having delivered this hackneyed quotation with a fine sonorous ring, the Vicomte linked his arm in that of his young friend, and led him through the open doors of the Cercle.

As for Barrington, he made his way back to the Hôtel d'Orient, and, happening to meet an acquaintance in the hall, took occasion to express his opinion of M. de Saint-Luc with perfect candour.

"A man who can find nothing better to do than to lead boys into mischief ought to be kicked," said he. "I don't know what name you have for that sort of fellow in French: in England we should call him a 'leg.'"

The THIRTY-EIGHTH VOLUME of the CORNHILL MAGAZINE, handsomely bound in embossed cloth, price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, is now ready.

For the convenience of Subscribers, embossed Cloth Covers for the Volumes already published are sold separately, price One Shilling each.

Reading Covers for separate numbers have also been prepared, and may be had of all Booksellers, price Sixpence in plain cloth, or One Shilling and Sixpence in French Morocco.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Communications to the Editor should be addressed to the care of Messrs. SMITH, ELDER, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W.

Every MS. should bear the Name and Address of the Sender.

All Contributions are attentively considered, and unaccepted MSS. are returned on receipt of stamps for postage; but the Editor cannot hold himself responsible for any accidental loss. MSS. cannot be delivered on personal application, nor can they be forwarded through the post when only initials are given.

Contributions should be legibly written, and only on one side of each leaf.

« Zurück Weiter »