Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-05-25
u oh YES madame. 7 murmured.

husband is a great gentleman, and
YOU are a great lady. 1t is easy
.nough to tell that by the difference
8.th which all these other fine peo-
pie treat you
I had expected to see a repetition
that same conscious pride either
madame's expression or else in her
response. On the contrary, however,
her face saddened a little, and the
voice that answered me was some
thing that might almost be termed
mournful.
Yes, Marie, 1 am a great lady
now, as you say. But, perhaps, after
all, my retired, placid life in Lorraine,
where the baron first found and loved
me, was pleasanter than this life.
There used often to milk the COWS,
and feed the chickens, and help churn
the butter-jjust from inclination, you
know. Then had my Aower-garden
to tend in summertime; that was
such a pleasurel I can see it now, on
ly a little walk from the rear-door
Of the chateau. But, ah how odd
it sounds to call that home chateau
after looking round at the splendors
of thisl' Here the baroness turned
suddenly toward me, and broke into a
merry laugh. I'm sure that you
consider me very dissatisfied, Marie,
and all that. I don't doubt but what
l am. Ma Jal it'snearly SIX o'clock,
and I am not yet dressed for dinner!"
/ remember that l dressed her in
lavender satin and pearls that even.
ing, and, several hours later, watched
from a little hidden point of observa-
ton in one of the outside passages
how gloriously beautiful she looked
among all those guests who filed the
spacious drawing-rooms. There was
not one of them who could compare
with her. I was sure that the baron
thought SO too, for, more than once,
his ewes wandered from those of some
sparkling demoiselle or bewitching
young matron to where his wife chsnc-
ed to be seated, converting with g
certain remarkably handsome man,
whose general appearance was strlk-
ingly different from any of the OTHER
guests.
The name Of this gentleman was
Monsieur Horace Lavaloir, who had
lately risen to very sudden Partisan
distinction by the publication of a
book-on whatsubject I am not aware.
To Judge from the mans face, l should
say that it was book ofpoems, more
spirited and passionate than any
which Alfred de Musset or Henri
Murger ever wrote.
His eyes were of the sort which
show depths of almost tathomless
brilliance. His dark hair curled in
soft, rich masses over a classic fore
head. His face and features were
more like those of some living statue
by some great sculptor than the work
| Of nature, who so seldom gives us
perfectly handsome men, notwith-
standing her numbers of beautiful
women. In his dress, Monsieur La
valoir's eccentricity was quite re-
markable. He wore collars low about
the throat, and indulged in nothing
that was stiff or ceremonious he
was not fayorite with many of the
guests at DHauteville, though they
all acknowledged his literary emf
nence.
As days passed on, I began to dis.
cover the reasons of Monsieur La
valoirs unpcpularity: he cared to
talk to no one whom he did not per-
sonally like, he despised anything that
resembled pretence, and he abhorred
being lionized.
Was there another reason still :
Did the guests at D'Hauteville dis
cover that he valued their society
far below that of the baroness
Assuredly it would seem so. The
most unobserving could not have fail
ed to notice, after awhile, with what
persistence Monsieur Lavaloir de-
voted himself to Madame d'Haute-
Vile.
Departures were constantly being
made from the chateau, and new ar
rivals were constantly filling the va
cancies they caused. But, although
space of nearly three weeks had
now elapsed since Monsieur Lavaloir' S
first appearance as the barons guest,
he still fingered at D'Hauteville, the
last of those who had first entered
its doors.
1t was now too evident that his at
tentions had not been without their
result upon the baroness. Usually
talkative when with me, she had
shown of late musing sadness, a
thoughtful reserve, which I could
not fail to explain by one cause, and
only one.
I saw it all very clearly: she had
never really loved Monsieur d'Haute-
vile, and had married him, as SC
many Frenchwoman marries, with
nothing that resembled inquiry into
the state of her own feelings. And
now the result had come-the inevi-
table result of her loveless marriage
She was fascinated by Monsieur La
valoir, and, if still unmarried, he
rather than any baron, or duke, or
prince, would have been the object OF
her maidenly worship.
With hundreds of women, | told
myself, there would have been safety
in this attachment becoming an actual
haison under the husbands s very eyes
Pansian ladies and gentlemen, and
especially those to whom the follies
and hippancies of court-life are fami-
liar, seldom hesitate at what they
have grown to consider merely a
lukewarm piece of immortality. But
with the Baron d'Hauteville I felt
co WINGED that nothing of this sort
would be allowed, even if the baro-
ness, pure as she now was, should fol-
low the example of SO many of her
noun+rvuonoon He lovod hio wife