Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-02-08
The Fascinating Duchess.
Mark Twain.

L
what was the best place to spend an
evening, and was told that the most ar.
istocratic place Of resort was the Jardin
Mabille. | took a cab and proceeded
thither. | found myself in beautiful
garden, brilliantly lighted. There was
a crowd of ladies and gentlemen, fine
band was playing, and quadrille form
ing. While | was gazing about, gen.
tlelhan asked me if | wished to dance.
said that | would like to, but that l
was a stranger and not acquainted with
any of the nobility present. He smiled
and said the French nobility were ex-
ceedingly affable and obliging, and that
he would be pleased to introduce me to
plishments, who would dance with me
if | wished. Then he presented me to
the young Duchess d Asafetida (that' s
as near as l could catch the name).
| had never stood face to face with a
Duchess before, and therefore felt diff
dent and i'll at ease. This graceful
creature understood my case at once,
and within two or three minutes made
me feel perfectly at home,-more than
at home, l may say. | never met lady
so easy to get acquainted with as she
was. 1t must require high cultivation
only to be attained in the upper ranks
of society, to give one such self-pOsses-
ion as hers This Duchess smiled upon
me in the most encouraging way, and
tapped me on the shoulder with her fan,
then she looked up in my face and
charmed away all my embarrassment
with burst of CHEEKY laughter that was
full of happiness and garlic
Next, she took my arm, beating time
to the music with her fan, and still ut
tering that fragrant laughter. And
next she put her arm around my neck
This was somewhat unexpected, [ must
say 1t made me feel blissfully uncom-
Portable. | enjoyed it, but at the same
time, | was afraid it might attract at
tention. | intimated as gently as |
could that the Duke, her father, might
be in the crowd somewhere; but she
laughed more odorously y than ever |
feared the paternal Duke might invite
me to breakfast on pistols and coffee l
like coffee, but | do not consider that it
improves it to mix it with hardware.
This | limited to the Duchess, and she
received it with one of those peculiar
laughs of hers that was perfectly smoth-
ering
just then the music struck up furi-
ously, the Duchess exclaimed, Come"
and dashed away with me- The crowd
closed up our set, and walled it on ev-
cry side. | had never before seen so
much curiosity displayed in mere
quadrille by interested parties Dukes
and Duchesses began to prance to and
fro in the dance with wild energy of
purpose and extravaganza OF gesture.
| began to get interested. | glanced
across; my partner was just turning;
she miscalculated the length of her
limbs and lifted her dress accordingly;
she came prancing over; | sailed forth
to meet to meet her, and, when we were
within yard of each other, | wish |
may never be believed again if she did
not kick the hat off my head! | stoop-
ed to pick it up, and noble aristocrat
fell over me; others followed him, both
ladies and gentlemen-an | never saw
such a chaos of struggling limbs and
frantic drapery since the benches broke
down at the circus when | was boy.
1t was pure good fortune that nobody
got hurt.
When | got out went to my place at
the head of the quadrille and stayed
there. | had lost confidence; this dance
was too high-toned for me. 1t had pc
culiarities about it that were new and
| had seen plenty of
quadrilles, but | had never seen one
with the variations before. The Ouch
ess resumed her mad career, and the
rest of the nobility danced just as she
did. Each sex seemed to have but one
object in view,-to outdo the opposite
in violence Of action and eccentricity of
conduct, These French people are very
Frenchy. If | had not known that these
people were the flower of the French
nobility should have thought that they
began their education in gymnasium
and graduated in circus.
The first time the Duchess halted by
my side for moment, | whispered to
her to calm her gushing spirits, not to
meddle with her dress, and, for public
opinion sake, not to step so high | said
she could get over just as much ground
at moderate gait; and beside, the no.
bic Grand Duke, he father, might hap /
pen along at any moment might as
well have talked to the wind. She only
laughed that characteristic laugh of |
hers, that silvery laugh that | could rec
ognize anywhere if | were to the lee
ward, and then, bending little, she
grabbed up the sides of her apparel with
both hands, began to jerk it to and fro
in a turbulent manner, threw her mag
niGcent head back, and skipped furious
ly away on an Irish jig-step, all excite
ment, wild hilarity, distracted costume
frenzied motion! A spectacle to seal
the eyeballs and to astonish the soul of
a hermit! And when she reached the
centre she snatched her numbering
dresses free, and launched kick at the
hat of tall nobeman that fairly loos-
ened the scalp on the top of his head.
| fed the scene, exclaiming, what can
she mean by such conduct as those?'
| admire Paris; but, in my opinion,
the ways of its nobility are not what
they ought to be-
Reading.