The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1909-08-27

short and inclined to embonpoin
which we learned from our tri
abroad, but he had beautiful dar
eyes and a very lovely waxed mus
tache and a little pointed beard an
white hands, with two diamond ring
on them. He sat opposite to us, ant
to our delight papa began a converse
ton with him over handing the sauce
Gle had looked at Laura pretty oftel
during "soup'D Before dinner wa
over we were all on very friendl.
terms, and he spoke English very
well, so we hadn't to trouble about
French. 1 must add that, though papa
had been so anxious to "parley-voo'
again while we were still at Paw
tucket yet he never let us hear any OF
it He always sent us on In front
when he had to speak to a native.
Boulogne was quite a different place
to us from the day the count came.
He was our constant companion, and
1t was delightful to go about with a
real live nobleman. We used to say
count" especially loud when we pass
ed English people. 1t made them "sit
up" as Jim said. 1t was pity the
count was so poor-papa always had
to pay fff him-but he used to apollo
gize in such a charming way and bring
us punches Of flowers the flowers ar
ranged in rows, with a glorified dish
paper round them and say: Il wish l
could lay the treasure of the east at
your feet. mademoiselles. Helas, the
gift is poor, but it is rich with thoughts
of esteem and regard" with more in
the same strain, which Laura thought
perfectly lovely. 1t was rather too
poetical for me. The count told us
that the reason he was so poor was
that his estates were confiscated owing
to the part his ancestors had played In
some revolution or war, but he had
lawsuit on to recover them. He show
ed us photos Of them, and they GER
tainly looked beautiful.
never saw papa so generous before.
We were always driving or going for
excursions. However, 1 heard him say
to mamma after a certain very heavy
lunch bill, after all, one doesn't meet
count every day"
1 had noticed his attentions to Laura,
and knew which way the wind blew.
But papa grew more and more en-
thusiastic as our friendship ripened.
He used to dilate ON the counts
charming manners when we were
alone.
That's the advantage of associat1ng
with the aristocracy," he would say.
I'm a plain man myself, but 1 respect
blood. Nobility Of birth produces no
bility Of character and manners"
Which sounded beautiful and made
Laura blush.
Mamma also took a violent fancy to
him. He spoke so feelingly, she said,
Of his mother, who was dead, and of
marriage and mans duty to woman.
And Laura blushed still more.
We were very sorry when our stay
at Boulogne came to an end, for we
feared our friendship with the count
might end too. But he said he was
coming over to "the States" on bust
ness Che looked at Laura as he said
it,, and he hoped that he would be
permitted to visit one of Americas
merchant princes I'm his home. You
should have seen papa's face when he
heard himself described as a merchant
prince! OF course we said we should
be delighted to see him, and we parted
with many expressions of mutual re-
greet. / don't know what he said to
Laura as we walked to the station
the morning we left, but / do know
that he held her hand much longer /
than was necessary, although l pre- |
tended to look the other way. She /
was very silent and pensive on the !
home journey. and papa and mamma |
knowing mods. | knew /
mamma was picturing to herself the |
sensation it would cause i'm the neigh /
borhood If her daughter were to be- /
come a lady of title. / also felt il /
would be distinctly pleasant TO speak
in an offhand way Of my sister the
Countess de Marabout" / wasn't the
least bit jealous of her triumph be-
cause l really prefer Americans to
foreigners, counts though they may
be. There's a young man I'm the Paw
tucket National bank-well but that
has nothing to do with the count
The return journey did not seem as
fiat as usual since we had the counts