United States or Mexico ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The moment he came into the drawing-room, Hulot was rushed at by his wife and daughter, who ran to meet him, Adeline to speak to him privately, and Hortense to kiss him. "You have gone too far in pledging me to this, madame," said the Baron sternly. "You are not married yet," he added with a look at Steinbock, who turned pale.
Valerie, informed the same evening of this success, insisted that Hulot should go to invite Stidmann, Claude Vignon, and Steinbock to dinner; for she was beginning to tyrannize over him as women of that type tyrannize over old men, who trot round town, and go to make interest with every one who is necessary to the interests or the vanity of their task-mistress.
"Monsieur le Comte Wenceslas Steinbock is grandnephew to the famous general who served under Charles XII., King of Sweden. The young Count, having taken part in the Polish rebellion, found a refuge in France, where his well-earned fame as a sculptor has procured him a patent of naturalization."
On the next day but one, at half-past four in the morning, when Count Steinbock was sunk in the deepest sleep, he heard a knock at the door of his attic; he rose to open it, and saw two men in shabby clothing, and a third, whose dress proclaimed him a bailiff down on his luck. "You are Monsieur Wenceslas, Count Steinbock?" said this man. "Yes, monsieur."
This ballet-dancer's pirouette, whisking her skirts, by which she had overthrown Hulot, now fascinated Steinbock. "Your vengeance is secure," said Valerie to Lisbeth in a whisper. "Hortense will cry out all her tears, and curse the day when she robbed you of Wenceslas."
"Lithuania?" "No." "Livonia?" "Yes, that's it!" "But what is his name?" "I wonder if you are capable of keeping a secret." "Cousin Betty, I will be as mute! "As a fish?" "As a fish." "By your life eternal?" "By my life eternal!" "No, by your happiness in this world?" "Yes." "Well, then, his name is Wenceslas Steinbock." "One of Charles XII.'s Generals was named Steinbock."
As I review the events, I begin to look upon your arrival as timely. Steinbock is not a reliable quantity." "I begin to perceive." "He is to receive one thousand crowns for his part in the ceremony; then he is to leave the country." "But the priest's signature, the notary's seal, the iron-clad formalities which attend all these things!" I stammered.
Remember, if she passes the frontier, off goes your official head!" "And the fellow, who is he?" "The good Lord only knows! That girl! . . . Witness these grey hairs. Put the rascal in irons; I'll attend to his case when I arrive. . . . Where is Steinbock?" "He was arrested this morning in Berlin; I have already applied for his extradition." "Good! Now, be off with you! Leave no stone unturned.
For the past ten months she had made a reality of her cousin's imaginary romance, believing, like her mother, that Lisbeth would never marry; and now, within a week, this visionary being had become Comte Wenceslas Steinbock, the dream had a certificate of birth, the wraith had solidified into a young man of thirty.
"There was a steinbock with a beard; Of no gun was he afeard Piff-paff left of him: piff-paff right of him Piff-paff everywhere, where you get a sight of him." The steinbock led through the whole course of a mountaineer's emotions and experiences, with piff-paff continually left of him and right of him and nothing hitting him.
Word Of The Day