United States or Moldova ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
With the sociable instinct of his nation he brightened up at my appearance. "I want," I announced, "to ask about trains to Bleau." For a moment he looked blank; then he smiled in understanding. "Monsieur is without doubt an artist," he declared. I was not, decidedly; but the words had been an affirmation and not a question.
He mighty kind to me; and hear many pretty stories of my Lord Chancellor's being heretofore made sport of by Peter Talbot the priest, in his story of the death of Cardinal Bleau; by Lord Cottington, in his DOLOR DE LAS TRIPAS; and Tom Killigrew, in his being bred in Ram-ally, and now bound prentice to Lord Cottington, going to Spain with 1000l. and two suits of clothes, Thence to Mr.
It seemed clear that for some cryptic reason I ought to have been an artist. Accordingly, I thought it best to bow. He seemed childishly pleased with his acumen. "Monsieur will understand," he explained, "that before the war we sold tickets to many artists, who, like monsieur, desired to paint the old mill on the stream near Bleau. It has appeared at the Salon many times, that mill!
He foundered for a moment, and then plunged in boldly. "About this young lady who's brought you and me to Bleau. Oh, you needn't lift your eyebrows, much as to say, 'What young lady? You know she's here, and I know it; and she knows I've come and has put her light out and is shaking in her shoes over there. I can swear to that.
It was a long blue motor, polished to the last notch, deeply cushioned, luxurious, poignantly familiar, the car, in short, that I had pursued to Bleau, and that later, in flat defiance of President Poincare or the Generalissimo of France, or whoever makes army rules and regulations, I had guided through the war zone to the castle of Prezelay.
Ives Hotel and sail on the Re d'Italia; or that I had remained in Rome with Jack Herriott instead of hurrying on to Paris; or had let my quest of the girl end in the rue St.-Dominique instead of trailing her to Bleau. If one of these links had been omitted, the chain of circumstance would have been broken, and Miss Falconer would have sat here confronting these four men alone.
She might better have dined with me, heard what I had to say, and yielded with a good grace. However, let her have her dinner in peace and solitude, I resolved magnanimously. The moon had come out, the stars too; I would take a stroll and mature my plans. Lighting a cigarette, I lounged into the street and addressed myself forthwith to an unhurried tour of Bleau.
"I think," she murmured consolingly, "that you made amends to me later." Her face was averted, but I could see a distracting dimple in her cheek. "You mustn't forget that I haven't been perfect, either. When you followed me to Bleau, and I came down the stairs and saw you, I misunderstood the situation entirely and was as unpleasant as I could be." "Naturally," I acquiesced with dark meaning.
Ives and on the Re d'Italia had contributed to my education. I could no longer deny that melodrama, however unwelcome, did sometimes intrude itself into the most unlikely lives. The girl was bound somewhere on a secret purpose. Could these four men be her accomplices? Were they going too? "A Bleau!" Those had been her words to the chauffeur; for Bleau, then, she was bound.
He grinned meaningly. "Well," he commented, "there might be reasons. I'm here on business, with papers in order, and three French officers to answer for me; but you're a kind of a funny person to make a bee-line for a place like Bleau. An inn like this doesn't seem your style, somehow. I'd say the Ritz was more your type.
Word Of The Day