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I except soldiers, of whom there were many, from the provincial Mobiles, chiefly Bretons; you know the Breton soldiers by the little cross worn on their kepis. Among them Lemercier at once distinguished the noble countenance of Alain de Rochebriant. De Breze and Savarin looked at each other with solemn eyes.
'From an Englishman, the remark is certainly significant, said I; 'but you are of course, and by trade, a keeper of men's secrets, and I see you keep that of Cousin Alain, which is not the mark of a truculent patriotism, to say the least. 'I am first of all the lawyer of your family! says he. 'That being so, said I, 'I can perhaps stretch a point myself.
"Madame was sublime in her prison," said Alain. "For three whole years she realized the story of the Vicar of Wakefield, and was able to convert many of the worst women about her. During her imprisonment she observed the habits and customs of these women, and was seized with that great pity for the sorrows of the people which has since filled her soul and made her the angel of Parisian charity.
And you and the Marquis had better come to an amicable arrangement with me. Apropos, I read in the Times newspaper that Alain was among the wounded in the sortie of December." "Yes; we learnt that through a pigeon-post. We were afraid...."
You say I had assisted to a choice of danger and possibly of death a very distant connection of mine, who might have been a very near connection of yours. You mean Alain de Rochebriant?" "Yes; I accept him as a suitor for the hand of my only daughter." "I am so glad, not for your sake so much as for his.
Among other conditions imposed by Alain, he stipulated that the Pope should endow his daughter with 100,000 livres Tournois, and that for his son, Amanieu d'Albret, there should be a cardinal's hat for the fulfilment of both of which conditions Cesare took it upon himself to engage his father. On April 15 the treaty between France and Venice was signed at Blois.
So, linking his arm in Lemercier's, Alain made his bow and withdrew.
The lawyer brought us to a room, begged us to be seated while he should hold a consultation with the doctor, and, slipping out of another door, left Alain and myself closeted together. On my part, I had been little more conciliating; and yet I began to be sorry for this man, hired spy as I knew him to be.
This little incident, and the slighting kind of notice received from coevals of his own birth, and doubtless his own blood, for he divined truly that they were the sons of the Count de Vandemar, disconcerted Alain to a degree which perhaps a Frenchman alone can comprehend. He had even half a mind to give up his visit and turn back.
Alain thought still the better of Raoul that, Parisian though he was, he could appreciate the charm of an evening so innocently spent. On taking leave, the Contessa gave Alain a general invitation to drop in whenever he was not better engaged. "I except only the opera nights," said she.
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