United States or Sudan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Mlle. d' Armilly had frequently referred to her numerous admirers and the letters she received from them, and the Captain naturally jumped to the conclusion that this note had been sent by some ardent Roman suitor. He considered the artiste's exclamation and assumption of displeasure as mere artful tricks designed to deceive him. "Whose handwriting?" repeated Mlle. d' Armilly; scornfully.
Whatever might be her fears, she would have to bear them alone, or, at the best, share them with Mlle. d' Armilly, who, evidently, would give her no further satisfaction.
In this desire M. Dantès is actuated solely by the wish to lay the homage of a Frenchman at the feet of so distinguished an artiste of his own nation as Mlle. d' Armilly." Having finished, sealed and addressed this note, the Count touched a bell which was immediately answered by the ever-watchful Nubian.
Léon d' Armilly was walking back and forth in the small apartment, wringing his hands and shedding tears like a woman, while at the open door lounged the tenor and baritone of the troupe, their countenances wearing the usual listless expression of veteran opera singers who, from long habit, are thoroughly accustomed to the indispositions and caprices of prima donnas and consider them as incidental to the profession.
When their cordial greetings were over and they were seated side by side upon a commodious sofa luxuriously upholstered in crimson silk, the Count said, abruptly: "Captain, did you ever hear of a French opera singer named Louise d' Armilly?"
Paris had talked over and wondered at all this for a week, and then had completely forgotten it, turning its fickle attention to newer and more engrossing sensations. Albert's marriage and the legacy healed the breach between Eugénie and the Count of Monte-Cristo, and the young couple, together with the real Mlle. d' Armilly, had been added to the happy family in the mansion of the Rue du Helder.
She is French by birth, and is said to be the daughter of a banker, who vanished under peculiar circumstances, but, as she positively declines to speak of her history, we can only give the rumors concerning her for what they are worth. M. Léon d' Armilly, brother of the prima donna, who supports her in Donizetti's opera, also refuses to be communicative.
"I have seen a ghost!" replied Mlle. d' Armilly, in a startling whisper. "A ghost?" "Yes! Oh! let us quit the garden at once!" "The ghost of whom?" "I dare not say! Come, come, I cannot remain here another second! How fortunate that young Madame de Morcerf was not with us! She would have been driven mad!" "Albert's wife? You talk wildly, Louise.
Mlle. d' Armilly also was singularly affected; she dropped the sous, became ashy pale and would have fallen to the ground had not Zuleika sprung to her side and caught her in her arms. "What is the matter, Louise?" cried the girl, astonished at the beggar's behavior and still more so at the effect he had produced upon her companion.
In the principal salon were gathered many personages with whom the reader is familiar, all in festal attire the Count of Monte-Cristo and his beloved wife Mercédès, their friends Maximilian and Valentine Morrel, Espérance, Mlle. Louise d' Armilly and M. and Madame Albert de Morcerf. Many noble relatives of the groom were also present, to say nothing of hosts of acquaintances.
Word Of The Day