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He had spoken very slowly, as if weighing each of his words, but it was quickly, with a queer catch in his voice, that he added "I ask you to do this, my sister" he had never before called Madeleine Baudoin "my sister" "because of Claire's children, of Clairette and Jacqueline. Their mother would not wish a slur to rest upon them." She looked at him with piteous, hunted eyes.
She even whispered to her dear Clairette that she was glad Sir Richard never tormented her by talking to her, and that he was grave, and so old. 'So old? why, little one, he can scarce be seven-and-twenty! 'And is not that old? oh, so old! said Alice. 'Able to take care of me. I would not have a youth like that young Lord of Glenuskie. Oh no never!
It tasted very insipid, but she gulped it down as best she could, making wry faces and feeling more miserable than ever she had felt before; afraid to look back on yesterday, afraid to look forward on the morrow, she bethought herself of the past, of the happy days when Montgomery used to come and teach her to sing, and her triumphs in the part of Clairette; she was quite as successful in Serpolette; people had liked her in Serpolette, and to recall those days more distinctly she opened a box in which she kept her souvenirs: a withered flower, a broken cigarette-holder, two or three old buttons that had fallen from his clothes, and a lock of hair, and it was under these that the prize of prizes lay a string of false pearls.
In the way of wine, I had been recommended to make a great point of the clairette de Die, an excellent species of vin mousseux; but the chief of the women rather recommended the ordinary wine of the country, as the monsieur might not like to give a strong price.
The heavy, ugly furniture which had been there in the days of his lonely youth, for he had been an only child, was now in the schoolroom where the twin daughters of the house, Clairette and Jacqueline, did their lessons with Miss Doughty, their English governess. Clairette and Jacqueline?
Sir Richard Nevil rode up on the other side, and said the hobgoblins should eat out his heart ere they hurt me; and I looked into his face as he said that, and liked it more than ever I thought to like any but yours, Clairette.
And Frank Bret looked such a swell, and he got an encore for the song, "Oh, Certainly I Love Clairette." And he and Miss Leslie got another for the duet. To-morrow they play the Cloches. 'But now you've seen so much of the theatre I hope you'll be able to do a little overtime with me. I've promised to let Mrs. Barnes have her dress by to-morrow morning.
I'll give you a line to speak when you've got a bit of confidence. You're a bit timid, that's all. And delighted Kate listened to Dick, who had begun to sketch out a career for her. Her voice, he said, would improve. She'd have twice the voice in a year from now, and with twice the voice she'd not only be able to sing Clairette in Madame Angot, but all Schneider's great parts.
A murmur of approval followed these words, and continuing Miss Leslie said, laying her hand on Kate's: 'And my friend here will play my parts until I come back. You must begin to-night, my dear, and try to work up Clairette. If you're a quick study you may be able to play it on Wednesday night. This was too much; the tears stood in Kate's eyes.
She was in much more real danger herself, as came to the bride's mind presently, when, in the midst of her lamentations, she exclaimed, 'And, ah, Clairette! there ends his goodly promise about the sisterhood of good works at Paris. Esclairmonde responded with a gesture of sorrow, and the murmur of the 'In principibus non confide' that is so often the echo of disappointment.
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