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"Glad to see you!" continued the poet, extending his hand. "I haven't run across you before since the night of the banquet; the début of Barnes' company you remember? You must have left town shortly afterward. Returned this morning, of course! By the way, there's one of your old friends here to-night." Saint-Prosper felt the color mount to his face, and even Straws noted the change.
The latter's face expressed surprise, not altogether of an agreeable nature, at the encounter, but he immediately regained his composure. "Ah, Monsieur Saint-Prosper," he observed easily, "I little thought to see you here." "Nor I you!" said the other bluntly. The patroon gazed in seeming carelessness from the soldier to the young girl.
"We met in the Shadengo Valley; the company was in sore straits, and and to make a long story short! he joined our band and traversed the continent with us. And so he was the marquis' ward! It seems almost incredible!" "Yes," affirmed Culver; "when General Saint-Prosper, his father, died, Ernest Saint-Prosper, who was then but a boy, became the marquis' ward and a member of his household."
But a period, fearfully brief, and the beloved tri-color was trampled in the dust; the barbarian flag of the Emir floated in its place. "All these particulars, and the part Saint-Prosper played in the terrible drama, Abd-el-Kader, who is now our prisoner, has himself confessed. The necessity for secrecy, you, my dear Marquis, will appreciate.
"My master is very ill; more so than I have known him to be in twenty years." "You have served the marquis so long?" said the visitor, pausing as he was leaving the room. "Do you remember the Saint-Prosper family?" "Well, Monsieur. General Saint-Prosper and my master were distant kinsmen and had adjoining lands." "Surely the marquis did not pass his time in the country?" observed Mauville.
As the manager approached the bowl, the trio, moved by some vague impelling impulse, locked arms, walked toward the side door, crossed its threshold in some confusion, owing to a unanimous determination to pass out at one and the same time, and went forth into the tranquil night, leaving Barnes and Saint-Prosper the sole occupants of the kitchen.
But even as he meditated, he felt the sophistry of this last argument, while through his brain ran the undercurrent: "He has wooed her won her, perhaps!" Passion, rather than injured hauteur, stirred him. At the same time a great indignation filled his breast; how Saint-Prosper had tricked her and turned her from himself!
What an old compliment-monger he was! He vowed he was deeply smitten with me." "And then went home and took to his bed!" added Mauville, grimly. "You wretch!" said the young woman, playfully. "So that is the reason the dear old molly-coddle did not take me to any of the gay suppers he promised? Is it not strange Saint-Prosper has not met him?"
At the throat a deep-falling collar was closely fastened; the sleeves were gathered in at elbow and wrist, and from a "coverchief," set upon the dusky hair, fell a long veil of ample proportions. With the light shimmering on the folds of her raiment, she stood looking through the open door, regarding the manager and Saint-Prosper. "Oh, you are not alone?" she said to the former.
Held in the grasp of those arms, tight as iron bands, the soldier staggered. Once more the other heaved and again Saint-Prosper nearly fell, his superior agility alone saving him.
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