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Page 21
"Madam!"
"The advice may seem singular to you. But rest assured that I do not offer
it without mature reflection. The repulsion which you manifest for Madame
de Palme is precisely what attracts toward you that imperious and spoilt
child. She becomes irritated and obstinate in presence of a resistance to
which she has not been accustomed. Be meek enough to yield to her fancy.
Do that for me."
"Seriously madam, you think?--"
"I think," interrupted the old lady laughingly, "with due respect to you,
that you will lose your principal merit in her eyes as soon as she sees
you submit to her yoke like all the rest."
"Really, madam, you present things to me under an entirely novel aspect.
It never occurred to me to attribute Madame de Palme's mischievous pranks
to a sentiment of which I might have reason to be proud."
"And you have been quite right," she resumed sharply; "there is, thank
heaven! nothing of the kind as yet; but it might have come and you are too
fair a man to desire it, with the views which I know you to entertain."
"I trust myself wholly to your direction, madam; I am going too fetch my
hat and gloves. The question is now, how Madame de Palme will receive my
somewhat tardy civility."
"She will receive it very well, if you offer it with good grace."
"As to that, madam, I shall offer it with all the good grace I can
command."
On this assurance, Madame de Malouet held out her hand, which I kissed
with profound respect but rather slim gratitude.
When I entered the parlor, booted and spurred, Madame de Palme was alone
there; deeply seated in an arm-chair, buried under her skirts, she was
putting the finishing touches to her hat. She raised and dropped rapidly
again her eyes, which were fiery red.
"Madam," I said, "I am sincerely so sorry to have offended you, that I
venture to ask your pardon for an unpardonable piece of rudeness. I have
come to hold myself at your disposition; if you decline my escort, you
will not only be inflicting upon me an amply deserved mortification, but
you will leave me still more unhappy than I have been guilty, and that is
saying a great deal." Madame de Palme, taking into consideration the
emotion of my voice rather more than my diplomatic pathos, lifted her eyes
upon me again, opened her lips slightly, said nothing, and finally
advanced a somewhat tremulous hand, which I hastened to receive within my
own. She availed herself at once of this _point d'appui_ to get on her
feet, and bounded lightly to the floor. A few minutes later, we were both
on horseback and leaving the court-yard of the chateau.
We reached the extremity of the avenue without having exchanged a single
word. I felt deeply, as you may believe, how much this silence, on my part
at least, was awkward, stiff, and ridiculous; but, as it often happens in
circumstances which demand most imperatively the resources of eloquence, I
was stricken with an invincible sterility of mind. I tried in vain to find
some plausible subject of conversation, and the more annoyed I felt at
finding none, the less capable I became of doing so.
"Suppose we have a run?" said Madame de Palme suddenly.
"Let us have a run!" I said; and we started at a gallop, to my infinite
relief.
Nevertheless, it became absolutely necessary to check our speed at the
entrance of the tortuous path that leads down into the valley of the
ruins. The care required to guide our horses during that difficult descent
served for a few minutes longer as a pretext for my silence; but, on
reaching the level ground of the valley, I saw that I must speak at any
cost, and I was about to begin with some commonplace remark, when Madame
de Palme was kind enough to anticipate me:
"They say, sir, that you are very witty?"
"You may judge for yourself, madam," I replied laughingly.
"Rather difficult so far, even if I were able, which you are very far from
conceding. Oh! you need not deny it! Its perfectly useless, after the
conversation which chance made me overhear the other night."
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