Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (have you read this book txt) 📖
- Author: Various None
Book online «Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (have you read this book txt) 📖». Author Various None
Up With It As It Rolled Downward.
The Prevalent Idea In Mrs. Leare'S Salon Was That The Banquet Of The Rue
Chaillot Would Go Off Quietly, That The Prefect Of Police Would Protest,
And That The Affair Would Then Pass Into The Law-Courts, Where It Would
Remain Until All Interest In The Subject Had Passed Away. One Was
Sensible, However, That There Was A General Feeling Of Excitement In The
Atmosphere. Paris Swarmed With Troops, Evidently Under Stricter
Discipline Than Usual. People Looked Into Each Other'S Faces
Interrogatively And Read The Daily Papers With An Anxious Air.
Though I Did Not At The Time Fully Appreciate What I Saw, I Was Struck
By The Business-Like Character Of The Men About Me. The Guests, I
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 56Thought, Took Very Little Notice Of The Lady Of The House. I Did Not
Then Suspect That They Were Using Her Hospitality For Their Own
Purposes, And That They Felt Secure In Her Total Incapacity To
Understand What They Were Doing. She, Meantime, Intent On Filling Her
Reception-Rooms With Celebrities And Titled Persons, Was Charmed To Have
Collected So Many Distinguished Men Around Her.
Hermione Appeared Bewildered, Uncomfortable And Restless, Like A
Spectator On The Edge Of A Great Crowd. "There Are Too Many Strangers
Here To-Night," She Said: "Mamma And I Do Not Know One Half Of Them.
They Have Been Brought Here By Their Friends. To Have A Salon Is Mamma'S
Ambition, But This Is Not My Idea Of It. I Feel As If We Were Out Of
Place Among These Men, Who Talk To Each Other And Hardly Notice Us At
All."
We Sat Together And Exchanged Our Thoughts In Whispers. It Was One Of
Those Crowds That Create A Solitude For Lovers. Not That We Talked
Sentiment Or That We Were Lovers. We Conversed About The Excitements Of
The Day--Of The Leste Affair, In Which The King And The King'S Ministry
Were Accused Of Protecting Dishonesty; Of The Beauvallon And
D'Equivilley Duel And The Praslin Murder, In connection With Both Of
Which The Royal Family And The Ministry Were Popularly Accused Of
Protecting Criminals--And At Last The Conversation Strayed Away From
France To Hermione'S Own Girlhood. She Told Me Of Her Happy Country Home
In Maryland With Her Grandmother, And Sighed. I Asked Her If She Was
Going To The English Ball To Be Given On Wednesday Night At The
Beautiful Jardin D'Hiver In The Champs Elysees.
"I Suppose So," She Replied, "But I Don'T Care For Large Assemblies: I
Feel Afraid Of The Men I Meet. I Wish Your Mother Could Chaperon Me: It
Would Be Much Nicer To Be With Her Than With My Own. Mamma Understands
Nothing About Looking After Me; She Wants To Have A Good Time Herself,
And I Am Only In Her Way. Do You Know, Mr. Farquhar, I Have A Theory
That When Women Have Missed Anything They Ought To Have Enjoyed In early
Life, They Always Want To Go Back And Pick It Up. Mamma Had No Pleasures
In Her Youth, No Attentions, No Gayety. If I Am To Be Chaperoned, I Like
The Real Thing. If I Were At Home In Maryland, Where My Father Came
From, I Should Need No One To Protect Me: _You_ Could Take Me To The
Ball."
"I, Miss Hermione?"
"Yes, You. You Would Call For Me, And Wait Till I Was Ready To Come
Down. Then You And I Would Go _Alone_," She Added, Enjoying My Look Of
Incredulity. "It Is The Custom: No Harm Could Come Of It," She Added.
"We Would Walk To Our Ball."
"No Harm In The Case That You Have Supposed, But In Some Other Cases--"
"You Suppose A Good Deal," She Interrupted. "You Suppose A Girl Without
Self-Respect Or Good Sense, And Perhaps A Man Without Honor. Here, Of
Course, Things Cannot Be Like That. Society Seems Founded Upon Different
Ideas From Those Prevalent With Us About Men And Women. _Here_, I Admit,
A Girl Finds Comfort And Protection And Ease Of Mind In a Good Chaperon.
Yet It Seemed Strange To Me To Put On Leading-Strings When I Came Out
Here: I Had Been Used To Take Care Of Myself For So Many Years."
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 57
"Why, Miss Leare," I Said, Laughing, "You Cannot Have Been Many Years In
Society."
"I Am Twenty," She Said Frankly, "And We Came To Europe About Three
Years Ago. But Before That Time I Had Been In company A Good Deal. Not
In The City, For I Was Not 'Out,' But In The Hotels At Newport, At The
Springs And In The Country. In america One Has But To Do What One Knows
Is Kind And Right, And No One Will Think Evil: Here One May Do, Without
Suspecting It, So Many Compromising Things."
"Does The Instinct That You Speak Of To Be Kind And Right Always Guide
The Young American Lady?"
"I Suppose So--So Far As I Know. It _Must_. She Walks By It, And Sets
Her Feet Down Firmly. Here I Feel All The Time As If I Were Walking
Among Traps Blindfolded."
The Ball Of The Jardin D'Hiver In The Champs Elysees Was A Superb
Success. The Immense Glass-House Was Fitted Up For Dancing, And All Went
Merry As A Marriage-Bell, With A Crater About To Open Under Our Feet, As
At The Duchess Of Richmond'S Ball At Brussels.
Miss Leare Was There, But Quiet And Dignified. There Was Not The
Smallest Touch Of Vulgarity About Her. The Coarse Readiness To Accept
Publicity Which Distinguishes The Underbred Woman, Whether In england Or
America, The Desire To Show Off A Foreign Emancipation From What Appear
Ridiculous French Rules, Were Not In Her.
Yet She Might Have Amused Herself As She Liked With Complete Impunity,
For Mrs. Leare Appeared To Leave Her Entirely Alone. I Danced With Her
As Often As She Would Permit Me, And My Heart Was No Longer In My Own
Possession When I Put-Her Into Her Carriage About Dawn.
Two Or Three Days After I Called, But The Ladies Were Not In, So That
Except At Church At The Hotel Marboeuf On Sunday Morning I Saw Nothing
Of Miss Hermione. Monday, February 21St, Was Sunny And Bright. The
Public Excitement Was Such That An Unusual Number Of Working-Men Were
Keeping Their St. Crispin. The Soldiers, However, Were Confined To Their
Quarters: Not A Uniform Was To Be Seen Abroad. Our Night Had Been
Disturbed By The Continuous Rumble Of Carts And Carriages.
"Is It A Fine Day For The Banquet?" I Heard Amy Say As Our Maid Opened
Her Windows On Tuesday Morning.
"There Is To Be No Banquet," Was The Answer. "_Voyez Done_ The
Proclamation Posted On The Door Of The Barrack At The Corner Of The Rue
Chaillot."
I Sprang From My Bed And Looked Out Of My Window. A Strange Change Had
Taken Place In The Teeming Little Caserne At The Corner. Instead Of The
Usual Groups Of Well-Behaved Boy-Soldiers In Rough Uniforms, The Barrack
Looked Deserted, And Its Lower Windows Had Been Closed Up To Their Top
Panes With Bags Of Hay And Mattresses. Not A Soldier, Not Even A Sentry,
Was To Be Seen.
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 58
I Dressed Myself And Went Out To Collect News. The Carts That Had
Disturbed Us During The Night Had Been Not Only Employed In Removing All
Preparations For The Banquet, But In Taking Every Loose Paving-Stone Out
Of The Way. I Found The Place De La Madeleine Full Of People, All
Looking Up At The House Of Odillon Barrot, Asking "What Next?" And "What
Shall We Do?" Odillon Barrot Was The Hero Of The Moment--Literally _Of
The Moment_. In Forty-Eight Hours From That Time His Name Had Faded From
The Page Of History. In The Place De La Concorde There Was More
Excitement, For Threats Were Being Made To Cross The Bridge And To
Insult The Chambers. The Pont De L'Institut, Notwithstanding The Efforts
Of The Garde Municipale Or Mounted Police, Was Greatly Crowded. A Party
Of Dragoons, On Sorrel Ponies Barely Fourteen Hands High, Rode Up And
Began To Clear The Bridge, But Gently And Gradually. The Crowd Was
Retiring As Fast As Its Numbers Would Permit, When Some Of The Municipal
Guard Rode Through The Ranks Of The Dragoons And Set Themselves, With
Ill-Judged Roughness, To Accelerate The Operation. The Crowd Grew Angry,
And Stones Began To Be Thrown At The Guard And Soldiers.
Growing Anxious For The Women I Had Left In The Rue Neuve De Berri, I
Returned Home By Side-Streets. A Crowd Had Collected On The Champs
Elysees About Thirty Yards From The Corner Of Our Street, And Was
Forming A Barricade. All Were Shouting, All Gesticulating. Citadines At
Full Speed Were Driving Out Of Reach Of Requisition; Horses Were Going
Off Disencumbered Of Their Vehicles; The Driver Of A Remise Was Seated
Astride His Animal, The Long Flaps Of His Driving-Coat Covering It From
Neck To Tail; A Noble Elm Was Being Hewn Down By Hatchets And Even
Common Knives. An Omnibus, The Remise, A Few Barrels And Dining-Tables,
A Dozen Yards Of _Pave_ Torn Up By Eager Hands, A Sentry-Box, Some
Benches And The Tree, Formed The Barricade. _Gamins_ And _Blouses_
Worked At It. The Respectables Looked On And Did Not Trouble The
Workers. Suddenly There Was A General Stampede Among Them. A Squadron Of
About Fifty Dragoons Charged Up The Champs Elysees. One Old
Peasant-Woman In a Scanty Yellow-And-Black Skirt, Which She Twitched
Above Her Knees, Led The Retreat. But Soon They Stopped And Turned
Again, While The Dragoons Rode Slowly Back, Breathing Their Horses.
Nobody Was Angry, For Nobody Had Been Hurt, But They Were Frightened
Enough.
At This Moment, Stealing From A Porte-Cochere Where She Had Taken Refuge
During The Fright And _Sauve Gui Peut_, Came A Figure Wrapped In dark
Drapery. Could It Be Possible? Hermione Leare! In a Moment I Was At Her
Side. She Was Very Pale And Breathless, And She Was Glad To Take My Arm.
"What Brings You Here?" I Whispered.
"Our Servants Have All Run Away: They Think Mamma Is Compromised.
Victor, Our Chasseur, Broke Open Mamma'S Secretary And Took His Wages.
She Is Almost Beside Herself. She Wanted To Send A Letter To The Post,
And As It Is Steamer-Day I Thought Papa Had Better Know That Thus Far
Nothing Has
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