se she would have preferred
that it should have been her daughter, but her daughter's friend was
next best. As we went away, I heard Madame Rupprecht and Monsieur de la
Tourelle reciprocating civil speeches with might and main, from which I
found out that the French gentleman was coming to call on us the next
day. I do not know whether I was more glad or frightened, for I had been
kept upon stilts of good manners all the evening. But still I was
flattered when Madame Rupprecht spoke as if she had invited him, because
he had shown pleasure in my society, and even more gratified by Sophie's
ungrudging delight at the evident interest I had excited in so fine and
agreeable a gentleman. Yet, with all this, they had hard work to keep me
from running out of the salon the next day, when we heard his voice
inquiring at the gate on the stairs for Madame Rupprecht. They had made
me put on my Sunday gown, and they themselves were dressed as for a
reception.

When he was gone away, Madame Rupprecht congratulated me on the conquest
I had made; for, indeed, he had scarcely spoken to any one else, beyond
what mere civility required, and had almost invited himself to come in
the evening to bring some new song, which was all the fashion in Paris,
he said. Madame Rupprecht had been out all morning, as she told me, to
glean information about Monsieur de la Tourelle. He was a proprietaire,
had a small chateau on the Vosges mountains; he owned land there, but
had a large income from some sources quite independent of this property.
Altogether, he was a good match, as she emphatically observed. She
never seemed to think that I could refuse him after this account of his
wealth, nor do I believe she would have allowed Sophie a choice, even
had he been as old and ugly as he was young and handsome. I do not quite
know--so many events have come to pass since then, and blurred the
clearness of my recollections--if I loved him or not. He was very much
devoted to me; he almost frightened me by the excess of his demonstrations
of love. And he was very charming to everybody around me, who all spoke
of him as the most fascinating of men, and of me as the most fortunate
of girls. And yet I never felt quite at my ease with him. I was always
relieved when his visits were over, although I missed his presence when
he did not come. He prolonged his visit to the friend with whom he was
staying at Carlsruhe, on purpose to woo me. He loaded me with presents,
whic