FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   255   256   257   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279  
280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   >>   >|  
oring our leader; and the King of to-day was very right to make him a Marshal." "Hurrah for the Marshal!" cried the workman. "Oh, you may shout--shout away! The Marshal is as deaf as a post from the roar of cannon." This anecdote may give some idea of the respect with which the _Invalides_ regarded Marshal Hulot, whose Republican proclivities secured him the popular sympathy of the whole quarter of the town. Sorrow taking hold on a spirit so calm and strict and noble, was a heart-breaking spectacle. The Baroness could only tell lies, with a woman's ingenuity, to conceal the whole dreadful truth from her brother-in-law. In the course of this miserable morning, the Marshal, who, like all old men, slept but little, had extracted from Lisbeth full particulars as to his brother's situation, promising to marry her as the reward of her revelations. Any one can imagine with what glee the old maid allowed the secrets to be dragged from her which she had been dying to tell ever since she had come into the house; for by this means she made her marriage more certain. "Your brother is incorrigible!" Lisbeth shouted into the Marshal's best ear. Her strong, clear tones enabled her to talk to him, but she wore out her lungs, so anxious was she to prove to her future husband that to her he would never be deaf. "He has had three mistresses," said the old man, "and his wife was an Adeline! Poor Adeline!" "If you will take my advice," shrieked Lisbeth, "you will use your influence with the Prince de Wissembourg to secure her some suitable appointment. She will need it, for the Baron's pay is pledged for three years." "I will go to the War Office," said he, "and see the Prince, to find out what he thinks of my brother, and ask for his interest to help my sister. Think of some place that is fit for her." "The charitable ladies of Paris, in concert with the Archbishop, have formed various beneficent associations; they employ superintendents, very decently paid, whose business it is to seek out cases of real want. Such an occupation would exactly suit dear Adeline; it would be work after her own heart." "Send to order the horses," said the Marshal. "I will go and dress. I will drive to Neuilly if necessary." "How fond he is of her! She will always cross my path wherever I turn!" said Lisbeth to herself. Lisbeth was already supreme in the house, but not with the Marshal's cognizance. She had struck terror into
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   255   256   257   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279  
280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Marshal

 

Lisbeth

 

brother

 

Adeline

 

Prince

 
Office
 

pledged

 

leader

 
charitable
 

ladies


sister
 
thinks
 

interest

 

appointment

 
suitable
 

Hurrah

 

workman

 

mistresses

 

Wissembourg

 
secure

influence

 

popular

 
advice
 

shrieked

 

concert

 

Neuilly

 
horses
 

cognizance

 
struck
 
terror

supreme

 

employ

 
superintendents
 

decently

 

associations

 

beneficent

 

Archbishop

 

formed

 

business

 
occupation

respect

 

morning

 

Sorrow

 

miserable

 

situation

 
promising
 

particulars

 

extracted

 

anecdote

 
Invalides