che on my
upper lip; not to say that I had got up a sort of supercilious air of
contemptuous pity for the foreigner, which I had observed to be much in
favor with the English abroad. It cost me dear to do this, and nothing
but the consciousness that it was one of the requirements of my station
could have made me assume it, for in my heart of hearts, I revelled
in enjoyment of all around me. I liked the soft breezy balmy air, the
mellow beech wood, the grassy turf overgrown with violets, the wild
notes of the frightened wood-pigeon, the very tramp-tramp of the massive
horses, with their scarlet tassels and their jingling bells; all pleased
and interested me. Not to speak of her, who, at my side, felt a very
child's delight at every novelty of the way.

"What would I have said to any one who, only a fortnight ago, had
promised me such happiness as this?" said I to my companion, as we drove
along, while the light branches rustled pleasantly over the roof of the
carriage, darkening the shade around us, or occasionally deluging us
with the leaves as we passed.

"And are you then so very happy?" asked she, with a pleasant smile.

"Can you doubt it? or rather is it that, as the emotion does not extend
to yourself, you _do_ doubt it?"

"Oh, as for me," cried she, joyfully, "it is very different. I have
never travelled till now--seen nothing, actually nothing. The veriest
commonplaces of the road, the peasants' costumes, their wayside
cottages, the little shrines they kneel at, are all objects of
picturesque interest to me, and I am ready to exclaim at each moment,
'Oh! why cannot we stop here? shall we ever see anything so beautiful
again as this?'"

"And hearing you talk thus, you can ask me am I so very happy!" said I,
reproachfully.

"What I meant was, is it not stupid to have no companion of your own
turn of mind, none with whom you could talk, without condescending to
a tone beneath you, just as certain stories are reduced to words of one
syllable for little children?"

"Mademoiselle is given to sarcasm, I see," said I, half peevishly.

"Nothing of the kind," said she, blushing slightly. "It was in perfect
good faith. I wished you a more suitable companion. Indeed, after what I
had heard from his Excellency about you, I was terrified at the thought
of my own insufficiency."

"And pray what _did_ he say of me?" asked I, in a flutter of delight.

"Are you very fond of flattery?"

"Immensely!"

"Is it not poss