Muttering What she-mountebank have we here? he sank into a chair behind the door, and fell into an absorbed revery. From this he was aroused by the cessation of the music and the hum of subdued approbation by which it was followed. Above the hum swelled the imposing voice of M. Louvier as he rose from a seat on the other side of the piano, by which his bulky form had been partially concealed.
Bravo! perfectly played! excellent! Can we not persuade your charming young countrywoman to gratify us even by a single song? Then turning aside and addressing some one else invisible to Graham he said, Does that tyrannical doctor still compel you to silence, Mademoiselle?
A voice so sweetly modulated that if there were any sarcasm in the words it was lost in the softness of pathos, answered, Nay, Monsieur Louvier, he rather overtasks the words at my command in thankfulness to those who like yourself, so kindly regard me as something else than a singer.
It was not the she-mountebank who thus spoke. Graham rose and looked round with instinctive curiosity. He met the face that he said had haunted him. She too had risen, standing near the piano, with one hand tenderly resting on the she-mountebanks scarlet and gilded shoulder,the face that haunted him, and yet with a difference. There was a faint blush on the clear pale cheek, a soft yet playful light in the grave dark-blue eyes, which had not been visible in the countenance of the young lady in the pearl-coloured robe. Graham did not hear Louviers reply, though no doubt it was loud enough for him to hear. He sank again into revery. Other guests now came into the room, among them Frank Morley, styled Colonel,eminent military titles in the United States do not always denote eminent military services,a wealthy American, and his sprightly and beautiful wife. The Colonel was a clever man, rather stiff in his deportment, and grave in speech, but by no means without a vein of dry humour. By the French he was esteemed a high-bred specimen of the kind of grand seigneur which democratic republics engender. He spoke French like a Parisian, had an imposing presence, and spent a great deal of money with the elegance of a man of taste and the generosity of a man of heart. His high breeding was not quite so well understood by the English, because the English are apt to judge breeding by little conventional rules not observed by the American Colonel. He had a slight nasal twang, and introduced sir with redundant ceremony in addressing Englishmen, however intimate he might be with them, and had the habit (perhaps with a sly intention to startle or puzzle them) of adorning his style of conversation with quaint Americanisms.
Nevertheless, the genial amiability and the inherent dignity of his character made him acknowledged as a thorough gentleman by every Englishman, however conventional in tastes, who became admitted into his intimate acquaintance.
Mrs. Morley, ten or twelve years younger than her husband, had no nasal twang, and employed no Americanisms in her talk, which was frank, lively, and at times eloquent. She had a great ambition to be esteemed of a masculine understanding; Nature unkindly frustrated that ambition in rendering her a model of feminine grace. Graham was intimately acquainted with Colonel Morley; and with Mrs. Morley had contracted one of those cordial friendships, which, perfectly free alike from polite flirtation and Platonic attachment, do sometimes spring up between persons of opposite sexes without the slightest danger of changing their honest character into morbid sentimentality or unlawful passion. The Morleys stopped to accost Graham, but the lady had scarcely said three words to him, before, catching sight of the haunting face, she darted towards it. Her husband, less emotional, bowed at the distance, and said, To my taste, sir, the Signorina Cicogna is the loveliest girl in the present bee,* and full of mind, sir.
[*Bee, a common expression in the West for a meeting or gathering] of people.
Singing mind, said Graham, sarcastically, and in the ill-natured impulse of a man striving to check his inclination to admire.
I have not heard her sing, replied the American, dryly; and the words singing mind are doubtless accurately English, since you employ them; but at Boston the collocation would be deemed barbarous. You fly off the handle. The epithet, sir, is not in concord with the substantive.
Boston would be in the right, my dear Colonel. I stand rebuked; mind has little to do with singing.
I take leave to deny that, sir. You fire into the wrong flock, and would not hazard the remark if you had conversed as I have with Signorina Cicogna.
Before Graham could answer, Signorina Cicogna stood before him, leaning lightly on Mrs. Morleys arm.
Frank, you must take us into the refreshment-room, said Mrs. Morley to her husband; and then, turning to Graham, added, Will you help to make way for us?
Graham bowed, and offered his arm to the fair speaker. No, said she, taking her husbands. Of course you know the Signorina, or, as we usually call her, Mademoiselle Cicogna. No? Allow me to present you. Mr. Graham Vane, Mademoiselle Cicogna. Mademoiselle speaks English like a native.
And thus abruptly Graham was introduced to the owner of the haunting face. He had lived too much in the great world all his life to retain the innate shyness of an Englishman; but he certainly was confused and embarrassed when his eyes met Isauras, and he felt her hand on his arm. Before quitting the room she paused and looked back. Grahams look followed her own, and saw behind them the lady with the scarlet jacket escorted by some portly and decorated connoisseur. Isauras face brightened to another kind of brightness,a pleased and tender light.
Poor dear Madre, she murmured to herself in Italian. Madre! echoed Graham, also in Italian. I have been misinformed, then; that lady is your mother.
Isaura laughed a pretty, low, silvery laugh, and replied in English, She is not my mother; but I call her Madre, for I know no name more loving.
Graham was touched, and said gently, Your own mother was evidently very dear to you.
Isauras lip quivered, and she made a slight movement as if she would have withdrawn her hand from his arm. He saw that he had offended or wounded her, and with the straightforward frankness natural to him, resumed quickly, My remark was impertinent in a stranger; forgive it.
There is nothing to forgive, Monsieur.
The two now threaded their way through the crowd, both silent. At last Isaura, thinking she ought to speak first in order to show that Graham had not offended her, said,
How lovely Mrs. Morley is!
Yes; and I like the spirit and ease of her American manner. Have you known her long, Mademoiselle?
No; we met her for the first time some weeks ago at M. Savarins.
Was she very eloquent on the rights of women?
What! you have heard her on that subject?
I have rarely heard her on any other, though she is the best and perhaps the cleverest friend I have at Paris; but that may be my fault, for I like to start it. It is a relief to the languid small-talk of society to listen to any one thoroughly in earnest upon turning the world topsy-turvy.
Do you suppose poor Mrs. Morley would seek to do that if she had her rights? asked Isaura, with her musical laugh.
Not a doubt of it; but perhaps you share her opinions.