“We are afraid of the coachman, who seems so unwilling to go.”
“You need not fear,” replied he; “I have his number, and if he does not behave well, apply to me.”
“To you, sir?” said Andrée in French, forgetting herself; “we do not even know your name.”
“You speak French,” exclaimed the young man, “and you have been condemning me all this time to blunder on in German!”
“Excuse us, sir,” said the elder lady, coming to Andrée’s rescue, “but you must see, that though not perhaps foreigners, we are strangers in Paris, and above all, out of our places in a hackney coach. You are sufficiently a man of the world to see that we are placed in an awkward position. I feel assured you are generous enough to believe the best of us, and to complete the service you have rendered, and above all, to ask us no questions.”
“Madame,” replied the officer, charmed with her noble, yet pleasing manner, “dispose of me as you will.”
“Then, sir, have the kindness to get in, and accompany us to Versailles.”
The officer instantly placed himself opposite to them, and directed the man to drive on.
After proceeding in silence for some little time, he began to feel himself surrounded with delicate and delicious perfumes, and gradually began to think better of the ladies’ position. “They are,” thought he, “ladies who have been detained late at some rendezvous, and are now anxious to regain Versailles, much frightened, and a little ashamed; still, two ladies, driving themselves in a cabriolet! However,” recollected he, “there was a servant behind; but then again, no money on either of them, but probably the footman carried the purse; and the carriage was certainly a very elegant one, and the horse could not have been worth less than one hundred and fifty louis; therefore they must be rich, so that the accidental want of money proves nothing. But why speak a foreign language when they must be French? However, that at least shows a good education, and they speak both languages with perfect purity; besides, there is an air of distinction about them. The supplication of the younger one was touching, and the request of the other was noble and imposing; indeed, I begin to feel it dangerous to pass two or three hours in a carriage with two such pretty women, pretty and discreet also; for they do not speak, but wait for me to begin.”
On their parts, the ladies were doubtless thinking of him, for just as he had arrived at these conclusions, the elder lady said to her companion, but this time in English: