I felt it incumbent on me to appear a little aggrieved:
“Am I to go to-night?” I asked. “Where can I get to to-night, my lord?”
“What’s that to me? I dare say if you stand old Jean a franc, he’ll give you a lift to the nearest inn. Tell him he may take a farm-horse.”
Really the duke was treating me with quite as much civility as I have seen many of my friends extend to their servants. I had nothing to complain of. I bowed, and was about to turn away, when the duchess appeared in the porch.
“What is it, Armand?” she asked. “You are sending Sampson away after all?”
“I could not deny your request,” said he in mockery. “Moreover, I have found a better servant.”
The stranger almost swept the ground in obeisance before the lady of the house.
“You are very changeable,” said the duchess.
I saw vexation in her face.
“My dearest, your sex cannot have a monopoly of change. I change a bad servant—as you yourself think him—for a good one. Is that remarkable?”