“That is what my godfather wears on his coat, and he gives it to me to play with when he comes here,” said the little fellow, adding some unintelligible semi-Russian, which quite baffled Emile.
“He has the honour to be the Emperor’s godson,” Clémence explained.
“Then, my boy, you have a splendid godfather,” said Emile.
“Et bon,”[79] the child added quickly.
At this moment the nurse appeared at the door. She was a stately personage in full Russian costume—a velvet “sarafan,” or wide open robe, showing beneath it a close-fitting silken gown, its long sleeves clasped at the wrist with bands of gold, while the national head-dress, a kind of crescent-shaped diadem called a “kakoshnik,” added to the magnificence of her appearance. She was a person of great importance in the establishment, and much beloved by the children, as they showed by going to her without reluctance even from their idolized “Maman” or “Matinka,” as they called her indifferently.
Whilst Emile was doing justice to a repast, which, although prepared upon short notice, proved that Clémence had forgotten none of his boyish tastes, he gave her various items of family tidings, which were new to her, as she had not heard very recently from home.
“My grandmother has been rather fortunate,” he said. “Some mines in which she invested a portion of her salvage from the wreck of the family fortunes have proved a grand success. So the good soul was desirous of purchasing an estate in the country upon which a certain ‘mauvais sujet’ of a grandson, who has given her more trouble than he is worth, might settle down at last and ‘range himself,’ as she says. By a singular piece of good luck, the ancestral estate of your branch of the Talmonts happened to be in the market, its late republican possessor having made the country too hot for himself.”
Clémence uttered an exclamation of surprise and pleasure. “Has La Tante succeeded in obtaining it?” she asked eagerly and with sparkling eyes.
“Yes, ma cousine. And the first work undertaken by the promising young architect, M. de Talmont, is to be the restoration of the old château.”
“Where we were born, he and I—where my mother spent the brief, bright days of her wedded life!” said the delighted Clémence. “Mon cousin, I rejoice to think that a place so dear to us all will be your home. You must soon bring a fair bride to grace it,” she added with a smile.