"If you see your model too often, you will lose her," added the Tall Lady.
We bade our friends good-by and trudged on up the hillside to the storied Forest of Fontainebleau. We sat down on a log and watched the winding Seine stretching away like a monstrous serpent, away down across the meadow; just at our feet was the white village of By; beyond was Thomeray, and off to the left rose the spires of Fontainebleau.
"And who is this Antoine and who is the Tall Lady?" I asked, as White Pigeon began to unpack the basket.
"It's quite a romance; are you sure you want to hear it?"
"I must hear it."
And so between bites White Pigeon told me the story.
The Tall Lady is a niece of Madame Rosalie's. She was married to an army officer at Bordeaux when she was sixteen years old. Her husband treated her shamefully; he beat her and forced her to write begging letters and to borrow money of her relatives, and then he would take this money and waste it gambling and in drink. In short, he was a Brute.
Madame Rosalie accidentally heard of all this, and one day went down to Bordeaux and took the Tall Lady away from the Brute and told him she would kill him if he followed.
"Did she paint a picture of the Brute?"
"Keep quiet, please!"