“Bad! my dear boy! It was as bad as it could be! It’s a mercy you weren’t there, or we shouldn’t ’ave seen you ’ome again so soon! There were the sixteen gals, with their tight breeches and their short racing jackets, and a fat fellow dressed like a huntsman whipping ’em round and round the ring, as if they were so much cattle! You should ’ave seen them ’op, when he touched ’em up with the lash of ’is whip. I expect they’ve never ’ad such a tingling since the time their mothers smacked ’em! There was a little fat one, there! I wish you could ’ave seen ’er, when ’e whipped ’er to make ’er ’urry! It was comical! She ’opped like a kangaroo!”
“And what was the upshot of it all? Who won?” asked Ralph.
“O! I don’t know! I got Gustave out as soon as I could! I wasn’t going to let ’im spend the whole afternoon, watching those gals ’opping. There were ’is eyes goggling out of ’is ’ead, and his lips licking each other, as if ’e was sucking a sugar-stick—”
“Mein tear! mein tear!” interposed the unfortunate Baron.
“You go on with your dinner, Gustave, and leave me alone! I saw you! And no more lady jockey races do you attend, whilst we’re in this Popish country. They ain’t good for you.”
“I’m very thankful that I have been saved such a dangerous experiment,” said Captain Pullen, “though if I thought that you would tie your handkerchief over my eyes, and put my head in your lap, Madame, I should feel tempted to try it as soon as dinner is over!”
“Go along with you, you bad boy!” chuckled the Baroness, “there’s something else to see this evening! They are going to ’ave a procession of lanterns as soon as it’s dark!”
“And it is to stop in front of every hotel,” added Harriet, “and the landlords are going to distribute bonbons and gâteaux amongst the lantern-bearers.”
“O! we must not miss that on any account!” replied Captain Pullen, addressing himself to her in reply.
Margaret and Elinor thought, when the time came, that they should be able to see the procession of lanterns just as well from the balcony as when mingled with the crowd, so they brought their work and books down there, and sat with Ralph, drinking coffee and conversing of all that had occurred. The Baroness had disappeared, and Harriet Brandt had apparently gone with her—a fact for which both ladies were inwardly thankful.