Then saluting the young commander, in a manner that would not admit of denial, la belle Barbérie dismissed her lover and the valet, together.
“You have a pleasant office, Monsieur François,” said the former, as he was lighted to the outer door of the pavilion; “it is one that many a gallant gentleman would envy.”
“Oui, Sair. It be grand plaisir to serve Mam’selle Alide. Je porte de fan, de book, mais quant au vin, Monsieur le Capitaine, parole d’honneur, c’est toujours impossible après que l’Aldermain s’est couché.”
“Aye—the book—I think you had the agreeable duty, to-day, of carrying the book of la Belle?”
“Vraiment, oui! ’Twas ouvrage de Monsieur Pierre Corneille. On prétend, que Monsieur Shak-a-spear en a emprunté d’assez beaux sentiments!”
“And the paper between the leaves?—you were charged also with that note, good François?”
The valet paused, shrugged his shoulders, and laid one of his long yellow fingers on the plane of an enormous aquiline nose, while he seemed to muse. Then shaking his head perpendicularly, he preceded the captain, as before, muttering, as usual, half in French and half in English,—
“For le papier, I know, rien du tout; c’est bien possible, parceque, voyez vous, Monsieur le Capitaine, Mam’selle Alide did say, prenez-y garde; but I no see him, depuis. Je suppose ’twas beaux compliments écrits on de vers of M. Pierre Corneille. Quel génie que celui de cet homme là!—n’est ce pas, Monsieur?”
“It is of no consequence, good François,” said Ludlow, slipping a guinea into the hands of the valet. “If you should ever discover what became of that paper, however, you will oblige me by letting me know. Good night; mes devoirs à la Belle!”
“Bon soir, Monsieur le Capitaine; c’est un brave Monsieur que celui-la, et de très bonne famille! Il n’a pas de si grandes terres, que Monsieur le Patteroon, pourtant, on dit, qu’il doit avoir de jolies maisons et assez de rentes publiques! J’aime à servir un si généreux et loyal maître, mais, malheureusement, il est marin! M. de Barbérie n’avait pas trop d’amitié pour les gens de cette profession là.”