Chateau d'Or, Norah, and Kitty Craig

by Mary Jane Holmes

“‘Mon Dieu, but your feet are much large for the rest of you,’ Eugenie said, as she caught sight of his boots. ‘You must not show them so much.’

“So Fred kept his dress down, and wondered how girls managed to walk so well with a lot of petticoats dangling around their ankles, but behaved himself, on the whole, with perfect propriety, and by the time Eugenie’s residence in Paris was reached, had completely won his mistress’ heart. It was past the luncheon hour, but Eugenie had chocolate and rolls in her room, and Fanny served her with the utmost deference, and moved so quietly and gently among her fellow servants that she came into favor at once, and la jeune Anglaise was toasted at dinner by one of the footmen, who thought the new girl did not understand a word he said.

“It was two days before Haverleigh came to stop any length of time, and then he came to dine, and by appointment.

“‘I shall ring for you to do something for me after dinner, and you will be much careful,’ Eugenie said to Fred, who had never been so nervous and excited as he was in view of the approaching ordeal.

“The stuff dress had been exchanged for a pretty calico, and the white fluted apron which he wore had been bought at the Bon Marche. The light, abundant hair was covered with a bit of muslin called a cap, with smart blue ribbons streaming behind, and this, more than anything else, made Fred into a girl—a tidy-looking maid, who stood with beating heart in the upper hall, listening to the tones of Haverleigh’s voice, as they came from the salon below. How well Fred remembered that voice, and how his young blood boiled as he longed to rush upon the man and with all his feeble strength avenge his sister’s wrongs. But he must bide his time, and he waited till his mistress’ bell should summon him to her presence, and that of his detestable brother-in-law.

“Haverleigh was in excellent spirits that night. Indeed he had been in excellent spirits ever since the morning when he received the dispatch from Chateau d’Or announcing the birth of a son. Whether it would ever please him to have his wife fully restored to reason, and free to come and go with him in his journeying was doubtful. It was a rather pleasant excitement, having her at the chateau, where he could visit her when the mood was on him; but to have her with him in Paris and Nice, and London, where he wished to be free and untrammeled, was another thing.

“So Anna seemed likely to remain just where she was for an indefinite length of time, unless he allowed her as a great favor to visit Eugenie for a few weeks. But the son—his boy—was to be a great source of pride and happiness to him, and he had already formed many plans for the future of that son, and everything wore a brighter hue since that little life began at Chateau d’Or. Then, too, Eugenie was latterly more gracious in her demeanor toward him, and he had hopes that in time he might be reinstated in her good graces, and as he had a genuine liking for her, this of itself was a sufficient reason why he seemed so elated and even hilarious as he sat once more at her table and basked in the sunshine of her smile. To be sure she talked of Madame Haverleigh more than he cared to have her, but then she had conceived a great friendship for his wife, and it was for his interest to encourage it. So he, too, talked of madame and her health, and answered Eugenie’s questions regarding her family en Amerique. Was there insanity in the blood? Was it a large family? many sisters? any brothers? and were they nobilite?

At this question Haverleigh winced, for he was not certain how much nobility Eugenie would think there was in a shoe-shop, but he tried to answer her readily, and said the family was highly respectable, not nobility exactly, but good; that la mère was dead—and here he did not look straight at Eugenie lest the lie should show itself—that there was a sister Mary, a stronger girl every way than Madame Anna, though not so pretty, and a boy Fred, who was, or seemed to be, quite young, and of whom he did not remember much; he was more interested in girls, he said, and seldom took much notice of boys.

“Eugenie shrugged her shoulders significantly and as they had finished their dessert led the way to the drawing-room, telling him as she went that her advertising had been very successful, and brought her such a treasure of an English girl, Fanny Shader, who was so nice and respectable. Haverleigh cared nothing for Fanny Shader personally, but if she interested Eugenie he must be interested, too, and he said he was very glad madame was suited, and asked from what part of England Fanny came. London was a safe place to come from, and so Fanny’s home was there, and Eugenie said so, and fluttered about the salon until she remembered that she needed a shawl, and rang the bell for Fanny.

“Haverleigh was standing with his back to the fire, looking straight at the door, when Fanny came in, a flush on her cheek, but with a very modest expression in her blue eyes, which never glanced at Haverleigh but once. But in that glance they saw him perfectly from his head to his feet, and knew him for the same haughty Englishman who had so ignored Anna’s family in Millfield. Hating Haverleigh as he did, it was impossible for Fred not to show something of it, and there was a sudden gleam, a kindling, in his eyes, which attracted Haverleigh’s notice, and made him look more curiously after the supposed girl than he would otherwise have done. But there was not a shadow of suspicion in his mind as to the personality of the stranger, and when she was gone for the shawl he said, carelessly: