“Then, madam,” said the Colonel, bowing, “it shall be my privilege to drive you to Shrewsbury, Mr. Romaine’s residence—and from there to my own place, where my sister and granddaughter will be happy to entertain you as long as you find it agreeable to remain with us.”
“I thank you a thousand times,” replied Madame de Fonblanque. “I have never met with greater kindness, and you have the gratitude of a woman and a stranger, whom you have relieved from a most inconvenient predicament.”
The Colonel then offered her his arm, and together they traversed the long wharf in the descending night, while a wild east wind raved about them and made the black water seethe below them. There was not much talking in the teeth of such a wind, but when Madame de Fonblanque was seated in the chaise with the lap-robes tucked around her, and the horses were making good time along the soggy road, she told all that was necessary about herself. She was the widow of an army officer, and since her widowhood had spent much time in traveling. She had come to this country to see Mr. Romaine on a matter which she frankly declared was chiefly one of money; and she desired a personal interview with him before taking legal steps. She had had a maid with her, but the woman, having found an unexpected opportunity of going back to France, had basely left her only the day before.
“And so, as I am a soldier’s daughter and a soldier’s widow,” she said, with a smile, “I thought, ‘What can harm one in this chivalrous country? I will go alone. I will take enough money with me’—I was careful not to take too much—‘and I will simply find out the quickest way to reach Mr. Romaine, and see him; and then I will return to New York, where I have friends.’”
“A very courageous thing for a lady to do, madam,” replied the Colonel, gallantly. “But I think you will find, particularly in the State of Virginia, that a woman’s weakness is her strength. Every Virginia gentleman is the protector of a defenseless woman.”
Madame de Fonblanque smiled prettily, showing very white teeth. She did not quite understand the Colonel’s allusion to Virginia gentlemen especially, but having great tact, she appeared to comprehend it perfectly.
“But do not think for a moment,” she said, “that I would bestow my confidence upon all men as I have bestowed it on you. The supreme honesty of your character was perfectly visible to me the instant you addressed me. I have seen much of the world, and I am no bad reader of character, and I trusted you from the moment I saw you.”
The Colonel took off his hat, and bowed so low that the chaise, at that moment giving a lurch, nearly pitched him head foremost under his horses’ heels. Madame de Fonblanque uttered a little scream.
“I always was so nervous about horses,” she said; “although both my father and my husband were in the Lancers, they never could induce me to ride.”
Then she began asking some questions about Mr. Romaine, which showed that she had a very clear knowledge of his character.