“I will think it over, Mr. Romaine,” she said, calmly.
“Pray do,” responded Mr. Romaine; “and I will write you a letter to-morrow morning, making a specific offer to fulfil my promise, which will make those cherished letters of yours worth considerably less than the paper they are written on—and what a honeymoon we will have!”
At this, Madame de Fonblanque positively shuddered, but she held her head up bravely as Mr. Romaine opened the door politely for her, and they discovered Colonel Corbin stalking up and down the hall alone.
“Corbin,” said Mr. Romaine, blandly, “Madame de Fonblanque and I have reached a perfectly satisfactory agreement.”
“Sir,” replied the Colonel, glowering with wrath, “it must also be made satisfactory to me. When I bring a lady to a house, she is under my protection; and when she has the term ‘brazen adventuress’ applied to her, simply because she has come to demand a mere act of justice—and I know this to be a fact, because she has so informed me—I must insist upon an apology from the person applying that term.”
“Very well, then,” said Mr. Romaine, debonair and smiling. “I apologize. Madame de Fonblanque is not a brazen adventuress—she is merely a lady of great enterprise and assurance, and I wish you joy of her acquaintance.”
In Madame de Fonblanque’s breast there sprang up that desire that is never wholly smothered in any human being—to appear well in the presence of a person she respected. She did sincerely respect Colonel Corbin, who had befriended her on that risky expedition, and it cut her to the heart to be insulted before him. Her eyes filled with tears, and she turned to him with trembling lips.
“Do not mind what he says. He hates me because he has injured me, and keeps me out of money that he ought to pay me.”
“I do not mind him in the least, madam,” replied the Colonel, suavely. “Mr. Romaine knows perfectly well my opinion of him. He keeps you out of money he owes you, and insists upon forcing on my granddaughter money that she does not want, and which will involve her in endless trouble. I think that is quite characteristic of Romaine. Let us now leave this inhospitable house.”
Madame de Fonblanque took the arm the Colonel offered her, and walked out of the hall without noticing Mr. Romaine’s courteous bow.