“And the old lady?”
“When she is got up in her velvet gown and her big silk mantle, and her bonnet with plumes on it, she always reminds me of the general’s charger at a grand parade. And she is about as much to be feared,” said Paul, laughing. “I would rather encounter a dozen Madame Bernards than one Sergeant Duval. I think the sergeant lives for the purpose of catching you tripping—that is to say in the event that your mother doesn’t marry him.”
“Women are the oddest creatures in the world,” Toni said solemnly, blinking his eyes. “There’s my mother. She has been a widow for twenty years and, if you believe me, the way she is fooling the sergeant would put a sixteen-year-old girl to the blush.” Then Toni told about the box of chocolate. “And it will be boxes of chocolate straight along until she gets me married to Denise, and then—pouf!—away will go the sergeant. She would not marry him to save his life. The sergeant is a fine man, too—better than I am, but she loves me best.”
These hours of confidence were not among the least pleasant in the lives of Paul and Toni.
CHAPTER XVIII
Early in the month of June, the month of roses, the wedding of Paul and Lucie came off. The civil wedding occurred one day, but the great event was the religious ceremony on the next day. It took place in the garrison chapel, which was beautifully decorated for the occasion. It was a very grand wedding, for the Bernards were great people, but it was likewise a very happy wedding. A great many persons wondered why a girl of Lucie Bernard’s beauty, fortune and position should marry a little sublieutenant of dragoons, but when they came to see and know the little sublieutenant, and how much liked and respected he was by everybody, it did not seem remarkable at all. Lucie’s most valued wedding present was a huge amethyst bracelet, bought by the voluntary subscriptions of the men in Paul’s own troop out of their small pay. Lucie wore it at her wedding, her only other ornament being a modest pearl brooch which was Paul’s gift.