"Indeed! it is extraordinary how rapidly everything happens to-day!"
"My choice has fallen on the Marquis de Santoval. I accept him for my husband."
"The Marquis de Santoval!"
And the old lady uttered another exclamation of surprise, then fell back on her couch, saying:
"Everybody seems determined to kill me to-day by exciting me beyond endurance!"
XXXVII
BATHILDE'S CHILD
The magnificent Hôtel de Marvejols had changed masters. In the place of the old marquis, Bathilde, Comte Léodgard's lawful wife, was installed in the vast apartments, and gave orders to the numerous servants whom the marquis had left with her as a nucleus of her household.
An abrupt change seemed to have taken place in the young woman's mind, manners, and bearing. Nature, seconding her newly acquired fortune, lavished upon her a multitude of gifts, which, previously to that time at least, had been hidden by her timidity and the retirement in which she had lived.
On receiving a name and a title which raised her in her own esteem, the modest and trembling girl had become an excellent woman, humane and beneficent to all those about her.
She wore without embarrassment, even with dignity, the richer garb which her lofty position demanded. Far from being awkward and ill at ease in the rich attire of a noble dame, Bathilde displayed new graces; her refined and fascinating features seemed made to go with silk fabrics and velvet cloaks.