"I can understand that perfectly, and it does honor to your modesty. But still, your heart must be touched some day and if I were the fortunate mortal——"
"Ah! I beg your pardon, I see my sister; I have something to say to her!"
Mademoiselle Cornélie escaped and ran to join Eudoxie, who was walking with Edouard, Alfred and several ladies. Robineau looked after her, saying to himself:
"She is fascinating! A magnificent figure! and after our conversation, I have every reason to believe that I am not displeasing to her."
The guests walked about for some time in the gardens, where Monsieur Vincent was sitting on a bench, in evident ill humor, amusing himself by throwing dirt and water on his yellow breeches. Monsieur de la Pincerie had seized an old annuitant, to whom he was confiding his plans of economy, trudging through the strawberry plants; Monsieur Gérard plucked flowers for the ladies; Uncle Mignon looked for pins for his nieces; Alfred, as a matter of habit, paid compliments to the young ladies who were with him; Edouard talked little, but from time to time he sighed as he walked about with Madame de Hautmont; and the widow, who could not conceive that a man could sigh for another woman than herself, sighed with him, leaning more heavily on his arm. Monsieur Berlingue examined with a mocking air the colored lanterns and the dilapidated statues; the Chevalier de Tantignac told a fable to every person that he met; and Monsieur Férulus put everybody to flight, because he carried with him an odor of cheese, which recalled too vividly the throwing of the discus.
Mademoiselle de la Pincerie had received Robineau’s homage civilly enough at Saint-Amand; for Cornélie was nearing her twenty-eighth year, and although she was the daughter of a noble family, the marquis’s fortune consisted in little else than his economical projects; the tall young lady had noticed that the attentions which were paid to her always began and ended with compliments, and she was beginning to desire most earnestly to be called madame. In truth, to save her self-esteem, the family had agreed to say to all those people who expressed surprise that the fair Cornélie had never married, that for family reasons they wished to obtain a place for her Uncle Mignon first. But the uncle was becoming quite as difficult to find a place for as his niece was to find a husband for, and Cornélie no longer assumed such haughty airs with her admirers. That is why she had smiled amiably at the new owner of the château, who, although he was not of an old family, had at all events a fortune with which she could make a show, and appear to much greater advantage. They had prudently sent Uncle Mignon to the notary to make inquiries concerning Robineau’s fortune; the notary at Saint-Amand knew the new owner only from the fact that he had purchased the estate of La Roche-Noire, and that Robineau asked him every day for considerable sums, which were repaid to him by his confrère in Paris. From the mode of life that the new lord was leading, one might well accredit him with twice the amount that he really possessed; so that the notary answered Uncle Mignon that he was a man who probably had fifty thousand francs a year.
The uncle returned and imparted this news to his niece, jumping and showing his teeth, because he too thought that a very wealthy nephew would be of great assistance to him in procuring employment; and the La Pincerie family accepted Robineau’s invitation with pleasure.
But Mademoiselle Cornélie had found Alfred much more fascinating than the lord of La Roche-Noire; the unaffected bearing, the amiable manners, and the lively tone of young De Marcey had caused Robineau to appear more stupid and heavy than ever; and when she learned that the tall young man was a baron and had an income of a hundred thousand francs, she thought of nothing but making a conquest of him, because, in addition to his physical advantages, there was fifty per cent. to be won with him.
That is why she had dropped Robineau’s arm to run after Eudoxie, who had seated herself under a clump of trees with Alfred and several other ladies of the company, married and single.
Cornélie ran to them at a mincing gait, holding her hand to her heart, and said: