“Bless your heart, my good madame!” exclaimed Jaqueline, “this is no place for me! I’m only a small farmer’s daughter. So just have the goodness to show me the way into the kitchen, and let me have a basin of soup and boulli, if there happens to be any, till the next patache comes by for me to make a bargain to go to Moulins.”
Madame Rigaud replied, that no vehicles of that description ever passed the place; and an explanation followed, from which it appeared that Jaqueline was in the new chateau of the Comte, and some leagues farther from the Cock and Bottle than when she commenced her ride.
“How could he think of serving me such a trick?” she gasped, sinking into one of the velvet chairs, and all but sobbing. “He’s mad, isn’t he?”
“I should almost think he is,” said Madame Rigaud. “To be sure, there is no accounting for the tricks of young men, I know that pretty well; nor their fancies neither; but this is so very extraordinary!” and, looking down upon her charge, she elevated her hands and then her eyes, and shrugged her shoulders expressively.
“I’ll not stay here; I’m determined upon that!” exclaimed Jaqueline.
“That’s right, my dear,” said Madame Rigaud; and forthwith they concocted a plan of escape, which was to be carried into effect by the aid of Madame Rigaud’s son Philippe, who was in the Comte’s service; and in the meanwhile they retired to her private room to avoid observation; and there the said Philippe, a smart, active young man, presently made his appearance.
“It’s a burning shame,” he cried, when he had heard the story; “but I’ll see Ma’mselle safe to the Cock and Bottle, and to Moulins too, if she will allow me. So, mother, you must go directly to the stables, and tell Pierre to put the side-saddle on the strawberry mare, and let me have Volante. Nobody will suspect you; and, by the time you come back, the Comte’s breakfast will be served, and the footman will be engaged in waiting, and then Ma’mselle and I can slip off unnoticed. Courage!” and he laughed, and slapped his thigh right jovially. But the moment his mother had disappeared and closed the door, his demeanour was totally changed, and making a serious face, and putting his hand on his heart, he bent his body forward most obsequiously, and then went upon his knees before Jaqueline, and vowed after a very solemn fashion, that not only would he conduct her to Moulins, but that it would give him the greatest of all possible satisfaction to accompany her throughout the whole journey of life.
“Do you suppose I’m going to ride on horseback all my days?” inquired the bewildered maid; “no, no. All I want is to get safe to the Cock and Bottle. But you’d better get up, and not make such a fool of yourself; for don’t you see that the floor has been fresh ruddled, and you’ll stain your best——”
Here her speech was cut short, and the scene abruptly changed, by the sudden opening of the door, and the appearance of a remarkably fat, red-faced, profusely powdered, well-dressed man of “a certain age,” who, the moment he caught sight of Jaqueline, seemed fixed to the spot where he stood, with his eyes riveted upon her countenance. Whether he had observed Philippe’s position was doubtful, as that sprightly youth had jumped upon his feet at the first movement of the door, and stood sheepishly against the wall, twirling his thumbs; a task from which he was speedily relieved by the advance of the new-comer, who dismissed him from the room by a silent, authoritative wave of the hand.
“This must be the old Comte,” thought Jaqueline, rising and bobbing her best curtsy. “No wonder he is surprised to see the like of me here; but I’ll tell him all about it, and I daresay he’ll be glad enough to send me off to the Cock and Bottle, if it’s only to get rid of me.”