“Indeed we have, Marguerite, as bad as you ever saw in Paris. You needn't laugh.”
“Heaven forbid! I never found them amusing in Paris, or else where.”
“Oh, but I do! There is M. Bigot, the Intendant. He is wicked, if you like! He is ugly too; but his manner!—it is simply enchanting. He dresses to perfection; and when he plays with a lady, he loses to her like a nobleman. I don't care what they say about him, c'est un galant homme! and the place would be very dull without him.”
“But he is not the only man, Angélique?”
“Dear no! And he wouldn't be so bad, I am sure, if it were not for that odious Mme. Péan; I am sure she is dreadful, and so pretty too! But there are other men; there is M. de Bougainville, who is young, and has le bel air, but is too serious. M. Poulariez, tall and gallant-looking—he is colonel of the Royal Rouissillon; there is Major Joannès—he remembers you on the yacht—he is the little officer who provided the wine for the toasts; then there is M. de Roquemaure and M. de la Rochebeaucourt, and, best of all, there is M. de Maxwell—M. le Chevalier de Maxwell de Kirkconnel—he is a countryman of your own, Marguerite;” and she paused and looked at me as if awaiting an answer.
“Yes, and what of him?” I asked, with a good shew of composure.
“Simply that he is the only man I have ever seen that I could fall in love with. That shocks you, I suppose? Well, don't be afraid. I am not nearly so bold as I pretend, and I don't mean a word of it. I am simply telling you how much I like him; besides, he is old enough to be my grandfather. Do you know why I like him?”
“No, chérie. Why?”
“Because when Mme. de Lanaudière, Mme. de Beaubassin, and others, were being good to me by patting me on the head and bidding me behave like a nice little girl, as it were, M. de Maxwell treated me as if I were the greatest lady in the room. He would leave the best dressed among them all to cross the floor openly and speak with me, and because he did so others followed, and I am in request. He is only 'Chevalier,' you know; but he could not have more weight here were he Duke or Prince.”
“And he is proud of the distinction, I suppose?”