EPERGNES AND WAX-LIGHTS
Dinner took place at four, with the windows darkened. At the right and
left of the host respectively were the Prince and Princess de Poix.
Germain presided at the foot of the table, having on his right a
Canoness and on his left a young lady to be described presently. As his
glances passed down the two rows of guests he thought he could never
have imagined a more perfect scene of its kind. He was dazed and
intoxicated.
A soft but bright radiance was shed by a host of starry wax-lights in
the chandeliers above. An indescribable air of distinction marked every
face. Numerous servants moved about noiselessly, and the musicians of
the château, placed in a recess, played upon violins and a harpsichord.
The table was a fairy sight. Flowers, silver statuettes, and candelabra,
were placed at intervals down the middle. Between and around these a
miniature landscape, representing winter, was extended, with little
snowy-roofed temples, an ice-bound stream, bridges, columns, trees and
shrubbery, all dusted with hoar frost. The company uttered exclamations
of delight at the ingenuity of the idea.
There was particular pleasure in eyes of the lady who sat at Lecour's
left, the Baroness de la Roche Vernay. She was one of those startlingly
beautiful beings whom one meets only once in a lifetime. Less than
eighteen, and fragile-looking at first glance, Nature had given her an
erectness and grace and a slender, unconscious symmetry which,
characterising every feature, seemed to suggest the analogy of the
upward growth of a flower. The purity of innocence and truth lightened
her fair brow, at the same time that enjoyment of society shone from her
sparkling eyes. Her soft light hair was worn, not in the elaborate
manner of the ladies about her, but in the simplest fashion and with
merely a trace of powder. The most unusual and characteristic element in
her appearance was a white, translucent complexion with touches of
colour, and as she was also dressed in white, lightly embroidered with
gold, she seemed to Lecour, in the radiant, unreal wax-light, so
ethereal as to have just come from heaven. So vision-like and wonderful
to him was her beauty that he gasped when she turned to him to speak.
"Your _chef_ is a real Watteau, Monsieur--a marvel at design."
"He doubtless dreamt what stars were to beam over his landscape,
Madame," he answered, for he had at least kept grip of his wits.
"What stars, Monsieur?"
"My lady's eyes, n'est-ce pas?" he answered.
The stars thus eulogised brimmed with smiles and searched his face.
"Monsieur," said the Canoness, who was not quite so young, but very
pretty, "you should have applied that compliment to _all_ of our eyes. I
am in the habit of pleading for the community, as we do in my convent."
"None of these ladies, including yourself, Madame, have any need of
compliments, in my humble opinion."
"You deserve a reward, sir. Our Chapter is giving some Arcadian
receptions, and you shall be one of the shepherds. We have absolute
idylls of white sheep in our garden, though we cannot go to the length,
of course, of wearing those old costumes of the nymphs and
shepherdesses. How entrancing those costumes were," she added with a
careless sigh.
The Canoness was an extraordinary curiosity to him. She was _pétite_ and
fair. Though a _réligieuse_, she wore crinoline and large paniers, and,
was elegantly furbelowed. The colours of her dress were mainly white and
gold, but a long light robe of black crape was thrown over her
shoulders, and the jewelled cross of an order ornamented her breast.
"Did the ancient nymphs know any better?" cried Mademoiselle de
Richeval, who sat a couple of places further on. "Do you not believe
that if they lived to-day they would patronise our fashions?"
"Know any better? Do you think they were unconscious that to carry a
crook is becoming to the arm? No, they were as careful of their crooks
as we of our rouges. What is _your_ judgment, Monsieur de Répentigny?"
"It is a Judgment of Paris you require," he exclaimed, "and I have not
been there yet."
Cyrène de la Roche Vernay touched her lovely hand quickly upon the table
and turned to him with a delighted little laugh.
"As for me, I shall be glad if these tiresome fine clothes are ever to
be banished," she murmured, twisting her wine-glass.
"Baroness, you have been reading the wicked Rousseau and his 'Social
Contract,'" de Blair, who sat next to her, bantered.
"It surely ought to cost something to be noble," pronounced the
Canoness, in whose convent every candidate was required to prove
sixteen quarterings of arms, and received the title of countess.
"Permit me to agree with the Church," laughed Mademoiselle de Richeval;
"we women ought to be as elaborate as possible, so as to frighten away
all those who are not rich enough to marry."
"I believe I could say, Miss," asserted d'Estaing, "that nevertheless
you yourself have brought to Fontainebleau at least twelve short dresses
and five pairs of low-heeled shoes."
"More than that--a straw hat and aprons," Cyrène added mischievously,
casting a smile also at Germain.
"Hold! hold!" de Blair cried. "This is certainly the revolution they say
is to come. We are returning rapidly to the State of Nature."
"Do I hear a phrase of that man Rousseau, ladies?" the Princess called
over, nodding her head-dress. "When I was little he was presented to me
at the Prince de Conti's, and had no breeding. Is that not true, Abbé?"
"You speak with your unvarying correctness, Madame la Princesse."
"You hear the Abbé, ladies," she said languidly, sitting back again.
D'Estaing, to change the subject, took up the name of the Prince de
Conti, and turning to the Canoness and Cyrène, told a story which he had
often heard of him.
"Madame de Bouillon, being with the Prince, hinted that she would like a
miniature of her linnet set in a ring. The Prince offered to have it
made. His offer was accepted on condition that the miniature be set
plain, without jewels. Accordingly the miniature is placed in a simple
rim of gold. But to cover over the painting, a large diamond, cut very
thin, is set above it. Madame returned the diamond. The Prince had it
ground to powder, which he used to dry the ink of the note he wrote to
Madame on the subject."
"There is a Prince!" cried Mademoiselle de Richeval.
"By the way, Montgolfier has sent up a new balloon which has carried
four passengers," went on the volatile d'Estaing.
"Who is this Montgolfier with his balloons?" the Princess asked
languidly. "Is he what the new coiffure is named after?"
D'Estaing looked around a little significantly.
"Precisely, Madame--the coiffure Montgolfier," Germain at once replied,
for he had looked into hat fashions lately.
"Please describe it to me after dinner. All the world is speaking of
it."
"To the devil with coiffures!" Grancey whispered to the Canoness, and
struck up a pæan of praise on the lean hound Aréthuse who led the hunt
the previous day.
"Yes, but I believe that dog is possessed of the devil," asserted
d'Estaing. "Did you notice her eyes flash when she sprang down the
hideous glen where we nearly broke our necks? The foresters once told me
about that place."
"What about it?"
"It is the glen of the Great Hunter. The courtiers of King Henry IV were
hunting in that part of the forest one day, when they heard a tremendous
horn, saw the stag turn, and a strange pack of dogs in full chase fly
after it across their path; and with the hounds they saw a hunter,
riding on a great black horse. They stopped and shouted at the intruder,
and searched about for him, when a gigantic savage of a frightful
countenance sprang above the bushes and said in a voice which froze
their blood: 'DO YOU HEAR ME?' Since then he has been seen many times by
the foresters and others."
"I do not like the subject," shuddered Mademoiselle de Richeval,
crossing herself.
"Pardon me," d'Estaing gravely said, bowing.
"Tell me something about those men ascending into the clouds," spoke the
silvery voice of the young Baroness, addressing Germain.
He gladly told her all he knew of the late ascent, at which he had been
present in Bordeaux; how Montgolfier and his brother made the balloon;
how he stood by their enclosure and saw them fill the balloon with
inflammable gas; how the brave four got into the car and everybody
prophesied their destruction; and of the speechless thrill with which he
saw at last the strange machine dart upwards and carry them swiftly
higher and higher, until it was but a speck drifting across the clouds.
The vividness of his account pleased her, and at the end she was
permitting him to drink her health, when they were interrupted by an
exclamation, and saw de Grancey pointing to the table. A surprise of an
ingenious nature was occurring before their eyes. The artificial hoar
frost which gave such beauty to the miniature landscape was slowly
melting with the heat of the room, and during the process the guests saw
the thawing of the river, the budding of the trees, and the blossoming
of the various flowers take place, as spring succeeded winter. A little
cry of delight leaped involuntarily from the lips of the sweet la Roche
Vernay and she smiled exquisitely on Germain, who, in that moment,
wildly lost his heart.