FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   >>  
ngueville, who nodded slightly to her partner. "Is that young man a friend of yours?" she asked, with a scornful air. "Only my brother," he replied. Emilie could not help starting. "Ah!" he continued, "and he is the noblest soul living----" "Do you know my name?" asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him. "No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner." "A perfect tragic mask!" said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress. "And yet that is her ballroom face!" said the young man, laughing. "I shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some compensation." Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. "I was very much surprised," the voluble young secretary went on, "to find my brother here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed; and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien." "Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic employment." "No," said the attache, with a sigh, "the poor fellow sacrificed himself for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father's fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him," he added in an undertone. "After saving up a little capital my brother joined a banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil which may make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at having been able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you think of him?" "Well, your brother's face does not look to me like that of a man busied with money matters." The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face of his partner. "What!" he exclaimed, with a smile, "can young ladies read the thoughts of love behind the silent brow?" "Your brother is in love, then?" she asked, betrayed into a movement of curiosity. "Yes; my sister
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   >>  



Top keywords:
brother
 

Emilie

 

father

 

diplomatic

 

partner

 
attache
 
sister
 

Indeed

 
promised
 

joined


banking

 

capital

 
undertone
 

saving

 
fellow
 

sacrificed

 
employment
 
Maximilien
 

monsieur

 

renounced


dreams

 

peerage

 

eldest

 

fortune

 

ministry

 

impatiently

 

apparently

 

glance

 

exclaimed

 

scrutinizing


busied

 
matters
 

ladies

 

betrayed

 

movement

 
curiosity
 

thoughts

 
silent
 

spirits

 
highest

effected
 

speculation

 
Brazil
 
millionaire
 

connections

 

contribute

 
Legation
 

Brazilian

 
dispatch
 

success