FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99  
100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>   >|  
s me an angel to my face; I'll pay him for this. Do tell me, commandant; never mind what HE says." "What! disobey orders?" "Orders? to you from that boy!" "Oh!" said Raynal, "for that matter, we soldiers are used to command one moment, and obey the next." In a word, this military pedant was impracticable, and Rose gave him up in disgust, and began to call up a sulky look when the other two sang his praises. For the old lady pronounced him charming, and Josephine said he was a man of crystal; never said a word he did not mean, and she wished she was like him. But the baroness thought this was going a little too far. "No, thank you," said she hastily; "he is a man, a thorough man. He would make an intolerable woman. A fine life if one had a parcel of women about, all blurting out their real minds every moment, and never smoothing matters." "Mamma, what a horrid picture!" chuckled Rose. She then proposed that at his next visit they should all three make an earnest appeal to him to let them know what Edouard had decided. But Josephine begged to be excused, feared it would be hardly delicate; and said languidly that for her part she felt they were in good hands, and prescribed patience. The baroness acquiesced, and poor Rose and her curiosity were baffled on every side. At last, one fine day, her torments were relieved without any further exertion on her part. Jacintha bounced into the drawing-room with a notice that the commandant wanted to speak to Josephine a minute out in the Pleasaunce. "How droll he is," said Rose; "fancy sending in for a young lady like that. Don't go, Josephine; how, he would stare." "My dear, I no more dare disobey him than if I was one of his soldiers." And she laid down her work, and rose quietly to do what she was bid. "Well," said Rose, superciliously, "go to your commanding officer. And, O Josephine, if you are worth anything at all, do get out of him what that Edouard has settled." Josephine kissed her, and promised to try. After the first salutation, there was a certain hesitation about Raynal which Josephine had never seen a trace of in him before; so, to put him at his ease, and at the same time keep her promise to Rose, she asked timidly if their mutual friend had been able to suggest anything. "What! don't you know that I have been acting all along upon his instructions?" answered Raynal. "No, indeed! and you have not told us what he advised." "Told y
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99  
100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Josephine

 

Raynal

 

Edouard

 
baroness
 
commandant
 

disobey

 
moment
 

soldiers

 

superciliously

 

quietly


sending
 

bounced

 

Jacintha

 

drawing

 

exertion

 
torments
 

relieved

 

notice

 

wanted

 
minute

Pleasaunce

 
friend
 

suggest

 

mutual

 

timidly

 

promise

 

acting

 
advised
 

instructions

 

answered


settled

 

kissed

 

promised

 

officer

 

salutation

 

hesitation

 

commanding

 

curiosity

 

hastily

 

command


thought

 

intolerable

 

blurting

 

parcel

 

matter

 

praises

 
disgust
 

pronounced

 

military

 

wished