CHAPTER IV.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1077, 24 August 1869, Page 3

CHAPTER IV.

At six o'clock—tHey dine early at tables d'hote in Paris—l was again among |hei gilding, the glass, the plate, the flowers, and the damask that distinguish the dinner at the Grand Hotel beyond all other dinners ofitsclass* :•"-.•' Again we were early; again our opposite neighbours were late; and when they appeared at last they brought with them a companion upon whom we had not counted. It was a hateful being iti the form ofa_i_n. Not a man that we could object to, however, upon general or particular grounds. He was a gentleman, that was evident, and one who, without any appearance: of dictation, took command of the party as if by a natural right. He ordered the wine, and assumed every other function connected with the control of the feast, as if he were in his own house. He was a man, perhaps, of forty years of age-—we could not object to that at any rate—.a well-look-ing, well-mannered, conventional style of person with an air of opulence about him, and aserene way of not seeming to care a straw about anybody, which goes a great way at a table (thbte, to say nothing of other places. .:. • ..> .. The new copier engrossed the attention of the ladies during the entire d__ner. Beyond a slight salutation at the commencement, and an inane remark about the weather from Mrs. Merridew, they took ho notice of us. Their conversation, too,! unconstrained as it was, gave us! no clue to the relation in which the gentleman" stood towards them, or to one of them in particular. He was a cousin, perhaps, or an uncle, or a brother ofthe elder lady—he was too old, surely, to be a brother of the younger, though he might be a pretendu to either of them. The latter idea was hot a pleasant one—from Ranger's point of view —for my friend was clearly head oyer ears in love with the lady who was now inseparably associated in his mind with the little feet. So the dinner passed off in as unsatisfactory a manner as could well be to us both; for apart from my sympathy with poor Ranger in his infatuation, the state of mind in which he was quite spoiled him for purposes of society. !V An accident occurred towards the conclusion of dinner, however, which!;gave him relief. Mrs. Merridew's French maid entered the room, and brought a message from the manager of the hotel, ih answer, as it appeared, to a previous application. " Oh yes," said that young person, "Mademoiselle could have a chamber adjoining the apartment of Monsieur and Maclame; it was /quite ready for her reception."' I thought Ranger was about to express his surprise at this announcement in an audible manner, so visibly impressed was he at the fact disclosed. Mrs, Merridew was not a widow, then, after all, and, what was more important, her husband could not be a pretendu of Miss Pembroke. , We were in, doubt when dinner. waa over, whether to begin our evening prowl at once, or to look in for a few minutes upon the party in the saloon assigned to the residents of the hotel. It was lucky .that we decided upon the latter course.; for an accident took place immediately on our entering the room, which brought' the adventure to a crisis, and was of immense importance —as the event proved—to the future of my friend. Ranger was looking about him with an object that may be guessed, when an elderly gentleman—whose erect, bold., bearing, said "old soldier," as unmistakably as bis jovial red face, shaded by the-whitest of moustache and whisker, said bon vivaiit— tapped him on the shoulder to attract!his attention. v . Banger turned round in some sju'prise, and immediately fell to shaking the elderly gentleman cordially by the hand. "My dear uncle," said he, " I am delighted to see you." " And I you, my boy, 1' returned the uncle, beaming with pleasure. "It is very seldom that you are caught, thanks —or rather no thanks—^to that way of yours of being here, there, and everywhere at once. You are staying at this hotel ? So am, I. Very fortunate, isn't it, that we should meet?" Ranger said it was, and evidently meant what he said. He introduced me presently to his jovial relative, who seemed almost as delighted to see a friend of his nephew's as his nephew himself. My new acquaintance proved to be General Holsterley, an old dragoon, who, I afterwards learned, was a very rich bachelor, and had • made! Ranger his heir. - After a little talk, the General, said to Ranger— . . t " I must leave you for a few minutes. I vote for going somewhere together afterwards,, but I must go and speak to some people I see at the end of the room. I promised to meet them here, to do a little Paris with them. But stay, why should I leave you ? Come with me, and I will introduce you to a couple of as charming women as you could wish to meet in a day's march—and that's not saying enough for them, by*the-by. And, I tell you what, >if you played your cards well, you would have a very great chance with the only one ofthe two who has a chance left open. Come on my boy—and your friend too," he added, seeing that Ranger iwas doubtful what to do with me.. , . ,; ; So we were both marched up to the end of the room, and in another minute the General was exchanging the heartiest.ofgreetings with—our friends of the table d'hdte. As soon as therejwas;a pause—for they all talked together — Holsterley took sn an opportunity of presenting his nephew, and then myself, to his friends. They were all very cordial, and: Mrs. Merridew rather demonstrative. "We were fast becoming acquainted with your friends through meeting them at dinner, though Mr. Banger was very reserved, and did not seem to trust himself to talk much with strange ladies." .'• And she looked at him—what, shall I say? well, wickedly if you will-r-with those beady black eyes of hers which she knew so well how to employ. ;-'i P, Ranger looked a little confused, as a man is apt to look if he thinks he is being ridiculed by a pretty woman; and he told me afterwards that the idea came upon him suddenly that he had seen those eyes somewhere before. ! --P-A • Itis.sufficient for me to say,, however, that we all became very inl^te Pfl.^horti

*;,. .l^., „ ■." . ,' " notice ; that we all went to the theatre together, and had one of the pleasantest evenings possible. It must have been especially so to Ranger, for he had Miss Pembroke nearly all to himself during the entire time ; and it was not difficult to see that her deep-blue eyes and soft happy beauty had fairly completed the impression which they had made upon him from the first. : Colonel ■ Merridew— the new comer, who turned out to be an old comrade of the General's— left us at the door ofthe theatre, . and took the ladies home, while the rest of qi.> went somewhere to supper. The latter arrangement was Holsterley'a doing, for KiOnger was disposed to make himself as ..generally .disagreeable as persons in a . similar condition usually do. When we in. our turn arrived at the hotel the General went off to bed — it was quite. time too -r- and then Ranger, who dared not speak for fear of being overheard, pointed triumphantly to some objects lying on the door-mats. •At one entrance there were two pairs of boots, belonging to a lady apd a gentleman , respectively. At the other was a single pair, particularly small, and to an amateur in feet, I should say, justifying all the praise ■ that,had been bestowed on them. .-■•" I dragged Ranger from the spot, where he , seemed absurdly disposed to linger. ' When we reached his room he became guil- . ,ty of rapturous con Juct to a ridiculous devf gree, and' then asked me, in a lucid interval, if I did not think him the happiest of men. „ ••-.-I declared my. very high opinion of his • • _tateof bliss, and got away from him as - soon as I could. > ; His must have been pleasant sleep that : night-^if he slept at all.