Ten Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part two

inspect somewhat closer the beautiful girls whom his first

glance had already particularized.

“Louise here! Louise a maid of honor to Madame!” murmured

Raoul, and his eyes, which did not suffice to satisfy his

reason, wandered from Louise to Montalais. The latter had

already emancipated herself from her assumed timidity, which

she only needed for the presentation and for her reverences.

Mademoiselle de Montalais, from the corner of the room to

which she had retired, was looking with no slight confidence

at the different persons present; and, having discovered

Raoul, she amused herself with the profound astonishment

which her own and her friend’s presence there caused the

unhappy lover. Her waggish and malicious look, which Raoul

tried to avoid meeting, and which yet he sought inquiringly

from time to time, placed him on the rack. As for Louise,

whether from natural timidity, or some other reason for

which Raoul could not account, she kept her eyes constantly

cast down; intimidated, dazzled, and with impeded

respiration, she withdrew herself as much as possible aside,

unaffected even by the nudges Montalais gave her with her

elbow. The whole scene was a perfect enigma for Raoul, the

key to which he would have given anything to obtain. But no

one was there who could assist him, not even Malicorne; who,

a little uneasy at finding himself in the presence of so

many persons of good birth, and not a little discouraged by

Montalais’s bantering glances, had described a circle, and

by degrees succeeded in getting a few paces from the prince,

behind the group of maids of honor, and nearly within reach

of Mademoiselle Aure’s voice, she being the planet around

which he, as her attendant satellite, seemed constrained to

gravitate. As he recovered his self-possession, Raoul

fancied he recognized voices on his right hand that were

familiar to him, and he perceived De Wardes, De Guiche, and

the Chevalier de Lorraine, conversing together. It is true

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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later

they were talking in tones so low, that the sound of their

words could hardly be heard in the vast apartment. To speak

in that manner from any particular place without bending

down, or turning round, or looking at the person with whom

one may be engaged in conversation, is a talent that cannot

be immediately acquired by newcomers. Long study is needed

for such conversations, which, without a look, gesture, or

movement of the head, seem like the conversation of a group

of statues. In fact, in the king’s and queen’s grand

assemblies, while their majesties were speaking, and while

every one present seemed to be listening in the midst of the

most profound silence, some of these noiseless conversations

took place, in which adulation was not the prevailing

feature. But Raoul was one among others exceedingly clever

in this art, so much a matter of etiquette, that from the

movement of the lips he was often able to guess the sense of

the words.

“Who is that Montalais?” inquired De Wardes, “and that La

Valliere? What country-town have we had sent here?”

“Montalais?” said the chevalier, — “oh, I know her; she is

a good sort of a girl, whom we shall find amusing enough. La

Valliere is a charming girl, slightly lame.”

“Ah! bah!” said De Wardes.

“Do not be absurd, De Wardes, there are some very

characteristic and ingenious Latin axioms about lame

ladies.”

“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” said De Guiche, looking at Raoul

with uneasiness, “be a little careful, I entreat you.”

But the uneasiness of the count, in appearance at least, was

not needed. Raoul had preserved the firmest and most

indifferent countenance, although he had not lost a word

that passed. He seemed to keep an account of the insolence

and license of the two speakers in order to settle matters

with them at the earliest opportunity.

De Wardes seemed to guess what was passing in his mind, and

continued:

“Who are these young ladies’ lovers?”

“Montalais’s lover?” said the chevalier.

“Yes, Montalais first.”

“You, I, or De Guiche, — whoever likes, in fact.”

“And the other?”

“Mademoiselle de la Valliere?”

“Yes.”

“Take care, gentlemen,” exclaimed De Guiche, anxious to put

a stop to De Wardes’s reply; “take care, Madame is listening

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