PELHAM, V3, BY LYTTON ***
This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
VOLUME III.
CHAPTER XXX.
It must be confessed, that flattery comes mighty easily to one's mouth in the presence of royalty. --Letters of Stephen Montague.
'Tis he.--How came he thence--what doth he here? --Lara.
I had received for that evening (my last at Paris) an invitation from the Duchesse de B--. I knew that the party was to be small, and that very few besides the royal family would compose it. I had owed the honour of this invitation to my intimacy with the _____s, the great friends of the duchesse, and I promised myself some pleasure in the engagement.
There were but eight or nine persons present when I entered the royal chamber. The most distingue of these I recognized immediately as the--. He came forward with much grace as I approached, and expressed his pleasure at seeing me.
"You were presented, I think, about a month ago," added the--, with a smile of singular fascination; "I remember it well."
I bowed low to this compliment.
"Do you propose staying long at Paris?" continued the--.
"I protracted," I replied, "my departure solely for the honour this evening affords me. In so doing, please your--, I have followed the wise maxim of keeping the greatest pleasure to the last."
The royal chevalier bowed to my answer with a smile still sweeter than before, and began a conversation with me which lasted for several minutes. I was much struck with the--'s air and bearing. They possess great dignity, without any affectation of its assumption. He speaks peculiarly good English, and the compliment of addressing me in that language was therefore as judicious as delicate. His observations owed little to his rank; they would have struck you as appropriate, and the air which accompanied them pleased you as graceful, even in a simple individual. Judge, then, if they charmed me in the--. The upper part of his countenance is prominent and handsome, and his eyes have much softness of expression. His figure is slight and particularly well knit; perhaps he is altogether more adapted to strike in private than in public effect. Upon the whole, he is one of those very few persons of great rank whom you would have had pride in knowing as an equal, and have pleasure in acknowledging as a superior.
As the--paused, and turned with great courtesy to the Duc de--, I bowed my way to the Duchesse de B--. That personage, whose liveliness and piquancy of manner always make one wish for one's own sake that her rank was less exalted, was speaking with great volubility to a tall, stupid looking man, one of the ministers, and smiled most graciously upon me as I drew near. She spoke to me of our national amusements. "You are not," said she, "so fond of dancing as we are."
"We have not the same exalted example to be at once our motive and our model," said I, in allusion to the duchesse's well known attachment to that accomplishment. The Duchesse D'A--came up as I said this, and the conversation flowed on evenly enough till the--'s whist party was formed. His partner was Madame de la R--, the heroine of La Vendee. She was a tall and very stout woman, singularly lively and entertaining, and appeared to possess both the moral and the physical energy to accomplish feats still more noble than those she performed.
I soon saw that it would not do for me to stay very long. I had already made a favourable impression, and, in such cases, it is my constant rule immediately to retire. Stay, if it be whole hours, until you have pleased, but leave the moment after your success. A great genius should not linger too long either in the salon or the world. He must quit each with eclat. In obedience to this rule, I no sooner found that my court had been effectually made than I rose to withdraw.
