Jacqueline -- Volume 1

e waist of her blouse in other words, despite the childish fashion of a dress which seemed to

afternoons, filled what was called "the young girls' corner" with whispered merriment and low laughter, whi

ral impression produced by her dark coloring, were reasons why she seemed older than the rest. It was Jacqueline's privilege to exhibit

olette Odinska, a girl of Polish race, but born in Paris; the dark-red rose was Isabelle Ray-Belle she was called triumphantly-whose dimpled cheeks flushed scarlet for almost any cause, some said for very coquetry. Then there were three little girls called Wermant, daughters of an agent de change-a spray of May roses, exactly alike in features, manners, and dress, sprightly and charming as little

, much as we see a cameo stand out in sharp relief from the glittering stone from which the artist has fashioned it. Marien looked at her from a distance, leaning against the fireplace of the farther salon, whence he could see plainly the corner shaded by green foliage plants where Jacqueline had made her niche, as she called it. The two rooms formed practically but one, being separated only by a larg

tresses, with rebellious ringlets rippling over the brow before they were gathered into the thick braid that hung behind; and Jacqueline, although she appeared to be wholly occupied with her guests, felt the gaze that was fixed upon her, and was conscious of its magnetic influence, from which n

oud and somewhat hoarse voice of the Colonel. The girls heard it only through a sort of general murmur, out of which a burst of astonishment or of dissent would occasionally break forth. These outbreaks were all the curious group could hear distinctly. They sniffed, as it were, at the forbidden fruit, but they longed to inhale the full perfume of the scandal that they felt was in the air. That stout officer of cuirassiers, of whom some people spoke as "The Chatterbox,"

ept in show-windows on the Rue de la Paix, intended to be bought only for presentation to princesses-of some sort or kind. Well, by an extraordina

make that old fool of a Versannes see a thousand lights. He has long known better than to take all his wife says for gospel-but he tries hard to pretend that he believes her. 'My dear,' he said, 'you must take that to the police.'-'I'll send it to-morrow morning,' says the charming Georgine, 'but I wished to show you my good luck.' Of course nobody came forward to cla

hat do you mean us to understand ab

familiarly called her, had done many more things than people gave her credit for. And he went on to add

ckinet all covered with gold

roved of anything that was bad form at her receptions. The Colonel's revelations had to be made in a lower tone, while his hostess endea

w," said Colette, with a sigh. "D

stand-

tory about t

eed I don't see how any one could have dropped in the street, in broad daylight

t pick it up-she m

Belle. "Stolen it!

inherited the finest

o you

ay a good deal of harm of her-in whispers. They say she is barely received now in society, that people turn their back

" said Jacqueline, making a little

st' that I want to see. Isn't it provoking that one can't see everything, hear everything, understand everything? You see, we could not half understand that stor

ll the little gir

ressed with taste and elegance, as befitted ladies who were interested in horsemanship. The tone of the conversation changed. Nothing was talked about but superb horses, le

der. Her waist measure is only twenty-one and two thirds inches. The woman who makes her corsets and my mamma's told us so. She brought us one of h

pon a thing that nobody will ever look at," said

tand that! Besides, nothing is too good for such a fig

did that, I suppose. Raoul-our brother- when he was in Africa saw Arab women who used henna. They tied their heads up in a sort of poultice made of little leaves, so

ized her by her perfume before I had even seen

or jessamine?" asked Yvonne

might say, in the middle of a sachet. The thing that will please me most when I am married will be to have no limit to my perfumes. Till then I have to satis

oung girl joined their circle. She was small, awkward, timid, and badly dressed. On seeing

e out only on great occasions. Her grandmother, whose ideas were those of the old school, had placed her there. The Easter holidays accounted for Giselle's unexpected arrival. Wrapped in a large cloak which covered up her convent uniform, she

ad always his beautiful smile. He had petted her when she was little, and had been much amused by the sort of adoration she had no hesitation in showing that she felt for him. He used to call her Mademoiselle ma femme, and M. de Nailles would speak of him as "my daughter's future husband." This joke had been kept up till the little lady had reached her ninth year, when it ceased, probably by order of Madame de Nailles, who in matters of propriety was very punctilious. Jacqueline, too, became less familiar than she had been with the man she called "my great painter." Indeed, in her heart of hearts, she cherished a grudge against him. She thought he presumed on the right he had assumed of teasing her. The older she grew the more he treated her as if she were a baby, and, in the little passages of arms that continually took place between them, Jacqueline was bitterly conscious that she no longer had the best of it as formerly. She was no longer as droll and lively as she had been. She was easily disconcerted, and took everything 'au serieux', and her wits becam

ese little spiced cakes." And, with some awkwardness, beca

ing a tone of great ceremony, "I prefer to tak

ear; suppose we were to

t me he

y, it seems to me that Mademoiselle Giselle, in her character of an angel who disap

olgirl, in a tone of injured

tease; what he says is only chaff. But I might as well talk Greek to her," she added, shrugging her shoulders.

respect," continued the pitiless painter. "I lay myself at her feet-and a

oon? You can't do a

en a day lost-

became very red and she spoke rapidly-" what

could have permitted m

mois

fault with. What could it be? I fancied there was something wrong with my ha

It is always wrong. But

ible for its lookin

ir," said Jacqueline, muc

earted, I was only looking at you from an artist's point of view-as is always allowable in my profession. Remember, I see you very rarely by daylight. I am obliged to wo

ing of painting me?" cried Jac

and its execution lies a great space.

rait would b

would depend on the

so thin," said Jacqueline, wit

mbs are like a

n my legs-bu

to be accountable for looking at you? Mademoiselle feels herself affronted if any one stares at her! I will remember this in fu

d'Argy! Fred

dear child? He has just

r pure, clear voice-a voice frequently compar

quel

he dearest friend of her dead mother. The death of that mother, who had been long replaced by a stepmother, could hardly be said to be deeply regretted by Jacqueline. She remembered her very indistinctly. The stories of her she had heard from Modeste, her old nurse, probably served her instead of

of the mother who was gone. Madame d'Argy, indeed, came on certain days to tak

LINE ADELAID

E DE N

D TWENTY

association with this melancholy pilgrimage which she was expected to perform at certain intervals. Without exactly knowi

in early youth. In the eyes of Jacqueline her sombre figure personified austere, exacting Duty, a kind of duty not attractive to her. That very day it seemed as if duty inconveniently ste

and kissing the withered hand of old Madame de Monredon, as she had been taught to do from infancy. Madame de Monredon was Giselle's grandmother. Jacqueline had been instructed to call her "aunt;" but

in a jacket ornamented with gold lace, who stood twisting his cap in his hand with some embarrassment "It

up to the roo

of you, Jacqueline,"

-isn't she?" said th

beside Madame d'Argy on a 'causeuse' shaped like an S, "why does s

ping her thus in order to make herself

sons. Beauty in the bud sometimes blooms

ast. Small women oug

with her for keeping a girl

g her out olde

o years younger than Giselle, who ha

e exchanging these littl

ying to the yo

t possibly you might like to see some of your old friends. J

said Jacqueline. "Doll

ay, who used to take da

f all the ladies who were present. He was not, however; sorry to leave their imposing circle. Above all, he was glad to escape from the clear-sighted, critical eyes

two or three little exclamations of surprise, shaking hands, however, as his form

esent to you a 'bordachien'-a little m

bordachien! A middy from the

gesture which seemed as if his hand were feeling for the hilt of his sword, wh

no longer the 'Jean- Bart', only people call her so because they are used to it. Meantime you see before you "C," the

t, for he was not much to look upon, being at that trying age when a young fellow's moustache is only a ligh

r teasingly. "People used to say that you went into the na

fficult exams," cried Gise

Fred, without making any defense, "and beside

tle girl. He was impatient to do something for himself, to become a man as soon as possible. But he said nothing of all this, and to escape further quest

who remarked them in a moment, "wha

nery. But that is only while we are cadets. Of course, such apprenticeship is very hard. A

Giselle, who found

is first confidante-Jacqueline, to whom he had confided his purposes, his ambition, and his day-dreams. He thought Jacqueline was selfish. She seemed to care

now the kind that I prefer," she added in a tone which seemed to imply that it was not that of arms, or of perilous navigatio

olly. "You will have well deserved it, according to the w

e intended for each gun-carriage, where hammocks hung from hooks served them instead of beds; how the chapel was in a closet opened only on Sundays. He described the gymnastic feats in the rigging, the practice in gunnery, and many other thing

an being willing

ked Giselle,

between water and sky? One would better be a widow. Widows, at any rate, can marry

ne into the cavalry school at Saint Cyr. I should have wanted to be a good hu

s cadet life was unknown to him; what he could talk about seemed to have no interest for any one, unless indeed it

tutoyer' each other, because they were getting too old for such familiarity, and it was he, and not

to say 'thou' but 'you.' I forgot. It seems so odd, when

entiously. "We ceased to 'tutoyer' our boy cousins after that. I am told nothing annoys a husband

ls, and of their success in compositions. They said that sometimes very difficult subjects were given out. A week or two before, each had had to compose a letter purporting to be from Dante in exile to a

selle, whose knowledge of history was limite

to her when Fred declared that he neve

.' "But he said at the same time that it was horrid to give such crack- brained stuff to us poor girls. Happily, our subject this week

?" repeated Giselle, in

hat it is Victor Hugo's

ith a touc

ty and humility, "I only knew

" whispered Belle to Yvonne

in a soft voice, and with feeling that did credit to her inst

wind, the green ru

t floats in the a

ll breathed, may all

They hav

ter a pause: "Isn'

lusion to love. Fred, too, looked askance and was not comfortable, for he thought that Jacqueline

ead everywhere the news that Giselle, the little goose, had actually known that Le Lac had be

d Madame de Nailles pretty freely. As they crossed the Parc Monceau to reach their carriage, which was waiting for them on the Boulevard Malesherbes, they made the young people, Giselle and Fred, walk ahead,

covered with red or yellow silk damask furnished by their upholsterers. They didn't go about trying to hunt up the impossible. 'On ne cherche pas midi a quatorze heures'. You hold, as I do, to the old fashions, though you are not nearly so old, my dear Elise, and Jacqueline's mother thought as we think. She would say that her daughter is being very badly brought up. To be sure, all young creatures nowadays are the same. Parents, on a plea of tenderness, keep them at home, where they get spoiled among grown people, when they had much better have the same kind of education that has succeeded so well with Giselle; bolts on the garden-gates, wholesome seclusion, the company of girls of their own age, a great regularity of life, nothing which stimulates either vanity or imagination. That is the proper way to bring up girls without notions, girls who will let themselves be married without opposition, and are satisfi

this harsh picture, although it co

dame de Nailles and Jacqueline-their last visitors having departed-were resting themselves, leaning tenderly against each other, on a sofa. Jacqueline's head lay on her mother's lap. Her mother,

isfaction, as he had often said before, that it would be hard to find a home

any one been able to look into their hearts at that moment, he would have discovered w

h recollections, Jacqueline with hope. She was absorbed in Machiavellian

nking of, sitting ther

m and kissing first his

the wife, with the m

apa, that I want to tell you when we are quite alone. Don't be jealous, d

g, mother-like, the ribbon that was intended to keep in order the rough ripples of Jacq

o and guess it!" crie

t guess i

st not to guess, then,

e, with

y part, that I am discre

il

ithin his own, and the three passed