The manager had
sketched the girl's character, or rather had interpreted it, from the incidents
which had happened since dinner. Both had dropped the rather elaborate politeness of the
dining-room, and in their faces an impartial observer would have discovered
little lines of obstinate wilfulness in common; a certain hardness—sharp, indeed,
in the father and softly rounded in the daughter—but hardness nevertheless, that
made every compromise a bargain and every charity a discount. Aside from some loose coin and a trunk key, there was
nothing in the pockets: no mail, no letter of credit, not even a tailor's label. “Can you spare me a moment?” he asked. ‘I suppose this is the cavalier you had with
you when you—er—attended the ball the other night?’
‘Jacques is very useful to me,’ Melusine confirmed, bestowing that same
radiant smile on the young man, whose features were instantly suffused with
scarlet. As a matter of fact it isn’t their affair. She looked up and said, a little
breathlessly, “I’m sorry, aunt, but I don’t think I can. You did not complain then that I personated you—no, nor when
Sir John came to me in Paris, and for your sake I lied. ’ Very likely
they would give——”
“I should be satisfied with the sum you mention,” Anna said quietly, “but there
are difficulties. Furiously, she dashed his hands away. I offer you my assistance on certain terms.
Video ID: TW96aWxsYS81LjAgQXBwbGVXZWJLaXQvNTM3LjM2IChLSFRNTCwgbGlrZSBHZWNrbzsgY29tcGF0aWJsZTsgQ2xhdWRlQm90LzEuMDsgK2NsYXVkZWJvdEBhbnRocm9waWMuY29tKSAtIDMuMTM4LjExMy41OSAtIDI5LTA2LTIwMjQgMDY6MDk6MzQgLSAxNzIzNjg3Nzc5
This video was uploaded to damaulifm.org on 25-06-2024 11:36:21