CHAPTER XV.
WHAT IT IS TO BE A CAVALIERE SERVENTE.
"Everye white will have its blacke, And everye sweet its sowere." _Old Ballad_.
Neither the example of Oscar Dalrymple nor the broadcloth of the great Michaud, achieved half so much for my education as did the apprenticeship I was destined to serve to Madame de Marignan.

Having once made up her mind to civilize me, she spared no pains for the accomplishment of that end, cost what it might to herself--or me.

Before I had been for one week her subject, she taught me how to bow; how to pick up a pocket-handkerchief; how to present a bouquet; how to hold a fan; how to pay a compliment; how to turn over the leaves of a music-book--in short, how to obey and anticipate every imperious wish; and how to fetch and carry, like a dog.

My vassalage began from the very day when I first ventured to call upon her.

Her house was small, but very elegant, and she received me in a delicious little room overlooking the Champs Elysees--a very nest of flowers, books, and birds.