[A Gentleman of France by Stanley Weyman]@TWC D-Link book
A Gentleman of France

CHAPTER I
20/22

The moment I appeared, or rather the moment the door closed behind me, I was hailed with a shout of derision.

While one cried, 'Way! way for the gentleman who has seen the king!' another hailed me uproariously as Governor of Guyenne, and a third requested a commission in my regiment.
I heard these taunts with a heart full almost to bursting.

It seemed to me an unworthy thing that, merely by reason of my poverty, I should be derided by youths who had still all their battles before them; but to stop or reproach them would only, as I well knew, make matters worse, and, moreover, I was so sore stricken that I had little spirit left even to speak.

Accordingly, I made my way through them with what speed I might, my head bent, and my countenance heavy with shame and depression.
In this way--I wonder there were not among them some generous enough to pity me--I had nearly gained the door, and was beginning to breathe, when I found my path stopped by that particular young lady of the Court whom I have described above.

Something had for the moment diverted her attention from me, and it required a word from her companions to apprise her of my near neighbourhood.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books