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in less than five minutes had pulld out his fife, and leading off the dance himself with the first note, set the fille de chambre, the Maitre dHôtel, the cook, the scullion, and all the housholddogs and catsbesides an old monkey, adancing: I suppose there never was a merrier kitchen since the flood. Madame de L*** in passing from her brothers apartments to her own, hearing so much jollity below stairs,3 rung up her fille de chambre to ask about it; and hearing it was the English gentlemans servant who had set the whole house merry with his pipe, she orderd him up. As the poor fellow could not present himself empty, he had loadend himself in going up stairs with a thousand compliments to Madame de L*** on the part of his masteradded a long Apocrypha of inquiries after Madame de L***s healthtold her, that Monsieur his master was au desespoire for her re-establishment from the fatigues of her journeyand to close all, that Monsieur had received the letter, which Madame had done him the honourand he has done me the honour, said Madame de L***, interrupting La Fleur, to send a Billet in return. Madame de L*** had said this with such a tone of reliance upon the fact, that La Fleur had not power to disappoint her expectationshe trembled for my honourand possibly might not altogether be unconcernd for his own, as a man capable of being attached to a master who could be a wanting en egards vis-à- vis dune femme; so that when Madame de L*** asked La Fleur if he had brought a Letter, O quoui, said La Fleur: so laying down his hat upon the ground, and taking hold of the flap of his right-side pocket with his left hand, he began to search for the Letter with his right,then contrary-wiseDiable!then sought every pocketpocket by pocket, round, not forgetting his fobPeste!then La Fleur emptied them upon the floorpulled out a dirty cravata handkerchiefa comba whip-lasha night-capthen gave a peep into his hatQuelle etourderie! He had left the letter upon the table in the Aubergehe would run for it, and be back with it in three minutes. I had just finished my supper when La Fleur came in to give me an account of his adventure: he told the whole story simply as it was; and only added, That if Monsieur had forgot (par hazard) to answer Madames letter, the arrangement gave him an opportunity to recover the faux pasand if not: that things were only as they were. Now I was not altogether sure of my etiquette, whether I ought to have wrote or no; but if I hada devil himself could not have been angry: twas but the officious zeal of a well-meaning creature for my honour; and however he might have mistook the roador embarrassed me in so doinghis heart was in no faultI was under no necessity to writeand what weighd more than allhe did not look as if he had done amiss. Tis all very well, La Fleur, said Itwas sufficient. La Fleur flew out of the room like lightening and returnd with pen, ink and paper, in his hand; and coming up to the table laid them close before me with such a delight in his countenance, that I could not help taking up the pen. I begun and begun again; and though I had nothing to say, and that nothing might have been expressd in half a dozen lines, I made half a dozen different beginnings, and could no way please myself. In short, I was in no mood to write.4 La Fleur steppd out and brought a little water in a glass to dilute my inkthen fetchd sand and seal- waxIt was all one: I wrote and blotted and tore off, and burnt, and wrote againLe Diable lemporte! said I half to myselfI cannot write this self-same letter; throwing the pen down despairingly as I said it. As soon as I had cast down the pen, La Fleur advanced with the most respectful carriage up to the table, and making a thousand apologies for the Liberty he was going to take, told me he had a Letter in his pocket wrote by a drummer in his regiment to a corporals wife, which he durst say would suit the occasion. |
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