"Thanks, my dear! I don't know what I would have done without you."
After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was
repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a sudden and still more
repellent indifference, Lieut. D'Hubert took his departure.
He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger. To
run a comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not known did
not trouble him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His position as
officier d'ordonnance of the general added to his assurance. Moreover,
now that he knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a
service matter.
Madame de Lionne's house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery,
opening the door of a large drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his
name and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. The ladies
wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of feathers; their bodies
sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the armpits to the tips of the
low satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare
necks and arms.
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