Madame lauded1 him. "Punctualitie! tha'z the soul of pleasure!" She had begun to explain why her other guests included but one young lady, when here they came. First, the Prieurs, a still handsome Creole couple whom he never met again. Then that youthful-aged up-town pair, the Thorndyke-Smiths. And last--while Smith held Chester captive to tell him he knew his part of Dixie, having soldiered there in the Civil War--the one young lady, Mlle. Chapdelaine. As Chester turned toward her she turned away, but her back view was enough to startle him.
"Aline," the hostess began as she brought them face to face, but whatever she said more might as well have been a thunderbolt through the roof. For Aline Chapdelaine was SHE.
They went out together. What a stately dining-room! What carvings3! What old china and lace on the board, under what soft, rich illumination! The Prieurs held the seats of honor. Chester was on the hostess's left. Mademoiselle sat between him and Mr. Smith. It would be pleasant to tell with what poise4 the youth and she dropped into conversation, each intensely mindful--intensely aware that the other was mindful--of that Conti Street corner, of Ovide's shop, and of "The Clock in the Sky," and both alike hungry to know how much each had been told about the other. Calmly they ignored all earlier encounter and entered into acquaintance on the common ground of the poetry of the narrow region of decay in which this lovely home lay hid "like a lost jewel."
"Ah, not quite lost yet," the girl protested.
"No," he conceded, "not while the poetry remains," and Smith, on her other hand, said:
"Not while this cluster of shops beneath us is kept by those who now keep them."
"My faith!" the hostess broke in, "to real souls 'tis they are the wonder--and the poésie--and the jewels! Ask Aline!"
"Ask me," Chester said, as if for mademoiselle's rescue; "I discovered them only last week."
"And then also," quietly said Aline, "ask me, for I did not discover them only last week."
"You need not. You would ask if I knew you had discovered them--M. Castanado and the rest."
"And you would answer?"
"That I knew they had discovered you."
"Discovered, you mean, my spiritual substance?"
"Yes, your spiritual substance. That's a capital expression, Mr. Chester, your 'spiritual substance.' I must add that to my English."
"Your English is wonderfully correct. May I ask something else?"
"I can answer without. Yes, I know where you're going to-morrow and for what; to read that old manuscript. Mr. Chester, that other story--of my grand'mére, 'Maud'; how did you like that?"
"It left me in love with your grand'mére."
"Notwithstanding she became what they used to call--you know the word."
"Yes, 'nigger-stealer.' How did you ever add that to your English?"
"My father was one. Right here in Royal Street. Hotel St. Louis. Else he might never have married my--that's too long to tell here."
"May I not hear it soon, at your home?"
"Assuredly. Sooner or later. My aunts they are born raconteurs6."
"Oh! your aunts. Hem2! Do you know? I had an uncle who once was your grandfather's sort of robber, though a Southerner born and bred."
"Yes, Ovide's wife told me. Will you permit me a question?"
"No," laughed Chester, "but I can answer it. Yes. Those four poor runaways7 to whom your sweet Maud showed the clock in the sky were the same four my uncle helped on--oh, you've not heard it, and it also is too long. I can lend you his 'Memorandum8' if you'll have it."
She hesitated. "N-no," she said. "Ah, no! I couldn't bear that responsibility! Listen; Mr. Smith is going to tell a war story of the city."
But no, that gentleman's story was yet another too long for the moment even when the men were left to their cigars. Instead he and Chester made further acquaintance. When they returned to the ladies, "I want you to talk with my wife," said Mr. Smith, and Chester obeyed. Yet soon he was at mademoiselle's side again and she was saying in a dropped voice:
"To-morrow when you're at the Castanados' to read, so privately9, would you be willing for Mme. De l'Isle to be there--just madame alone?"
Oh, but men are dull! "I'd be honored!" he said. "They can modify the privacy as they please." Oh, but men are dull! There he had to give place to M. Prieur and presently accepted some kind of social invitation, seeing no way out of it, from the Smiths. So ended the evening. Mlle. Chapdelaine was taken to her home, "close by," as she said, in the Prieurs' carriage.
"They are juz' arround in Bourbon Street, those Chapdelaines," said the De l'Isles to Chester, last to go. "Y'ought to see their li'l' flower-garden. Like those two aunt' that maintain it, 'tis unique. Y'ought to see that--and them."
"I have mademoiselle's permission," he replied.
"Ah, well, then!--ha, ha!" The pair exchanged a smile which seemed to the parting guest to say: "After all he's not so utterly10 deficient11!"
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1
lauded
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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3
carvings
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| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
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4
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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5
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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6
raconteurs
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| n.善于讲轶事的人( raconteur的名词复数 ) | |
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7
runaways
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| （轻而易举的）胜利( runaway的名词复数 ) | |
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8
memorandum
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| n.备忘录，便笺 | |
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9
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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10
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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11
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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