The Indiscretion of the Duchess | Page 7

Gustave.
"It was decidedly indiscreet of you to come," said the duchess
reprovingly. "How was I to know about Lady Cynthia? If I had known
about Lady Cynthia, I would not have asked you; I would have asked
Mr. Aycon only. Or perhaps you also, Mr. Aycon--"
"Madame," said I, "I am alone in the world."
"Where has Claire gone to?" asked Gustave.
"Paris," pouted the duchess.
Gustave rose, flinging his napkin on the table.
"I shall follow her to-morrow," he said. "I suppose you'll go back to
England, Gilbert?"
If Gustave left us, it was my unhesitating resolve to return to England.
"I suppose I shall," said I.
"I suppose you must," said the duchess ruefully. "Oh, isn't it
exasperating? I had planned it all so delightfully!"
"If you had told the truth--" began Gustave.
"I should not have had a preacher to supper," said the duchess sharply;
then she fell to laughing again.
"Is Mlle. de Berensac irrecoverable?" I suggested.
"Why, yes. She has gone to take her turn of attendance on your rich old
aunt, Gustave."
I think that there was a little malice in the duchess' way of saying this.
There seemed nothing more to be done. The duchess herself did not
propose to defy conventionality to the extent of inviting me to stay. To

do her justice, as soon as the inevitable was put before her, she
accepted it with good grace, and, after supper, busied herself in
discovering the time and manner in which her guests might pursue their
respective journeys. I may be flattering myself, but I thought that she
displayed a melancholy satisfaction on discovering that Gustave de
Berensac must leave at ten o'clock the next morning, whereas I should
be left to kick my heels in idleness at Cherbourg if I set out before five
in the afternoon.
"Oh, you can spend the time en route," said Gustave. "It will be better."
The duchess looked at me; I looked at the duchess.
"My dear Gustave," said I, "you are very considerate. You could not do
more if I also were in love with Lady Cynthia."
"Nor," said the duchess, "if I were quite unfit to be spoken to."
"If my remaining till the afternoon will not weary the duchess--" said I.
"The duchess will endure it," said she, with a nod and a smile.
Thus it was settled, a shake of the head conveying Gustave's judgment.
And soon after, Mme. de Saint-Maclou bade us good-night. Tired with
my journey, and (to tell the truth) a little out of humor with my friend, I
was not long in seeking my bed. At the top of the stairs a group of three
girls were gossiping; one of them handed me a candle and flung open
the door of my room with a roguish smile on her broad good-tempered
face.
"One of the greatest virtues of women," said I pausing on the threshold,
"is fidelity."
"We are devoted to Mme. la Duchesse," said the girl.
"Another, hardly behind it, is discretion," I continued.
"Madame inculcates it on us daily," said she. I took out a napoleon.

"Ladies," said I, placing the napoleon in the girl's hand, "I am obliged
for your kind attentions. Good-night!" and I shut the door on the sound
of a pleased, excited giggling. I love to hear such sounds; they make
me laugh myself, for joy that this old world, in spite of everything,
holds so much merriment; and to their jovial lullaby I fell asleep,
Moreover--the duchess teaching discretion! There can have been
nothing like it since Baby Charles and Steenie conversed within the
hearing of King James! But, then discretion has two
meanings--whereof the one is "Do it not," and the other "Tell it not."
Considering of this ambiguity, I acquitted the duchess of hypocrisy.
At ten o'clock the next morning we got rid of my dear friend Gustave
de Berensac. Candor compels me to put the statement in that form; for
the gravity which had fallen upon him the night before endured till the
morning, and he did not flinch from administering something very like
a lecture to his hostess. His last words were an invitation to me to get
into the carriage and start with him. When I suavely declined, he told
me that I should regret it. It comforts me to think that his prophecy,
though more than once within an ace of the most ample fulfillment, yet
in the end was set at naught by the events which followed.
Gustave rolled down the hill, the duchess sighed relief.
"Now," said she, "we can enjoy ourselves fora few hours, Mr. Aycon.
And after that--solitude!"
I was really very sorry for the duchess. Evidently society and gayety
were necessary as food and air to her, and her churl