Let the car
rip! I'll see to her afterward. Now I'm going to take care of you. You
need it more than she does."
What would Lady Kilmarny have said if she had heard my deliberate
encouragement of the chauffeur, and his reckless response? What would
she have thought if she could have seen us walking into the couriers'
dining-room, side by side, as if we had been friends for as many years
as we'd really been acquaintances for minutes, leaving the car he was
paid to cherish in his bosom sulking alone!
That sweet lady's face, surprised and reproachful, rose before my eyes,
but I had no regrets. And instead of trembling with apprehension when I
saw that the couriers' room was empty, I rejoiced in the prospect of
lunching alone with the redoubtable chauffeur.
It was too early for the regular feeding hour of the _pensionnaires_,
maids, and valets, and we sat down opposite each other at the end of a
long table. A bored young waiter, with little to hope for in the way of
_pourboires_, ambled off in quest of our food. I began to unfasten my
head covering, and after a search for various fugitive pins I emerged
from obscurity, like the moon from behind a cloud.
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