As if men knew when women ought to wear
their jewels, and when not! But he was green with jealousy of the things
his stepfather had given her; wanted everything himself.
She went on to describe the other members of the house party, and
mouthed their titles with delight, though she had only her own maid to
impress. Everyone had a title, it seemed, except Bertie, and the
American girl he wanted to marry, Miss Nelson, a sister of the young
marquise. Some of the titles were very high ones, too. There were
princes and princesses, and dukes and duchesses all over the place,
mostly French and Italian, though one of the duchesses was American,
like the marquise and her sister.
"Not the Duchesse de Melun!" I exclaimed, before I stopped to think.
"Yes, that's the name," said her ladyship, twisting round to look up at
me, as I wound her back hair in curling-pins. "What do you know about
her?"
How I wished that I knew nothing--and that I hadn't spoken!
The name had popped out, because the Duchesse de Melun is the only
American-born duchess of my acquaintance, and because I was hoping very
hard that the duchess of the Chateau de Roquemartine might _not_ be the
Duchesse de Melun.
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