"Such a course is utterly out of the question."
Mr. Van Reinberg scratched his chin thoughtfully. Mr. de Valentin
completed his task, and handed the slips of paper over to me.
"I shall ask Mr. Courage," he said, rising, "to distribute these through
the agency of chance. For myself, I will, with your permission, retire. I
will only say this to you, ladies, and to my friends. I hope and believe
that it will not be long before I shall have the pleasure of meeting you
under very different circumstances. You will be very welcome to the Court
of France. I trust that together we may be able to revive some of her
former glories, and I do believe that your presence amongst our ancient
aristocracy will be for her lasting good."
So Mr. de Valentin left the room a little abruptly, and I thought it the
most graceful thing he had done. I shook up the slips of paper, which he
had given me in a hat, and handed them round.
There was an intense silence, and then a perfect babel of exclamations.
"Marquise de Lafoudre! My, isn't that fine!"
"Comtesse de St.
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