England -- Fiction; France -- Fiction; Governesses -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction
"Not at all. She is French, and never was in England in her life. She
is a friend"—dropping her voice still lower—"of the De Mellissies; at
least her mother is: it was through Alfred they called upon me to-day."
"Then does Lady Chandos not know them?"
"She knows him. It is a Cornish family. This one, young Trehern, fell
in love with a French girl, and has married her. They were married last
Thursday, she told me. She had the most ravishing toilette on to-day: a
white and blue robe: you might have taken it for silver. She's nearly
as young as I am."
The letter despatched to Lady Chandos by Emily set forth the praises of
Mrs. Trehern, and especially dwelt upon the fact that her mother was a
dear friend of Madame de Mellissie. Not a word said it, though, that
Mr. Alfred de Mellissie was sojourning at the Lion d'Or, or at Nulle.
And there came back permission from Lady Chandos for Emily to visit
them: she wrote herself to Miss Barlieu, desiring that it might be so.
Emily was in her glory.
A great apparent friendship sprang up between her and young Mrs.
Trehern, who was something like herself, inexperienced and thoughtless.
She was of good family, pleasing in manners, and quite won the hearts
of the Miss Barlieus. Relatives of hers, the De Rosnys, lived in their
château near Nulle—the cause of her passing sojourn there. We
schoolgirls remembered how Maximilian de Bethune, the young Baron de
Rosny, had been the envoy despatched by Henri le Grand to solicit
assistance of Queen Elizabeth, in the years subsequent to the great
slaughter of the Huguenots. We assumed that Mrs. Trehern might be of
the same family; but did not know it.
Often and often she arrived at the school to take out Emily Chandos. At
length the Miss Barlieus began to grumble: Mademoiselle Chandos went
out too frequently, and her studies were getting in arrear. Emily
protested it was her mamma's wish and pleasure that she should take
advantage of the sojourn of Mrs. Trehern to go out, and exhibited part
of a letter from Lady Chandos, in which the same appeared to be
intimated. Mademoiselle Annette shook her head, and said it was a good
thing the month of Mrs. Trehern's stay was drawing to its close.
Now it happened about this time that an uncle of Miss Johnstone's
passed through Nulle on his way to Paris, staying for a day at the
Hotel du Lion d'Or. He invited his niece to go to see him, saying she
might bring any one of the young ladies with her. She chose me, to my
own surprise: perhaps the reason was that I had never taken an active
part in annoying her as some of the rest had. The Miss Barlieus allowed
me to go; for they looked upon it, not that I was about to pay an
indiscriminate visit, but going out with one of the governesses, under
her safe convoy and companionship.
"Where are you off to, little Hereford," demanded Emily Chandos, who
was attiring herself before the one glass in the bedroom when I went
up, for she was to spend the afternoon with the Treherns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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