The Transformation of Philip JettanHeyer, Georgette
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The Transformation of Philip Jettan
Heyer, Georgette
British -- France -- Paris -- Fiction; First loves -- Fiction; Love stories; Mate selection -- Fiction; Regency fiction
"Ay, wait a bit! Here we are: 'The Marquis was going to be present,
having heard of the rumour, and swore to take me along with him. The
which I did consent to, as you may imagine. Well, we came out to
Neuilly in due course at half-after eight one morning, and mighty
cold it was, but that's neither here nor there. There we found a fair
gathering of young rakes with their horses or chariots, some half
dozen in all, laying wagers and all mightily amused. And, stap me,
if there was not a fiddler scraping away as if his life depended on
it. Soon after we were come, up drives a coach and out jumps three
men, the first in great disorder at finding so many there assembled.
This was Jettan, and prodigious elegant and finicky he was, too, all
patched and painted, and tricked up in velvets and silks and I don't
know what. He fell into a great rage, though he was laughing half the
time, and, indeed, 'twas a ridiculous situation, and he could scarce
help but to be tickled by it. He turns to his seconds and rates them,
but they were too amused to do aught but to hold their sides. Then
young Jettan orders us all off and especially begs the Marquis to exert
his influence, which he would not do. Then Jettan appealed to us to
withdraw, whereat they were all the more entertained, and adjured him
to _se taire_, as they call it, calling him _petit Philippe_ and the
like. Then Jettan started to laugh himself and pulls out a roll of
parchment from his pocket, and was for declaiming some ode he had writ,
but that three of them took it from him. Then he says, "At least, send
that damned fiddler away!" and they replied, "All in good time," but
'twas himself had asked for him. Before he could say more, which he
was about to do, up comes another coach, and out gets your boy, Henry,
and his seconds. When they saw what was toward they were mightily put
out, as you may imagine, and, indeed, Henry was white and purple with
rage, saying this was an insult and he was not to be so mocked, and
the like. His seconds spoke apart with young Jettan's, and I give you
my word, they were dancing with fury, at least one was, but the little
one seemed more entertained. Then up comes Jettan, very solemn and
dignified, and bows to Henry. "I ask you to believe, moosoo," says
he, "that this is none of my designing. I desire," says he, "to offer
you my apologies for my friends' ill-timed pleasantry." Henry could
scarce mouth forth a word, so enraged was he, and was for retiring
at once, saying that he had borne much, but this was too much. The
fiddler was ordered to stop his scraping now, and the onlookers all
vowed they had come with serious intent to watch the fight, and would
not go until they had done so. Jettan offers to meet Henry another
day, when and where he will, but I could see Henry was burning to run
him through. "Since we are here," says he, "let us go on with it. I
await your convenience," he says, and, "I thank you," replies Jettan
and stands back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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