Lenoir

“ She knew that the animation was in part an effort, the gaiety in some measure assumed—and bravely assumed. But every moment rescued from brooding was, to Mrs. Lenoir's mind, so much to the good. According to some other ways of thinking, of course, a little brooding might have done Winnie good, and would certainly have been no more than she deserved.
Coffee came in, and, quick on its heels, the General. He produced his cigar, and advanced his invariable and invariably apologetic request.
"Please do. We neither of us mind, do we, Winnie?" said Mrs. Lenoir. ”

“ His colleague Lenoir—a rough, coarse-faced hulk—scowled fiercely, and growled out:
"Eh, Mme l'Aristocrate, it has been a good enough air for many a poor devil of a patriot, as the citizen gaoler here can tell you, and turn and turn about's fair play." And with that he spat contemptuously in Madame's path, and scowled again as she lifted her dainty petticoats a trifle higher but crossed the inner threshold without so much as a glance in his direction. ”

“ Thus far we have drawn from the confessions of Lenoir and Regine such explanations as appear to be necessary for the proper understanding of our history. There is but little to add to the information thus obtained.
In a letter received from Lenoir at a date shortly subsequent to his statement Martin read:
“Be consoled, my dear friend; a dangerous person will be removed from your country—free, happy, and noble. There will be no esclandre. It will be done without the assistance of your minister of the interior: yet the hospitality superb of England will not be insulted. ”

“ In all her nineteen years she had never been really alone before. As a child in her father's château, as a girl in her aristocratic convent, she had always been guarded, sheltered, guided, watched. She had certainly never walked a yard in the open street, or been touched by a man's hand, as the Commissioner Lenoir had touched her a few minutes since. She felt her shoulder burn through the thin muslin fichu that veiled it so discreetly, and the blood ran up, under her delicate skin, to the roots of the curling hair, where gold tints showed here and there through the lightly sprinkled powder. ”

“ The captives came to a definite understanding and agreement—Lenoir blacked the composer’s boots, the composer undertook the musical education of Lenoir. Released in due course from Clichy, Lenoir found that return to Paris, and continuance of his studies, would be as unavailing, as unattractive. His parents were dead, and they had left no money for their son. He joined a vagrant troupe of vocalists. Ultimately he crossed the frontier—for reasons best known to himself—and was soon a member of the chorus of the Grand Opera at Brussels ”

“ But I don't see why you shouldn't be Wilson. And the 'Miss' avoids a lot of questions."
"All right. Miss Winnie Wilson be it! It sounds like a new toy. And now, Mrs. Lenoir, for the other problem that Emily has raised. Who's the General?"
Mrs. Lenoir liked her young friend, but possibly thought that she was becoming a trifle impertinent. Not that she minded that; in her heart she greeted it as a rebound from misery; in the young it often is.
"If you've any taste in men—which, up to now, you've given your friends no reason to think—you'll like the General very much." ”

“ Of Lenoir's daily haunts and habits we know nothing. All we do know is that he is wont to be out all day, sometimes returning only to dress and go out again; sometimes not coming home till very late at night; sometimes absenting himself for a day and a night, or two days and two nights together. With this uncertain prospect before us, therefore, we wait and watch, and watch and wait, counting the hours as they strike, and scanning every face that gleams past in the lamplight.
So the first hour goes by, and the second. Ten o'clock strikes. ”

“ Lenoir from her dream, and she clung to her daughter with a fierce and passionate clinging.
"My child! my child! They shall not take you from me! Say that you will not desert me--promise me, my child! I will work for you--I will be your servant--anything----"
"Hush, mother!" said the girl. "Be comforted. I will never leave you. No power can part us."
With a supreme effort of will, Mr. Temple tore himself from the contemplation of the shameful discovery, and the likely consequences of the exposure.
"Come, Arthur," he said, holding out his trembling hand to his son; "this is no place for us." ”

“ Winnie was surprised and touched; to her despairing mood any kindness was a great kindness.
"That's really good of you," she said, pressing Mrs. Lenoir's hand for a moment. "It's—merciful."
"I'm an old woman now, my dear, and most of my cronies are getting old too. Still, some young folks look in now and then. We aren't at all gay; but you'll be comfortable, and you can have a rest while you look about you." There was a trace of the explanatory, of the reassuring, about Mrs. Lenoir's sketch of her home life. ”

“ These can descend into the caveaux to make the capture."
"A dozen!"
"Yes."
"So many!"
"You don't know Lenoir," said Markby; "he's the very devil when he's aroused. A dozen will have all their work to do. As for the two Englishmen——"
"They are young," exclaimed the prefect.
"They are young fiends. I have seen them fight like devils. They are just as dangerous as Lenoir. They are an cunning as the evil one himself, and will gammon even you, by their plausible tales." ”

“ Lenoir ever took much trouble not to be found out. Well, if people are going to do them, it's possible to admit a sneaking admiration for people who do them openly, and say 'You be hanged!' to society. You'll find her a very intelligent woman. She's still very handsome, and has really—yes, really—grand manners."
"I begin to understand why you let her down so easy," said Winnie, smiling. ”

“ Lenoir and the Duchess to Sevenoaks; with some vague idea that she might need Charlie's testimony, Mrs. Lenoir had begged Lizzie to ask him to come.
"Lizzie," said Mrs. Lenoir, "will you tell this young lady what you know of me?"
"I know nothing but good, Mrs. Lenoir," replied Lizzie, taking her hand, and kissing it; "there isn't a man or woman in our neighbourhood who hasn't a kind word for you."
"My dear," said Mrs. Lenoir, addressing the Duchess, "this is a girl who lives in the same house as I do, and who has known me for years. What is the matter with you, Lizzie?" ”

“ They only appear to be full of conceit about their town without the least reason for it. I should like to know if there is really any thing in Marseilles to warrant the faintest belief in the place."
This was Pierre Lenoir's opportunity.
He stepped forward.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," said he. "Englishmen, I presume?"
"Yes, sir," responded Jack; "are you English?"
"I haven't that honour," replied Pierre Lenoir.
"You speak good English. You have resided in England, I suppose, for a long while?" ”

“ At the base of the flight of steps they found themselves in a spacious vault that was unpleasantly dark.
"Allow me to lead the way now," said Lenoir, passing on. "Follow me closely; there is no fear of stumbling, there is nothing in the way."
So saying, he conducted them through this opening, which, by the way, was so low that they had to stoop in passing under, and found themselves now in a narrow cave, which reminded young Jack forcibly of the dungeon and its approach of Sir Walter Raleigh, in the Tower of London. ”

“ But how?" rapid, loud and excited queries greeted this extraordinary suggestion from the provincial giant.
"By the simplest means imaginable," retorted Lenoir with imperturbable calm. "Isn't there a good proverb which our grandmothers used to quote, that if you only give a man a sufficient length of rope, he is sure to hang himself? ”

“ To present to the 'young chaps' such an 'elder sister' as Winnie—certainly consideration was needed.
Later in the afternoon Mrs. Lenoir sat in a wicker chair on the casino terrace which overlooks, from a respectable and precipitous height, the roadstead and the sea. She had spent a lonely afternoon, she had seen none of her three friends, and by herself had drifted down to a solitary cup of tea at this resort, which she was at the moment feeling to be insecurely entitled to be called one of pleasure. ”

“ Lenoir's eyes, and a feeling of devout thankfulness in her heart. "Well, now, if you'll agree to one thing, you shall be that lady-companion."
"I will agree to anything."
"You're a sensible woman. It isn't much to do. You must let the girl understand that you're a relation of mine--an aunt, say. She has set her foolish little mind upon it, and it won't do any harm to humour her. Do you agree?" ”

“ Mrs. Lenoir's face looked wan and hard. "Yes, it would follow them all over the world," she said. "Now a mail ahead of them, now a mail behind—always very close. Yes, the women would chatter and lift their skirts; the old men would snigger and the youngsters make jokes. Is there anything at all to choose between us, Hugh—between you men and us women? Anything at all?"
He would not enter on that. "You don't quite understand. I may think about his interest—well, I'm his father, and he's my eldest. He sees it in the light of his duty to the Service."
"My poor little Winnie!" ”

“ Gerard contemplated Lenoir with marked kindness.
[Pg 87]
"It's a bad day to be out," he commented, in following Isabel from the room, and passed into the chauffeur's hand a gratuity out of all proportion to the occasion.
"Yes, sir," said Lenoir, demurely.
The drive home was short and uninteresting. On the veranda of the Rose villa Corrie was waiting to meet the returning two, upon the limousine's arrival.
"Well, of all the slow traveling I ever saw, this is the limit," he greeted them derisively; "From noon until five o'clock! Fancy!"
"Never mind our driving ”

“ In a word, the man of the Café, sunken, sullen, threadbare as he was, would have been almost less out of his proper place in Madame Marotte's society of small trades-people and minor professionals, than was M. Lenoir with his grand air and his orange-colored ribbon.
"It's the same man," said Müller; "the same, beyond a doubt. The more I look at him, the more confident I am."
"And the more I look at him," said I, "the more doubtful I get."
Madame Marotte, meanwhile, had introduced M. Lenoir to the two Conservatoire pupils and their mammas; Monsieur Dorinet had proposed some "petits jeux;" ”

“ Lenoir's friend, if anybody's——" Stephen suggested.
Winnie smiled and blushed a little. "Well, you see, the truth is that it's not only the General. He's got a son. Well, he's got three, but one of them turned up about a fortnight ago."
"Oh, did he? Where from?"
"From abroad—on long leave. It's the eldest—the Major."
"Does he like you very much too, Winnie?"
Winnie looked across the lawn. "It seems just conceivable that he might—complicate matters," she murmured. "I haven't spoken to Mrs. Lenoir about that—aspect of it." ”

“ Rosalie.
"Will M'sieur teach it to us, if it is not very difficult?" suggested Mdlle. Rosalie's mamma.
"With pleasure, Madame. It is not a bad game--and it is extremely easy. We will sit in a circle, if you please--the chairs as they are placed will do quite well."
We were just about to take our places when Madame Marotte seized the opportunity to introduce Müller and myself to M. Lenoir.
"We have met before, Monsieur," said Müller, pointedly.
"I am ashamed to confess, Monsieur, that I do not remember to have had that pleasure," replied M. Lenoir, somewhat stiffly. ”

“ She laughed. "You see what a long story it is. With most people it's so much easier to tell the little fib. But I've told you the truth about her now." Yet not all the truth. Mrs. Lenoir's conscience certainly seemed sometimes to work on easy springs.
"Thank you for telling me, Clara. I suppose I know why you told me. But I think my boy knows already that, if he has any designs about Miss Winnie, he'll not find me an obstacle. Only she doesn't seem to me to be anything more than friendly towards him." ”

“ You're young and attractive. Don't go on expecting too much. They take what they can."
"They? Who?"
"Men," said Mrs. Lenoir. Then out of those distant, thoughtful, no longer very bright eyes flashed for an instant the roguish twinkle for which she had once been famous. "I've given them as good as I got, though," said she. "And now—will you come?"
Winnie laughed. "Well, do you think I should prefer this empty tomb?" she asked. Yes—empty and a tomb—apt words for what the studio now was. "You weren't as nice as this at Shaylor's Patch—though you always said things that made me think." ”

“ Nothing but praise can be bestowed upon the successful efforts of M. Lenoir to construct a looking-glass which should neither grow yellow, and give us back a bilious presentment of ourselves as silvered mirrors do, nor destroy the health of the workmen, as was the case in the old process of mercurial amalgamation. ”

“ He doesn't mind all the great world, but he does mind half a dozen women and a dozen boys somewhere in India! People are queer, aren't they, Mrs. Lenoir?"
But by now Mrs. Lenoir had been schooled; talks with both father and son had made her understand better, and, since the thing had to be thus, it was desirable that Winnie should understand also.
"Well, Winnie, that may be all his regiment is to you—a pack of women and boys in India ”

“ And a white man who is called Lenoir; that means black. It is very droll, this affair of the names. It is like the lottery.”
Silence for a few moments, broken only by the ripple of water under the bow of the canoe, the persistent patter of the rain all around us, and the SLISH, SLISH of the paddle with which Ferdinand, my Canadian voyageur, was pushing the birch-bark down the lonely length of Lac Moise. ”