Zibeline

“ Her real name is Valentine de Vermont, and she is the daughter of a fabulously wealthy French-American dealer in furs, and when, after his death, she goes to Paris to spend her colossal fortune, and to make restitution to the man from whom her father won at play the large sum that became the foundation of his wealth, certain lively Parisian ladies, envying her her rich furs, gave her the name of Zibeline, that of a very rare, almost extinct, wild animal. Zibeline's American unconventionality, her audacity, her wealth, and generosity, set all Paris by the ears. ”

“ Zibeline inquired of General de Prerolles.
"I think you have the air of the commander of a division of cavalry, awaiting the moment to sound the charge."
"I shall guard her well," said Zibeline, "for she would be sure to be put to rout by your bayonets."
"Not by mine!" gallantly exclaimed Lenaieff. "I should immediately lower my arms before her!"
"You!—perhaps! But between General de Prerolles and myself the declaration of war is without quarter. Is it not, General?" said Valentine, laughing. ”

“ In fact, twenty-four hours had sufficed to change the lonely stranger of the day before into the heroine of this evening, and the satisfaction that shone in her face tempered the somewhat haughty and disdainful expression that had hitherto characterized her.
"You have not yet said 'good-evening' to Mademoiselle de Vermont, Henri," said the Duchess to her brother, and he changed his place in order to act upon her hint.
"Ah, is it you, General?" said Zibeline, affecting not to have seen him until that moment. "It seems that music interests you less than comedy." ”

“ I accept your invitation."
"To the Hotel de Montgeron," said Zibeline to her footman.
"I never shall forget your sister's kindness to me," she continued, as the carriage rolled away. "She fulfils my idea of the great lady better than any other woman I have seen."
"You may be proud of her friendship," said Henri. "When once she likes a person, it is forever. I am like her in that respect. Only I am rather slow in forming friendships."
"And so am I."
"That is obvious, else you would have been married ere this."
"No doubt—to some one like young Desvanneaux, perhaps. You are very flattering! ”

“ The family portraits had been rehung in their former places, in chronological order, and, in its proper place, figured that of the General of Division the Marquis de Prerolles, in full uniform, mounted on Aida, the portrait being the work of Edmond Delorme.
At this sight, touched to the depths of his heart, Henri knelt before
Valentine, and carried her hand to his lips.
"I adore you!" he said, without attempting to hide the tears of gratitude that fell upon those generous hands.
"Do you, indeed?" Zibeline murmured.
"You shall see!" he replied, rising. "Come, in your turn." ”

“ Then, as Mademoiselle de Vermont was about to mingle with the other ladies, the Duchess detained her an instant, inquiring:
"Have you any engagement for this evening, Mademoiselle?"
"None, Madame."
"Will you do us the honor to join us in my box at the opera?"
"But—I have no one to accompany me," said Zibeline. "I dismissed my cousin De Sainte-Foy, thinking that I should have no further need of his escort to-day."
"That does not matter at all," the Duchess replied. "We will stop for you on our way." ”

“ The late-comer presented her card of invitation to the proper functionary, and went across the enclosure toward the ladies' salon.
"Ah! there is Zibeline!" cried Madame Desvanneaux, with an affected air.
"Do you know her?" she inquired of the Duchesse de Montgeron.
"Not yet," the Duchess replied. "She did not arrive in Paris until the end of spring, just at the time I was leaving town for the seashore. ”

“ Two laborers hurried to open the gate and soon arrived at the spot with a litter, guided by the groom, whose horse had refused to jump the brook, and who since then had followed the race on foot outside the track. While the General placed Zibeline on the litter, the groom took Aida by the bridle, and the sad procession made its way slowly toward the enclosure surrounding the weighing-stand. ”

“ The zibeline is a little animal which is becoming more and more rare. They never have been found at all in my country, which I regret,” said Mademoiselle de Vermont graciously.
The hour was late, and the Duchess arose to depart. The Chevalier de Sainte-Foy, exercising his function as a sort of chamberlain, went to summon the domestics. Meanwhile Valentine spoke confidentially to Henri.
“General,” said she, “I wish to ask a favor of you.” ”

“ Zibeline's horse, which was a rapid trotter, now stopped before the Hotel de Montgeron, arriving just in advance of the Duchess's carriage, for which the Swiss was watching at the threshold of the open Porte cochere. He drew himself up; the brougham entered the gate at a swift pace, described a circle, and halted under the marquee at the main entrance. The General sprang lightly to the ground. ”

“ It was Aida, whose bridle was held by a dragoon, that served as a model for the artist’s pencil.
“Will you permit me?” he said to Henri.
“It appears decidedly, that my mare has caught your eye,” replied the General, approaching the carriage and resting his spurred foot on its step.
“She has superb lines,” said the painter, without interrupting his drawing.
“Well, I am curious to know whether she could beat Seaman,” said Zibeline. “Are you willing to run a race with me, General?” ”

“ The unanimity with which all hands were raised did not even give time to put the question.
“Her name?” demanded the Duchess.
“Here it is,” replied the notary, handing her a visiting card.
“‘Valentine de Vermont,’” she read aloud.
“Zibeline?” cried Madame de Nointel. “Bravo! I offer her the assurance of my esteem!”
“And I also,” added Madame de Lisieux.
“I can not offer mine,” said Madame Desvanneaux, dryly. “A young woman who is received nowhere!” ”

“ And why?" said Zibeline, blushing.
Visibly embarrassed, Henri drew out his watch in order to avert his countenance.
"Midday!" he cried. "This is the hour for the return of the troops to their barracks. You would do well not to delay in starting for home, Mademoiselle. The roads will be very crowded, and your horses will not be able to trot. I beg your pardon for taking away your model, my dear Delorme, but I really must be off." ”

“ What a lucky bird will be the one that mates with her!"
The rising curtain sent the spectators back to their places. The augurs of the Duchess's box reinstalled themselves before it where they could examine at their ease through their lorgnettes the fair stranger of whom so much had been said; and, mounting to the next floor, the General was at last able to find room among his sister's guests.
"You can see for yourself that our young friend is altogether charming," whispered Madame de Nointel, behind the shelter of her fan, and indicating Zibeline. ”

“ Zibeline needed all her firmness of grasp to force him, without allowing herself to be thrown, to stand still on the spot whence had come the movement that had alarmed him.
"Your horse needs exercise," said Henri to the equestrienne. ”

“ An event so unexpected as the enthronement of Zibeline in one of the two large boxes between the columns, in company with the Duchesse de Montgeron, Madame de Lisieux, and Madame de Nointel, did not escape their observation and comment.
"The Duchess is never thoughtless in her choice of associates," said one of the ten. "There must be some very powerful motive to induce her to shield with her patronage a foreigner who sets so completely at defiance anything that people may say about her." ”

“ Yours affectionately,
"VALENTINE DE VERMONT. "P.S.—Poor Seaman is dead! I beg you to carry this sad news to his friend Aida. V."
If a woman's real self is revealed in her epistolary style, finesse, good-humor, and sprightliness were characterised in this note. Zibeline's finesse had divined Henri's self-deception; her good-humor sought to dissipate it; and her sprightliness was evidenced by her allusions to M. Desvanneaux and the loss of her horse. ”

“ They descended from the carriage, and found on the platform two footmen, who conducted them to a large char-a-banc, to which were harnessed four dark bay Percherons, whose bridles were held by postilions in Zibeline’s livery, as correct in their appearance as those belonging to the imperial stables, when the sojourn of the court was at Compiegne or at Fontainebleau.
“Where are we going now, Jeanne?” asked Henri, whose heart seemed to him to contract at the sight of Maffliers, which he knew so well. ”

“ The ordinary young girl of Zibeline's age, either before or after her sojourn in a convent, considers that a man of thirty has arrived at middle age, and that a man of forty is absolutely old. Should she accept a man of either of these ages, she does it because a fortune, a title, or high social rank silences her other tastes, and her ambition does the rest. ”

“ With these words she left the room on the arm of the Duke, who claimed the honor of escorting her to her carriage.
“Shall you go to the opera also?” asked the Duchess of her brother.
“Yes, but later. I shall dine in town.”
“Then-au-revoir—this evening!”
“This evening!”
CHAPTER XIV. A WOMAN’S INSTINCT
The General had been more favorably impressed with Zibeline’s appearance than he cared to show. The generous action of this beautiful girl, her frankness, her ease of manner, her cleverness in repartee, were likely to attract the attention of a man of his character. ”

“ Undoubtedly she knew the reason for the particular attention which he paid to the stage, because, until the end of the act, her glance was divided alternately between the General and the actress.
As the curtain fell on this act the spectators turned their backs to the footlights, and Lenaieff, indicating Zibeline to his friend, said in his slightly Slavonic accent:
“Who is that pretty woman, my dear Henri?”
“One of Jules Verne’s personages, a product of the land of furs.”
“Do you know her?”
“Not at all. I have a prejudice against girls that are too rich. Why do you ask?” ”

“ That gentleman rejoined the Baron de Samoreau in the corridor and took him to meet Zibeline, and a sort of council appeared to be going on in the rear of her box.
"What the deuce can she be talking about to them?" said Desvanneaux to his wife.
"A new offer of marriage, probably. They say she declares she will marry no one of lower rank than a prince, in order to complete our chagrin! Perhaps they have succeeded in finding one for her!" ”

“ But how gravely you asked the question!"
"For the reason that I wish to speak to you about serious matters, my dear Eugenie."
The image of Zibeline passed before the eyes of the actress. That which Desvanneaux had revealed, in accusing the girl of debauchery, now appeared plausible to her, if considered in another way.
"You are about to marry!" she exclaimed. ”

“ Et tout ce que l'Espagne a produit de vaillants,'
many opera-glasses were directed toward the spectator to whom the actress appeared to address herself, when suddenly a new object of interest changed the circuit of observation. The door of the large, right-hand box opened, and Zibeline appeared, accompanied by the Chevalier de Sainte-Foy, an elderly gallant, carefully dressed and wearing many decorations, and whose respectable tale of years could give no occasion for malicious comment on his appearance in the role of 'cavalier servente'. ”

“ This was, for the hostile pair, a new cause of grievance against Zibeline. When she, in her turn, gave at her home a similar dinner, a fortnight later, she received from them, in reply to her invitation, which was couched in the most courteous terms, a simple visiting card, with the following refusal: "The Comte and the Comtesse Desvanneaux, not being in the habit of accepting invitations during Lent, feel constrained to decline that of Mademoiselle de Vermont."
The dinner was only the more gay and cordial.
Valentine's household was conducted on a footing more elegant than sumptuous. ”

“ Reassured by the ‘savoir-faire’ of his companion, the former winner of the military steeplechase felt revive within himself all his ardor for the conflict, and he hastened to make up the distance he had lost.
The two horses, now on the west side of the racetrack, were almost neck-and-neck, and it would have been difficult to prognosticate which had the better chance of victory. Zibeline’s light weight gave Seaman the advantage, but Aida gained a little ground every time she leaped an obstacle ”

“ There are some women whose fascination is so overwhelming as to cause the sanest of lovers to commit themselves, whence comes the slightly vulgar expression, "He has lost his bearings." Henri began to feel that he was in this state when he presented himself at Zibeline's home. ”

“ She nodded, gave him her hand an instant, and they set off, side by side, followed by Zibeline's groom, no less well mounted than she, and wearing turned-over boots, bordered with a band of fawn-colored leather, according to the fashion.
CHAPTER XXV THE AMAZON HAS A FALL They were a well-matched pair: he, the perfect type of the elegant and always youthful soldier; she, the most dashing of all the Amazons in the Bois, to quote the words of Edmond Delorme. ”