"Indeed," cried everybody.
"Yes, my dear friends," said the marchioness. "It appeared that this lady had done her lover the honour to invite him to an entertainment, but preceding the night upon which the entertainment was to take place, she discovered something that induced her to alter her mind with regard to him and to forbid him from coming to the party."
"And very proper too," said three ladies in a breath.
"No doubt of that," said three more.
"But that," continued the marchioness to the admiring throng which pressed closer around her in the hope of hearing some bit of scandal of the most delightful character, "that was not the difficulty, ladies; and what perplexed this young lady was that the wretch said, that having no invitation to the entertainment, he would attend it in spite of her."
"In spite of her?" said eight ladies.
"Yes. He said come he would, whether she liked it or not; and that she had no power to keep him out. Now, ladies, as this young friend of mine is in great distress upon this account, I would fain seek your advice by asking you what she had better do under such extraordinary circumstances?"
"Keep him out, by all means," said the whole lot.
"Yes, ladies, that is quite agreed; but the means of doing so? That is the question. What would you do, and how far would you go in strong resources provided he should have come to the door and make an effort to force his way past the servants?"
"Really, my dear marchioness," said the ugliest of the party, "I should call upon some gentleman to draw in my defence, for there's no saying how far such a man might go."
"I should give him to the watch," said another.
"And I," said a third, "should stand myself in my hall with a drawn sword and run him through if he persisted in entering the house without my permission."
"But the lady," resumed the marchioness, "has plenty of servants to keep the fellow out, and surely they ought to do it."
"But what," said I, suddenly making my way into the circle of ladies,
"but what, my dear marchioness, if he came down the chimney?"
The marchioness gave a shriek, and then cried, "There he is!" while the throng of ladies immediately called me their dear count and hoped I was quite well.
"Perfectly, ladies," I replied. "Ah, I need not ask of you such a question; your blooming cheeks and love-charming eyes sufficiently assure me of the fact."
"You monster!" cried the marchioness.
"Monster?" cried all the ladies. "Call the handsome Count Stophet a monster. Why we have been looking for him all the evening. Surely, marchioness, the case was not your own and you really could not wish to exclude the count?"
Her ladyship bit her lips with rage and her eyes flashed as though fire were in them.
"Audacious man!" she said, "how dare you intrude here? You have suborned my servants; not one of them shall remain another day with me."
"My dear marchioness," said I, "do not blame your servants, for they have not the remotest notion of my presence here. So do not blame them, my dear marchioness; and above all things, too, I beg of you not to make a scene. If you must say something angry to me, let it be elsewhere than here.
"Where, sir?"
"Oh, anywhere; upstairs will do."
The ladies tittered, and the marchioness seemed upon the point of doing something violent, beyond all precedent, but I spoke again saying, "Madam, I said that in spite of all the impediments you could possibly throw in my way I would be here tonight, and I have kept my word. Having done so, I am satisfied; and, if you wish it, I will now leave this house at once, and in that case with an equal obstinate adherence to my word, I promise you that its threshold shall never again be crossed by me."
At these words the marchioness turned rather pale. She had wanted to triumph over me, not to lose me.
"Say the word, madam, and I am gone."
"How very affecting," said all the ladies.
"You deserve that I should say go," the marchioness replied, in a low voice. "Your audacity deserves as much."
"I acknowledge it, madam."
"Then, for that acknowledgment, I will pardon you."
"How very affecting," said all the ladies again, and I made a low bow.
"Perhaps, madam," I added, "your servants had better be informed that I am no longer one of the proscribed."
"I will see it done at once!" was her reply.
It was now getting time for the rout to be over and, indeed, a number of the guests of the marchioness had already left. Determined to have a complete triumph over my petulant mistress I now approached the marchioness and announced that I had come to bid her adieu.
"Allow me to hope," I said, "that I have full pardon for the past and that all that I have done tonight may be attributed to its right motive, namely, intense admiration of yourself without the countenance and acquaintance of whom, believe me, I could not, and would not, exist in the world of fashion in London. May I hope for the happiness of seeing you soon?"
"You may hope."
"But will that delightful hope tomorrow be converted into a certainty?"
"It will."
I then bade adieu to some others of the guests with whom I was personally acquainted and who were all upon the point of leaving and then on reaching the landing, instead of walking downstairs, walked up.
No one noticed this remarkable deviation from the ordinary route upon my part, or if they did they were much too well bred to take the smallest apparent heed of it. It was no business of theirs, and in the course of another quarter of an hour the last carriage rolled away from the door of the witty, elegant, beautiful, but not very particular marchioness.
I did not stop till I had got to the top of the staircase I was ascending, that is to say upon the landing from which opened the principal bedchambers of the house, and then I paused to hear the last guest depart and to listen to the fastening up of the outer door by the servants of the establishment.
"All's right," I muttered. "I shall be much cosier here tonight than I should be at home."
All was profoundly dark in the suite of rooms in which I now found myself, and I held my hands out before me lest I should run against something, a contact with which might possibly be more energetic than pleasant.
I knew perfectly well that the bedroom of the marchioness was upon this floor and it was there that I meant to conceal myself until all the guests had left the house.
After peeping into a room or two I came to the one of which I was in search. A light was upon the dressing table and I had only just time to hide myself behind one of the curtains of the bed when I heard footsteps rapidly approaching the room.
I considered that this must be the marchioness, but I was mistaken in that conjecture as it appeared.
I had hardly been two minutes in the room when carrying a small silver hand lamp the waiting maid of the marchioness made her appearance. I knew this extremely pretty girl by sight and was in the hope that she would merely place the light upon the dressing table and then leave the room; but in that hope I was disappointed.
The very first thing she did was to begin altering the arrangement of the curtains of the bed so that I felt my discovery was a certainty. With such a coincidence I thought the best thing I could do was to step out of my place of concealment at once.
"How are you, Annette," I said, as I suddenly confronted the girl.
She gave a loud scream and dropped the hand lamp which she had in her hand; the scream was just loud enough to be heard all over the house and I felt that any further concealment in the room would be impossible.
"Why did you call out in that way?" I said.
"Why did you pop out in that way?" said Annette. "What business have you here?"
"It is not business at all," said I; "but you with your foolish squabbling have spoilt the whole affair, so off I must go. Now mind, Annette, you have seen no one."