The Works of Honore de Balzac (Volume 10); The Country Parson and Albert Savarus, the Peasantry (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: "My dear Baroness," said Madame de Chavoncourt, "do not let such serious issues turn on such a trifle. The varnish on his boots is not dry?or a consultation, perhaps, detains Monsieur de Savarus." Rosalie shot a side glance at Madame de Chavoncourt. "She is very lenient to Monsieur de Savarus," she whispered to her mother. "You see," said the Baroness with a smile, "there is a question of a marriage between Sidonie and Monsieur de Savarus." Mademoiselle de Watteville hastily went to a window looking out over the garden. At ten o'clock Albert de Savarus had not yet appeared. The storm that threatened now burst. Some of the gentlemen sat down to cards, finding the thing intolerable. The Abbe de Grancey, who did not know what to think, went to the window where Rosalie was hidden, and exclaimed aloud in his amazement, "He must be dead!" The Vicar-General stepped out into the garden, followed by Monsieur de Watteville and his daughter, and they all three went up to the kiosk. In Albert's rooms all was dark; not a light was to be seen. "Jerome!" cried Rosalie, seeing the servant in the yard below. The Abbe looked at her with astonishment. "Where in the world is your master ?" she asked the man, who came to the foot of the wall. "Gone?in a post-chaise, mademoiselle." "He is ruined!" exclaimed the Abbe de Grancey, "or he is happy!" The joy of triumph was not so effectually concealed on Rosalie's face that the Vicar-General could not detect it. He affected to see nothing. "What can this girl have had to do with this business?" he asked himself. They all three returned to the drawing-room, where Monsieur de Watteville announced the strange, the extra ordinary, the prodigious news of the lawyer's departure, without anyreason assigned for his evasion. By ha...