Lucile By Owen Meredith [i.e. E. R. B. Lytton] |
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| I. |
 | I. |
| II. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
| XXXII. |
| XXXIII. | XXXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXXV. |
| XXXVI. |
| XXXVII. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| II. |
 | Lucile |  |
XXXIII.
The hubbub of comment and praise
Reach'd Lord Alfred as just then he enter'd.
Reach'd Lord Alfred as just then he enter'd.
‘Ma foi!’
Said a Frenchman beside him,... ‘That lucky Luvois
‘Has obtain'd all the gifts of the gods ... rank and wealth,
‘And good looks, and then such inexhaustible health!
‘He that hath shall have more; and this truth, I surmise,
‘Is the cause why, to-night, by the beautiful eyes
‘Of la charmante Lucile more distinguish'd than all,
‘He so gaily goes off with the belle of the ball.’
‘Is it true,’ ask'd a lady aggressively fat,
Who, fierce as a female Leviathan, sat
By another that look'd like a needle, all steel
And tenuity—‘Luvois will marry Lucile?’
The needle seem'd jerk'd by a virulent twitch,
As tho' it were bent upon driving a stitch
Thro' somebody's character.
Said a Frenchman beside him,... ‘That lucky Luvois
‘Has obtain'd all the gifts of the gods ... rank and wealth,
‘And good looks, and then such inexhaustible health!
‘He that hath shall have more; and this truth, I surmise,
‘Is the cause why, to-night, by the beautiful eyes
‘Of la charmante Lucile more distinguish'd than all,
‘He so gaily goes off with the belle of the ball.’
‘Is it true,’ ask'd a lady aggressively fat,
Who, fierce as a female Leviathan, sat
By another that look'd like a needle, all steel
And tenuity—‘Luvois will marry Lucile?’
The needle seem'd jerk'd by a virulent twitch,
As tho' it were bent upon driving a stitch
Thro' somebody's character.
54
‘Madam,’ replied
Interposing a young man who sat by their side,
And was languidly fanning his face with his hat,
‘I am ready to bet my new Tilbury that,
‘If Luvois has proposed, the Comtesse has refused.’
The fat and thin ladies were highly amused.
‘Refused!... what! a young Duke, not thirty, my dear,
‘With at least half a million (what is it?) a year!’
‘That may be,’ said the third; ‘yet I know some time ‘since
‘Castelmar was refused, though as rich, and a Prince.
‘But Luvois, who was never before in his life
‘In love with a woman who was not a wife,
‘Is now certainly serious.’
Interposing a young man who sat by their side,
And was languidly fanning his face with his hat,
‘I am ready to bet my new Tilbury that,
‘If Luvois has proposed, the Comtesse has refused.’
The fat and thin ladies were highly amused.
‘Refused!... what! a young Duke, not thirty, my dear,
‘With at least half a million (what is it?) a year!’
‘That may be,’ said the third; ‘yet I know some time ‘since
‘Castelmar was refused, though as rich, and a Prince.
‘But Luvois, who was never before in his life
‘In love with a woman who was not a wife,
‘Is now certainly serious.’
| Lucile | |