When Emilie meant
to conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze
a partner's indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow
were like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by
the impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her
most contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one
knew better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of
talent was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting
politeness which treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her
impertinence on all who tried to hold their heads on a level with
hers. Wherever she went she seemed to be accepting homage rather than
compliments, and even in a princess her airs and manner would have
transformed the chair on which she sat into an imperial throne.
Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to
bestow on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes
its revenge, had added to Emilie's pride, and increased her
self-confidence.
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