Whether it was that the young man's pleasing voice and attractive
manners had charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this
feeling had worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its
affectations. Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have
seemed more beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend
of the family, saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed
that Emilie, judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay
revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that
she pleased him. Every member of the family was curious to know what
this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but when, during
dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh
quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat
for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle's suddenly
roused her from her apathy; she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that
such heavenly perfection must cover some great defect, and that she
would take good care how she judged so gifted a man at first sight.
"Those who please everybody, please nobody," she added; "and the worst
of all faults is to have none."
Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a
fortnight there was not a member of the large family party who was not
in this little domestic secret.
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