"I
shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
compensation." Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. "I was very much
surprised," the voluble young secretary went on, "to find my brother
here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in
bed; and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good
policy will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona
della case would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien."
"Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
employment."
"No," said the attache, with a sigh, "the poor fellow sacrificed
himself for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of
my father's fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a
peerage, like all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised
him," he added in an undertone. "After saving up a little capital my
brother joined a banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a
speculation in Brazil which may make him a millionaire. You see me in
the highest spirits at having been able, by my diplomatic connections,
to contribute to his success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch
from the Brazilian Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from
his brow. What do you think of him?"
"Well, your brother's face does not look to me like that of a man
busied with money matters."
The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm
face of his partner.
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