i

—

I had not opposed him, for fear he should settle the
matter by running me through.

“Tf you would do me another favour, dear Mr. Mad-
der,” she said, in her soft, purring voice, “it is such a
pity Fanny’s sketching should be stopped, and yet I
don’t like her to sit out by herself. Would you be so
kind as to take her out?”

This I thought was lighter work than bearding gi-
gantic Germans, and I had not the slightest objection to
it. Miss Fortescue, I found on further acquaintance, to
be a nice quiet little girl, with a pretty talent for draw-
ing, which, if she had not had a fortune (a fact which
her mother took care to inform me of), might have been
cultivated to some profitable purpose. ‘Of course she
has not the least occasion for it,’ said Mrs. Fortescue,
proudly, “but if there was any necessity, Fanny could
easily make an ample living by her pencil.” I only
smiled. Fanny’s fortune was, I understood, very safely
invested, and therefore I saw no need to dissipate such
pleasant dreams, any more than I felt myself bound to
correct Mis. Fortescue when she told me how beautifully
her daughter etched. “They are only pen and ink
drawings, Mamma,” said Fanny, humbly. “Well, my
dear, pen and ink drawing 7s etching,” said her mother,
decidedly ; “why, you know I have had them bound up,
with ‘ Htchings’ in gold on the cover.” As I say, I did
not think it necessary to tell Mrs. Fortescue that etching
and pen and ink drawing were as different as chalk and
cheese.

Fanny, however, had more sense, and she worked
away at her sketches, defiant of possible chills, in an
honest, determined manner that I approved of. I flatter
myself those sketches of Roney are the best in her port-
folio, and that she profited by my hints, which she took
most humbly and gratefully. So we sketched on, undis-
turbed by aught save the village children, who came in
the intervals of their play to look on, and stared in great
admiration when they saw the first wash of cobalt form-
ing into sky and cloud. But their delight was still
greater when they perceived that we had depicted, rising
from the village at the foot of the Castle Hill, the
chimney of the sugar factory, in which their fathers
worked. Once there was a great outcry, and we thought,
at least, that the whole German army was upon us, but it
was only M. le Curé going by on his velocipede, to the
admiration of all beholders. M. le Curé made us a most
elegant bow, and evidently did not feel himself to be in
any way ludicrous; yet I must confess that it was not
easy to refrain from a smile at the appearance of the
good priest, with his long petticoats dangling down
among the great wheels, sitting face to face with the
boy who helped to work the machine—for it had four
wheels and two seats, and was altogether a mighty con-
cern. However, I have no doubt the Curé got much
more comfortably about his parish than he would have
done on his feet; and so why should we laugh ?

We had forgotten this little excitement, and the chil-
dren, tired of looking at us, had dropped off one by one;
in short, we had been at work an hour or two when we
were aware of a clank of steel, and Hauptmann von
Reimer stalked up. It was rather an ordeal for poor
Fanny; but she got on much better without her fussy
mother, and was quite self-possessed, compared to what
she had been when I first met her. The Hauptmann
made the most tender inquiries after Mrs. Fortescue,

an NR,

RONCGY LE CHATEAU. 167 |

assured her that he and his countrymen should leave
soon, and that his being crowded with the lieutenant was
no inconvenience. Then, of course, he looked at her
drawing, and was quite enthusiastic in praise of it, utterly
disregarding mine, which was decidedly superior. This
did not raise his intellect in my opinion; but I
admit that he conducted himself like a prewx chevalier.
Fanny looked pleased, and brightened up at his compli-
ments on her artistic skill, and I—well, I was not going
to trouble myself about Miss Fanny, but I did feel that
I was her lawful cavalier for the time being, and that the
Hauptmann was cutting me out rather unfairly. Fanny’s
comment, when he was gone, was, however, not calcu-
lated to provoke any jealousy :—“‘I am glad he is so
civil—it would have been very awkward if he had been
disagreeable.” Una and the Lion was nothing to it;—
fancy Una calmly saying, “It would have been very awk-
ward if he had eaten me.” And to this day I have
never been sure whether Fanny was perfectly unconscious
that her fair English face had something to do with Von
Reimer’s courtesy, or whether she did see that he was im-
pressed, and thought proper not to show her knowledge.

The Prussians stayed in this quiet place longer than
we expected. Mrs. Fortescue’s ankle did not mend;
Miss Fanny daily improved in her sketching, and Von
Reimer’s interest in art daily grew more vivid. But the
day of departure came at last; the Prussians marched
for ,and I went with them. I should mention that I
had previously almost worn myself out in Mrs. Fortescue’s
service, having had many interviews with her, and written
letters for her to her brother-in-law, in England, who
she hoped would come to look after them and take them
back. In spite of all our sketching, I left heart-whole
as to Miss Fanny. “A very nice girl,’ I said to myself,
but such a mother-in-law would drive me into a lunatic
asylum.” As for Otto von Reimer, Mrs, Fortescue
smiled sweetly upon him, and hoped that they might
some day meet again under more agreeable circumstances.
She even went so far as to wish him success and a speedy
return to Germany, which was pretty strong, considering
the violent French sympathies I had heard her express
to the doctor. But if he had been a Red Indian chief,
I have no doubt she would have wished him plenty of
scalps with the same grace; and the only pity was that
he did not understand her.

I don’t think the Hauptmann was particularly fond
of my society, but he asked me a great many questions
that day. Naturally he gave me credit for knowing
much more of the Fortescue family than I did, and he
positively fished to, find out in what position I stood
towards them. I was half tempted to mystify him, for
the pleasure of seeing him bring his laborious, patient
German intellect to bear upon the question, but I re-
flected that it would be hardly faizx, and I didn't. SoI
told him what I could, and left him to turn it over in his
mind. I was not so sure that he had come off
unscathed by Miss Fanny, for as he never understood a
word of Mrs. Fortescue’s ecstatic discourses, they had no
repressing effect upon him; but soldiers have many
such little affairs in their lives, and I thought no more
of it.

The town of was crammed to overflowing with
warriors, and in the multitude I lost sight of Von
Reimer altogether, until one day I strayed into a shop
to inquire the price of two old Lonis-Quatorze-looking