"
"No, no; my master said you would, perhaps, wait for him."
"Very well; I will do so."
Faithful to the orders she had received, the servant conducted the
visitor to the drawing-room, lit the tapers in the candelabra, and
retired. "This is very strange!" growled the marquis. "Monsieur
Fortunat makes an appointment, Monsieur Fortunat expects me to
wait for him! What will happen next?" However, he drew a newspaper
from his pocket, threw himself into an arm-chair, and waited.
By his habits and tastes, the Marquis de Valorsay belonged to that
section of the aristocracy which has coined the term "high life"
in view of describing its own manners and customs. The matters
that engrossed the marquis's frivolous mind were club-life and
first performances at the opera and the leading theatres, social
duties and visits to the fashionable watering-places, racing and
the shooting and hunting seasons, together with his mistress and
his tailor.
He considered that to ride in a steeple-chase was an act of
prowess worthy of his ancestors; and when he galloped past the
stand, clad as a jockey, in top-boots and a violet silk jacket, he
believed he read admiration in every eye. This was his every-day
life, which had been enlivened by a few salient episodes: two
duels, an elopement with a married woman, a twenty-six hours'
seance at the gaming table, and a fall from his horse, while
hunting, which nearly cost him his life.
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