Alfred; or, The Adventures of a French Gentleman — page 133: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

110 ALFRED; OR ADVENTURES cured ourselves by flight—you take the same road that was adopted by us—and you stop at the same cottages, because they are more or less in your way.” ‘¢ Your solution is very just,” remarked Champignon ; ‘ and by the same reasoning, if there were no people to dine abroad, there would be no restaurants; if there were no _ restaurants, the Cadran Rouge would not have existed; and if the Cadran Rouge had not existed, I should not have been sent to the galleys.” ‘¢ All that is perfectly true, Messieurs,” exclaimed Belle-Rose ; ‘¢ but the sun is high in the heavens, the morning dews have been dissipated, and the hour for breakfast is arrived.” qa ‘¢ That said cold turkey and ham,” began Champignon, ‘ would not be bad, if—” ‘‘One of the ladies is already in the yard,” interrupted Belle- Rose, gazing from a low window towards the ruins of Louis Dorval’s ancestral dwelling. ‘‘ Ah! there is Eloise,” cried De Rosann; and, to the astonish- ment of his two companions, he rushed past them, and ran abruptly out. of the stable. —_—SSS Se CHAPTER XV. MR. CLAYTON. ELotsE was somewhat pale after the alarms of the night, and her heart was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. She was happy on account of the departure of her lover from the bagne at Brest, the particulars of which liberation she was as yet unacquainted with ; and she was vexed at the stern resolves of her mother, relative to their engagement and future union. She knew that Mrs. Clayton was determined to persist in her refusals to recognise Alfred as the lover of her daughter ; and she was afraid that not only her en- treaties, but also those of her uncle, would be unavailing and imef- fectual. Mrs. Clayton fancied she was doing her duty towards a child, whose tender years required parental care; she was not ignorant of the malignity of the world, and of the scandal that would be created, if she allowed her acquaintances and friends an opportunity of saying, ‘ That lady suffered her daughter to marry a man who had been at the galleys for forgery!” A sentence to this effect, muttered in the ear of a stranger, so far from being fol- lowed with a question soliciting information, such as ‘‘ But there must have been extenuating circumstances: perhaps the young centleman was innocent after all, while appearances were against him : can you not let me know the particulars of the case ?”°— would only meet with a shrug of the shoulders, and a reply to the effect of ‘‘ What a shameful breach of moral rectitude!” or ‘I wonder how any mother could be so inhuman, and so indifferent to the interests of her child!” Such is the present degraded state of society ; and the more its members practise a conduct like the above, the more they are said to be civilized and refined ! But as society is so organised, and as its laws are so severe, those CONNIE OOOKS (C(@)