Now don't try to
tell stories. I should find you out in a moment; I am accustomed to
hear falsehoods all day."
"There is nothing to be ashamed of, mademoiselle. Every one must
have a hero, and I was the only boy you knew. No one could have
misunderstood you; and even to those artificial fops who were
standing round you, there seemed nothing strange or unmaidenly in
your avowal that when you were a little girl you made a hero of a
boy. You are quite right, I did not make a heroine of you. Boys, I
think, always make heroines of women much older than themselves. I
looked upon you as a dear, bright little girl, whom I would have
cared for and protected as I would my favourite dog. Some boys are
given to heroine worship. I don't think that is my line. I am only
just getting out of my boyhood now, and I have never had a heroine
at all."
So they sat and chatted, easily and pleasantly, as if four years
had been rolled back, and they were boy and girl again in the
garden of Windthorpe Chace.
"I suppose I shall see you every evening at the court?" Rupert
said.
"I suppose so," the girl sighed. "But it will be much more pleasant
here. You will come with papa, won't you?"
"Whenever he will be good enough to bring me," Rupert said.
"You remember what I told you about Adele," the marquis said, as
they walked back to their rooms in the palace.
"Surely, sir," Rupert replied.
"I think it would be as well, both for her sake and your own, that
you should not frequent her society in public, Rupert.
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