That evening, at the Villa Aioussa, there gathered a courtly assembly,of much higher rank than Algiers can commonly afford, because many ofstation as lofty as her own had been drawn thither to follow her towhat the Princesse Corona called her banishment--an endurable banishmentenough under those azure skies, in that clear, elastic air, and withthat charming "bonbonniere" in which to dwell, yet still a banishment tothe reigning beauty of Paris, to one who had the habits and thecommands of a wholly undisputed sovereignty in the royal splendor of herwomanhood.
There was a variety of distractions to prevent ennui; there were halfa dozen clever Paris actors playing the airiest of vaudevilles in theBijou theater beyond the drawing-rooms; there were some celebratedItalian singers whom an Imperial Prince had brought over in his yacht;there was the best music; there was wit as well as homage whispered inher ear. Yet she was not altogether amused; she was a little touchedwith ennui.
"Those men are very stupid. They have not half the talent of thatsoldier!" she thought once, turning from a Peer of France, an AustrianArchduke, and a Russian diplomatist. And she smiled a little, furlingher fan and musing on the horror that the triad of fashionableconquerors near her would feel if they knew that she thought them dullerthan an African lascar!
But they only told her things of which she had been long weary,specially of her own beauty; he had told her of things totally unknownto her--things real, terrible, vivid, strong, sorrowful--strong as life,sorrowful as death.
"Chateauroy and his Chasseurs have an order de route," a voice wassaying, that moment, behind her chair.
"Indeed?" said another. "The Black Hawk is never so happy as whenunhooded. When do they go?"
"To-morrow. At dawn."
"There is always fighting here, I suppose?"
"Oh, yes! The losses in men are immense; only the journals would geta communique, or worse, if they ventured to say so in France. Howdelicious La Doche is! She comes in again with the next scene."
The Princesse Corona listened; and her attention wandered farther fromthe Archduke, the Peer, and the diplomatist, as from the Vaudeville. Shedid not find Mme. Doche very charming; and she was absorbed for a timelooking at the miniatures on her fan.