Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/29

Rh were haughty and proud, and I saw at once that she was a parvenu woman, though I did not then know what I afterward learned of her.

We stopped about thirty miles from Paris for dinner. It was customary for the outside passengers of a diligence to eat in one apartment, and those inside in another of a little better caste. Among the outside travelers was a well-dressed, gentlemanly-appearing man, who had evidently taken his place there to enjoy the pure air and fine views. He came in, in a quiet way, to the inside passengers' table. When he seated himself at the table, the parvenu woman, looking very indignant, called to the landlord, and asked if there were not regulations prohibiting outside passengers from eating at that table. He replied that such were the rules. She then said she wished he would enforce them, and pointing to the gentlemanly-looking aggressor, requested that he should be ordered from the table. Without speaking a word, the gentleman arose and walked with the landlord into the inferior dining-room.

Having finished our meal, we again started on our course. After traveling for a few hours across a very beautiful country, the diligence stopped at a magnificent chateau. The beauty of this place attracted the admiration of all; it was surrounded by grand forest trees, and the grounds were adorned with the most exquisite taste. It was evident such an abode must be the dwelling of persons of rank and wealth. Soon a fine looking lady, accompanied by four lovely children and several servants, were seen approaching the gate, with their eyes fixed upon the top of the diligence, from which Count K., in the shape of the veritable 3