Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/271

 her and my brother. She was very young, had never had any other engagement; and, as the custom in France makes most ladies think a married life most agreeable, she implicitly obeyed her father. "The Marquis de Stainville's passion for her was so violent that it could not bear any delay. In a month's time they were married, with the consent of all parties; and, in the possession of Dorimene, my brother's happiness was complete; nor did he know a wish beyond it. On her request I continued to live with them, and we spent our time very agreeably; for Dorimene was really an amiable companion; she was not of a temper to be ruffled with trifles, and as to the generality of things, was very indifferent which way they went. I never saw her but once in a passion, but then indeed she perfectly frightened me; for she was quite furious, and her mind was agitated with much more violence than those which are easily put into disorder can ever be. My brother doted on her to distraction: the least intimation of any inclination of hers was enough to make him fly to obey her; at her desire we spent a few months in the winter at Paris, but then she gave no further into the gaieties of that place than her husband approved of. "The Count de had a small villa about six leagues from Paris, which was as pleasantly situated as any in France; in this place my brother took a fancy to spend the next summer after he was married. In a little while after we had been there, as my sister and I were sitting one day in a grotto at the end of the parterre, we saw the Marquis de Stainville and another gentleman coming towards us; we rose up to meet them, and as soon as we were near enough to join companies, my brother took the gentleman by the hand, and presented him to us under the name of the Chevalier Dumont. Dorimene and I (for she had also heard his history) were both rejoiced