Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/306

296 "All you say is most true," Henri assented warmly. "Dear mother, if it be your wish to give the hand of my sister to an honourable, noble-hearted, God-fearing man, I think you may search the world without finding a better than Ivan Ivanovitch Pojarsky."

"The young man may deserve all you say of him," Madame de Salgues interposed rather sharply; "but in the meantime I wish to know what are his prospects. What does he intend to live upon?"

"He is an officer—an ensign in the Chevalier Guard," remarked Madame de Talmont.

"We all know that, my dear Rose," returned the elder lady, with just a shade of contempt in her quiet, well-bred accents; "but we know equally well that his pay will scarcely keep him in white kid gloves, tobacco, and pocket-money."

"He does not use tobacco," Henri threw in by way of parenthesis.

"A place in such a corps may be a social distinction," Madame de Salgues continued, "but it is in no sense a provision. It gives prestige, but it absorbs money."

"I believe he has good expectations," Madame de Talmont hazarded.

"Good expectations!" the old lady scornfully repeated. "It would be more to the purpose if he had a good estate. But it appears his father was despoiled of everything, even to his clothes and his jewellery. While as for the young man himself, he has had half-a-dozen civil words from the Emperor of Russia. That is absolutely all. I fail to see how he can set up an establishment and do justice to a family upon that."

"The Emperor, who is in full possession of all his history, would not have placed him in the Chevalier Guard if he had not intended to provide for him," Henri said. "Do you know, my dear mother," he asked rather abruptly, "that M. Pojarsky was in Moscow during the whole time of the Occupation?"