Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 3.djvu/178

156 156 THE ETRUSCAN VASE

" See if it is mended all right. You, who are so learned, you, who have been to the Polytechnic School, ought to be able to tell that."

" Oh, I didn't learn much there," said Saint- Clair.

He opened the case in an absent-minded way, and what was his surprise to find a miniature portrait of Madam de Coursy painted on the interior of the case? How could he sulk any longer ? His brow cleared ; he thought no longer of Massigny; he only remembered that he was by the side of a beautiful woman, and that this woman loved him.

« • • • •

" The lark, that harbinger of dawn," began to sing, and long bands of pale hght stretched across the eastern clouds. At such an hour did Romeo say farewell to Juliet, and it is the classic hour when all lovers should part.

Saint-Clair stood before a mantelpiece, the key of the garden gate in his hand, his eyes in- tently fixed on the Etruscan vase, of which we have already spoken. In the depths of his soul he still bore it a grudge, although he was in a much better humour. The simple explanation occurred to his mind that Themines might have lied about it. While the Countess was wrapping a shawl round her head in order to go to the gar-