The Deputy of Arcis by Honoré de Balzac
page 93 of 499 (18%)
page 93 of 499 (18%)
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"It is the road of Paradise! very good, that," said Madame Marion,
anxious to flatter Achille Pigoult in the interests of her nephew. "Monsieur," said Antonin's valet in the dining-room, "the tilbury has a coat of arms--" "Coat of arms!" "Yes, and droll enough they are! There's a coronet with nine points and pearls--" "Then he's a count!" "And a monster with wings, flying like a postilion who has dropped something. And here is what is written on the belt," added the man, taking a paper from his pocket. "Mademoiselle Anicette, the Princesse de Cadignan's lady's maid, who came in a carriage" (the Cinq-Cygne carriage before the door of the Mulet!) "to bring a letter to the gentleman, wrote it down for me." "Give it to me." The sub-prefect read the words: _Quo me trahit fortuna_. Though he was not strong enough in French blazon to know the house that bore that device, Antonin felt sure that the Cinq-Cygnes would not send their chariot, nor the Princess de Cadignan a missive by her maid, except to a person of the highest nobility. "Ha! so you know the maid of the Princess de Cadignan! happy man!" |
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