But after a while she no longer amused
him, though he still continued a faithful and constant visitor to the
rose-coloured boudoir wherein she passed the greater part of her life.
Madame d'Arlange conceived a violent friendship for him, and became
eloquent in his praises.
"A most charming young man," she declared, "delicate and sensible! What
a pity he is not born!" (Her ladyship meant born of noble parentage,
but used the phrase as ignoring the fact of the unfortunates who are
not noble having been born at all) "One can receive him though, all
the same; his forefathers were very decent people, and his mother was a
Cottevise who, however, went wrong. I wish him well, and will do all I
can to push him forward."
The strongest proof of friendship he received from her was, that she
condescended to pronounce his name like the rest of the world. She had
preserved that ridiculous affectation of forgetfulness of the names of
people who were not of noble birth, and who in her opinion had no right
to names. She was so confirmed in this habit, that, if by accident she
pronounced such a name correctly, she immediately repeated it with some
ludicrous alteration.
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