Your salary would
be liberal and no position could be more protected and dignified.
I have seen and talked to her grace myself, and she will allow me
to take you to her, if you desire to go."
"Do not permit the fact that she has known me for many years
to prejudice you against the proposal," said Coombe. "You might
perhaps regard it rather as a sort of guarantee of my conduct in
the matter. She knows the worst of me and still allows me to retain
her acquaintance. She was brilliant and full of charm when she
was a young woman, and she is even more so now because she is--of
a rarity! If I were a girl and might earn my living in her service,
I should feel that fortune had been good to me--good."
Robin's eyes turned from one of them to the other--from Coombe to
Mademoiselle Valle, and from Mademoiselle to Coombe pathetically.
"You--you see--what has been done to me," she said. "A few weeks
ago I should have KNOWN that God was providing for me--taking
care of me. And now--I am still afraid. I feel as if she would see
that--that I am not young and fresh any more but black with evil.
I am afraid of her--I am afraid of you," to Coombe, "and of myself."
Coombe rose, evidently to go away.
"But you are not afraid of Mademoiselle Valle," he put it to her.
"She will provide the necessary references for the Duchess. I will
leave her to help you to decide.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350