too, went into a sort of
half-mourning, and appeared in grey. »I make myself old, my friend,« he said
pathetically; »I have no more neither twenty years nor forty.« He went to
Rosebury Church no more, but, with great order and sobriety, drove every Sunday
to the neighbouring Catholic chapel at C-- Castle. We had an ecclesiastic or two
to dine with us at Rosebury, one of whom I am inclined to think was Florac's
director.
    A reason, perhaps, for Paul's altered demeanour was the presence of his
mother at Rosebury. No politeness or respect could be greater than Paul's
towards the Countess. Had she been a sovereign princess, Madame de Florac could
not have been treated with more profound courtesy than she now received from her
son. I think the humble-minded lady could have dispensed with some of his
attentions; but Paul was a personage who demonstrated all his sentiments, and
performed his various parts in life with the greatest vigour. As a man of
pleasure, for instance, what more active roué than he? As a jeune homme, who
could be younger, and for a longer time? As a country gentleman, or an homme
d'affaires, he insisted upon dressing each character with the most rigid
accuracy, and an exactitude that reminded one somewhat of Bouffé, or Ferville,
at the play. I wonder whether, when he is quite old, he will think proper to
wear a pigtail, like his old father? At any rate, that was a good part which the
kind fellow was now acting, of reverence towards his widowed mother, and
affectionate respect for her declining days. He not only felt these amiable
sentiments, but he imparted them to his friends freely, as his wont was. He used
to weep freely - quite unrestrained by the presence of the domestics, as English
sentiment would be; and when Madame de Florac quitted the room after dinner,
would squeeze my hand and tell me, with streaming eyes, that his mother was an
angel. »Her life has been but a long trial, my friend,« he would say. »Shall not
I, who have caused her to shed so many tears, endeavour to dry some?« Of course,
all the friends who liked him best encouraged him in an intention so pious.
    The reader has already been made acquainted with this lady by letters of
hers, which came into my possession some time after the events which I am at
present narrating. My wife, through our kind friend, Colonel