Read Désirée for Free Online

prefer Désirée."
    "All your names are beautiful. And what shall I call you Mlle Bernardine Eugénie Désirée?"
    I felt myself blushing. Thank goodness it was dark, and he could not see my face. I had a feeling that the conversation was taking a turn which Mama would not have approved.
    "Call me Eugénie. as everyone else does. But you must come to see us, and in front of Mama I'll suggest that you call me by my Christian name. Then there won't be a row, because I believe that if Mama knew—"
    I stopped short.
    "Are you never allowed to take a walk with a young man?" he inquired.
    "I don't know. So far, I've never known any young man," I said without thinking. I had completely forgotten Persson.
    He pressed my arm again and laughed. "But now you know one—Eugénie.!"
    "When will you call on us?" I asked.
    "Shall I come soon?" he rejoined, teasing.
    But I did not answer at once. I was full of an idea that had occurred to me a little earlier—Julie! Julie, who so loves reading novels, would adore this young man with the strange foreign accent.
    "Well, what is your answer, Mlle Eugénie.?"
    "Come tomorrow," I said, "tomorrow after the shop has been closed for the day. If it is warm enough we can sit in the garden. We have a little summer house—it's Julie's favourite spot in the garden." I considered that I had been extremely diplomatic.
    Julie? So far I have only heard about Suzanne and Etienne, not Julie. Who is Julie?"
    We had already reached our road, and I had to talk quickly. "Julie is my sister," I said.
    "Older or younger?" He sounded keenly interested.
    "Older. She is eighteen."
    "And-pretty?"
    "Very pretty," I assured him eagerly, but then I wondered whether Julie would really be considered pretty. It is so difficult to judge one's own sister.
    "You swear it?"
    " She has lovely brown eyes," I declared, and so she has.
    "Are you sure your mother would welcome me?" he asked with diffidence. He did not seem at all certain that Mama would be glad to see him, and, quite frankly, I wasn't sure either.
    "I am sure she would welcome you," I insisted, determined to give Julie her chance. Besides, there was something I wanted myself. "Do you think you could bring your brother, the General?" I asked.
    Now M. Buonapat was quite eager. "Of course. He would be delighted, we have so few acquaintances in Marseilles."
    "You see, I've never seen a real general close up," I confessed.
    "Well, then you can see one tomorrow. True, at the moment he has no command, he is working out some scheme or other. Still, he is a real general."
    I tried in vain to imagine what a real general would be like. I was sure that I had never met a general, and, as a matter of fact, I had not seen one even at a distance. And the pictures of the old generals in the days of the
Roi
Soleil are all of old gentlemen with huge wigs. After the Revolution, Mama took down those portraits, which had been in the parlour, and stored them in the attic.
    "There must be a great difference in age between you and your brother," I said, for M. Bunapat seemed very young.
    "No, not much difference. About a year."
    "What?" I exclaimed. "Your brother is only a year older than you, and a general?"
    "No, a year younger. My brother is only twenty-four. But he is aggressive, and full of astonishing ideas. Well, you'll see him tomorrow yourself."
    Our house was now in sight. Lights shone from the groundfloor windows. No doubt the family had been at supper for some time.
    "That is where I live, in that white house."
    Suddenly M. Bunapat's manner changed. When he saw the attractive white house he was less sure of himself, and quickly said good-by. "I mustn't keep you, Mlle Eugénie. I'm sure your family is anxious about you. Oh, no, don't thank me. No trouble at all. It was a great pleasure to escort you, and, if you really meant it, I shall take the liberty of calling tomorrow in the late afternoon, with my young brother. That is, if your mother does not object, and we would not be