Elson, one of our exiled divines,
had completed the work, though he made his profession with pain and
grief, feeling it a full severance from his country and his mother.
And the last time my dear brother left the house was to give me to
his friend. He was anxious that I should be Clement's wife before he
left me, and there was no fear that we should starve, for, through
trustworthy merchants, a small amount of the Darpent money had been
transmitted to him before the State laid hands on his property as
that of a fugitive. He might have bought himself a share in one of
the great trading houses, or have--which tempted him most--gone out
to the plantations in the new countries of Java or America; but
Eustace prayed him to pledge himself to nothing until he should hear
from Harry Merrycourt, to whom my brother had sent a letter before
quitting Paris.
We would have had a quiet wedding, but Eustace was resolved, as he
said, that all the world should know that it was not done in a
corner, and Madame van Hunker WOULD give the wedding feast, and came
to dress me for my bridal. You know the dress: the white brocade
with hyacinth flowers interwoven in the tissue--and when she had
curled my hair after her fancy, she kissed me and clasped round my
neck the pearls of Ribaumont. I told her I would wear them then to
please her and Eustace, and, in truth, I knew in my heart that I was
the last true Ribaumont bride that ever would wear them.
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