But none of this--even if she, too, had studied him as I had--would have made any impression on Mignon's champion. She was accustomed to being obeyed--the gang of mechanics who had under her directions performed two days' work in one had found that out. And then, again, her whole purpose in life was to befriend especially those girls who, having no one to stand by them, become broken down by opposition and so marry where their hearts seldom lead. How many had she taken under her wing--how many more would she protect as long as she lived!
Before she bade us good-night all the wedding details were sketched out, our landlord listening and nodding his head whenever appeal was made to him, but committing himself by no further speech. The ceremony, she declared gayly--and it must be the most beautiful and brilliant of ceremonies--would take place in the old twelfth-century church, at the end of the street, from which the great knights of old had sallied forth and where a new knight, one Monsieur Gaston, would follow in their footsteps--not for war, but for love--a much better career--this, with an additional toss of her head at the silent Lemois. There would be flowers and perhaps music--she would see about that--but no trumpeters--and again she looked at Lemois--and everybody from Buezval would be invited--all the fishermen, of course, and their white-capped mothers and sisters and aunts, and cousins for that matter--everybody who would come; and Pierre and her own chef from Rouen would prepare the wedding breakfast if dear Lemois would consent--and if he didn't consent, it would be cooked anyhow, and brought in ready to be eaten--and in this very room with every one of us present.
"And now, Monsieur Louis, please get me my cloak, and will one of you be good enough to tell my chauffeur I am ready?--and one thing more, and this I insist on: please don't any of you move--and, whatever you do, don't bid me good-by. I want to carry away with me just the picture I am looking at: Monsieur Herbert there in his chair between the two live heads--yes, I believe it now--and Messieurs Louis and Brierley and Le Blanc, and our delightful host, and dear tantalizing Lemois, by the hearth--and the queer figures looking down at us through the smoke of our cigarettes--and the glow of the candles, and the light of the lovely fire to which you have welcomed me. Au revoir, messieurs--you have made me over new and I am very happy, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!"