She rang the bell and glanced at the big window over the entrance. It

had a complicated arrangement of folding green blinds, which were half

open, and a grey awning with a red border. She wondered whether it was

the window of the singer's own especial room.

The house was different from those next it, though she could hardly

tell where the difference lay. She thought that if she had not known

the number she should have instinctively picked out this house, amongst

all the others in that part of the Avenue Hoche, as the one in which

the prima donna or an actress must be living; and as she stood waiting,

a very simple and well-bred figure of a young lady, she felt that on

the other side of the door there was a whole world of which she knew

nothing, which was not at all like her own world, which was going to

offend something in her, and which it was nevertheless her duty to

enter. She was in that state of mind in which a nun breathes an

ejaculatory prayer against the wiles of Satan, and a delicately

nurtured girl thinks of her mother. Her heart hardly beat any faster

than usual, though she was sure that one of the great moments of her

life was at hand; but she drew her skirt round her a little closer, and

pursed her lips together a little more tightly, and was very glad to

feel that nobody could mistake her for anything but a lady.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024