She will need it, for the Baron's pay is pledged for
three years."
"I will go to the War Office," said he, "and see the Prince, to find
out what he thinks of my brother, and ask for his interest to help my
sister. Think of some place that is fit for her."
"The charitable ladies of Paris, in concert with the Archbishop, have
formed various beneficent associations; they employ superintendents,
very decently paid, whose business it is to seek out cases of real
want. Such an occupation would exactly suit dear Adeline; it would be
work after her own heart."
"Send to order the horses," said the Marshal. "I will go and dress. I
will drive to Neuilly if necessary."
"How fond he is of her! She will always cross my path wherever I
turn!" said Lisbeth to herself.
Lisbeth was already supreme in the house, but not with the Marshal's
cognizance. She had struck terror into the three servants--for she had
allowed herself a housemaid, and she exerted her old-maidish energy in
taking stock of everything, examining everything, and arranging in
every respect for the comfort of her dear Marshal. Lisbeth, quite as
Republican as he could be, pleased him by her democratic opinions, and
she flattered him with amazing dexterity; for the last fortnight the
old man, whose house was better kept, and who was cared for as a child
by its mother, had begun to regard Lisbeth as a part of what he had
dreamed of.
"My dear Marshal," she shouted, following him out on to the steps,
"pull up the windows, do not sit in a draught, to oblige me!"
The Marshal, who had never been so cosseted in his life, went off
smiling at Lisbeth, though his heart was aching.
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