Wilkie was already
consoled for his blunder.
He had received M. de Coralth as an enemy; but he now escorted him
to the door with every obsequious attention--in fact, just as if
he looked upon him as his preserver. A word which the viscount
had dropped during the conversation had considerably helped to
bring about this sudden revulsion of feelings. "You cannot fail
to understand that if the Marquis de Valorsay espouses your cause,
you will want for nothing. And if a lawsuit is unavoidable, he
will be perfectly willing to advance the necessary funds." How
could M. Wilkie lack confidence after that? The brightest hopes,
the most ecstatic visions had succeeded the gloomy forebodings of
a few hours before. The mere thought of being presented to M. de
Valorsay, a nobleman celebrated for his adventures, his horses,
and his fortune, more than sufficed to make him forget his
troubles. What rapture to become that illustrious nobleman's
acquaintance, perhaps his friend! To move in the same orbit as
this star of the first magnitude which would inevitably cast some
of its lustre upon him! Now he would be a somebody in the world.
He felt that he had grown a head taller, and Heaven only knows
with what disdain poor Costard and Serpillon would have been
received had they chanced to present themselves at that moment.
It is needless to say that Wilkie dressed with infinite care on
the following morning, no doubt in the hope of making a conquest
of the marquis at first sight.
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