Page:Malvina of Brittany - Jerome (1916).djvu/55

The wise and learned Christopher, of course, knew of this coming. In all probability it was he—under the guidance of the gods—who had arranged the whole sequence of events. There remained only to tender him her gratitude. She did not wait for the Professor's reply. The coat a little hindered her but, on the other hand, added perhaps an appealing touch of its own. Taking the wise and learned Christopher's hand in both her own, she knelt and kissed it.

And in that quaint archaic French of hers, that long study of the Chronicles of Froissart enabled the Professor to understand:

"I thank you," she said, "for your noble courtesy and hospitality."

In some mysterious way the whole affair had suddenly become imbued with the dignity of an historical event. The Professor had the sudden impression—and indeed it never altogether left him so long as Malvina remained—that he was a great and powerful personage. A sister potentate; incidentally—though, of course, in high politics such points are immaterial—the most bewilderingly beautiful being he had ever seen; had