A short time after his arrival at his brother's house, he was summoned
to join his brother officers, and he accompanied a battalion to Paris;
where a scene of novelty and gaiety opened upon him, such as, till then,
he had only a faint idea of. But gaiety disgusted, and company fatigued,
his sick mind; and he became an object of unceasing raillery to his
companions, from whom, whenever he could steal an opportunity, he
escaped, to think of Emily. The scenes around him, however, and the
company with whom he was obliged to mingle, engaged his attention,
though they failed to amuse his fancy, and thus gradually weakened the
habit of yielding to lamentation, till it appeared less a duty to his
love to indulge it.
Among his brother-officers were many, who added
to the ordinary character of a French soldier's gaiety some of those
fascinating qualities, which too frequently throw a veil over folly, and
sometimes even soften the features of vice into smiles. To these men
the reserved and thoughtful manners of Valancourt were a kind of tacit
censure on their own, for which they rallied him when present, and
plotted against him when absent; they gloried in the thought of reducing
him to their own level, and, considering it to be a spirited frolic,
determined to accomplish it.
Valancourt was a stranger to the gradual progress of scheme and
intrigue, against which he could not be on his guard. He had not been
accustomed to receive ridicule, and he could ill endure its sting; he
resented it, and this only drew upon him a louder laugh. To escape from
such scenes, he fled into solitude, and there the image of Emily met
him, and revived the pangs of love and despair. He then sought to renew
those tasteful studies, which had been the delight of his early years;
but his mind had lost the tranquillity, which is necessary for their
enjoyment. To forget himself and the grief and anxiety, which the idea
of her recalled, he would quit his solitude, and again mingle in the
crowd--glad of a temporary relief, and rejoicing to snatch amusement for
the moment. Thus passed weeks after weeks, time gradually softening his sorrow, and
habit strengthening his desire of amusement, till the scenes around him
seemed to awaken into a new character, and Valancourt, to have fallen
among them from the clouds.
His figure and address made him a welcome visitor, wherever he had been
introduced, and he soon frequented the most gay and fashionable circles
of Paris. Among these, was the assembly of the Countess Lacleur, a woman
of eminent beauty and captivating manners. She had passed the spring of
youth, but her wit prolonged the triumph of its reign, and they mutually
assisted the fame of each other; for those, who were charmed by her
loveliness, spoke with enthusiasm of her talents; and others, who
admired her playful imagination, declared, that her personal graces were
unrivalled. But her imagination was merely playful, and her wit, if such
it could be called, was brilliant, rather than just; it dazzled, and its
fallacy escaped the detection of the moment; for the accents, in which
she pronounced it, and the smile, that accompanied them, were a spell
upon the judgment of the auditors. Her petits soupers were the most
tasteful of any in Paris, and were frequented by many of the second
class of literati. She was fond of music, was herself a scientific
performer, and had frequently concerts at her house. Valancourt, who
passionately loved music, and who sometimes assisted at these concerts,
admired her execution, but remembered with a sigh the eloquent
simplicity of Emily's songs and the natural expression of her manner,
which waited not to be approved by the judgment, but found their way at
once to the heart.