CHAPTER XVII 217
that he DID admire her , I already seemed to have obtained proof : to remove the last shade of doubt , it remained but to see them together .
You are not to suppose , reader , that Adele has all this time been sitting motionless on the stool at my feet : no ; when the ladies entered , she rose , advanced to meet them , made a stately reverence , and said with gravity -
" Bon jour , mesdames ."
And Miss Ingram had looked down at her with a mocking air , and exclaimed , " Oh , what a little puppet !"
Lady Lynn had remarked , " It is Mr . Rochester ' s ward , I suppose -- the little French girl he was speaking of ."
Mrs . Dent had kindly taken her hand , and given her a kiss .
Amy and Louisa Eshton had cried out simultaneously -- " What a love of a child !"
And then they had called her to a sofa , where she now sat , ensconced between them , chattering alternately in French and broken English ; absorbing not only the young ladies ' attention , but that of Mrs . Eshton and Lady Lynn , and getting spoilt to her heart ' s content .
At last coffee is brought in , and the gentlemen are summoned . I sit in the shade -- if any shade there be in this brilliantly-lit apartment ; the window-curtain half hides me . Again the arch yawns ; they come . The collective appearance of the gentlemen , like that of the ladies , is very imposing : they are all costumed in black ; most of them are tall , some young . Henry and Frederick Lynn are very dashing sparks indeed ; and Colonel Dent is a fine soldierly man . Mr . Eshton , the magistrate of the district , is gentleman-like : his hair is quite white , his eyebrows and whiskers still dark , which gives him something of the appearance of a " pere noble de theatre ." Lord Ingram , like his sisters , is very tall ; like them , also , he is handsome ; but he shares Mary ' s apathetic and listless look : he seems