Or else they might be the necessary
guard, the men-at-arms, who watched for the purpose of foiling a possible
attack from some felon neighbor. At the same time it unfortunately
happened that worthy Madame Desvignes could not walk very fast, so that
the rear-guard was soon distanced, to such a degree indeed that it became
merely a little lost group, far away.
Still this did not disconcert Rose, but rather made her laugh the more.
At the first bend of the road she turned her head, and when she saw her
rear-guard more than three hundred yards away she raised cries of
admiration. "Oh! just look, Frederic! What an interminable procession!
What a deal of room we take up! The cortege is becoming longer and
longer, and the road won't be long enough for it very soon."
Then, as the three maids of honor and the page began to jeer
impertinently, "just try to be respectful," she said. "Count a little.
There are six of us forming the vanguard. In the chariot there are nine,
and six and nine make fifteen. Add to them the five of the rear-guard,
and we have twenty. Wherever else is such a family seen? Why, the rabbits
who watch us pass are mute with stupor and humiliation.
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