As for Calvert, he could not reply to her light banter, but stood looking at her in silence.
"Well, sir, why do you look at me so?" demanded Adrienne, petulantly, after an instant. "Have you nothing to say? But, indeed, I know you have! I can see you are dying to rebuke me for this indiscretion—this stroll with Monsieur de St. Aulaire!" and she gave him a mutinous side glance and tapped the gravel with her satin slipper. "One who dares express himself so frankly before the King will not hesitate to say his mind to a woman!"
"Ah, Madame, I fear, indeed, that you can never forgive me for having betrayed my republican sentiments so freely in the presence of your monarch—unconscious though I was of doing so."
"Oh, no, Monsieur, you mistake," said Adrienne, maliciously. "I can forgive you for having betrayed your republican sentiments, but I can never forgive the King for not having properly rebuked them!"
At these words Calvert let his gaze rest on the haughty face before him for a moment, and then, making a profound obeisance, he said, quietly:
"When you are quite ready, Madame, permit me to escort you back to the palace." He spoke with such formality and dignity that Adrienne blushed scarlet and bit her lips.
"Before I accept Monsieur Calvert's escort, I wish to explain—" but
Calvert interrupted her.
"No explanation is necessary, Madame, surely," he said, a little wearily.
She blushed yet more deeply and raised her head imperiously. "You are right, Monsieur. 'Tis not necessary, as you say, but I will accept no favor—not even a safe-conduct back to the palace—from one whose manner"—she hesitated, as if at a loss for words—"whose manner is an accusation. But though I am hurt, I should not be surprised by it, sir!" she went on, advancing a step and drawing herself up proudly. "It has ever been your attitude toward me. From that first night we met I have felt myself under the ban of your disapproval. Poor Monsieur de St. Aulaire and I!" and she laughed mockingly.
"I pray you, Madame, do not name yourself in the same breath with that scoundrel!" said Calvert, in a low voice.