'"Are they still there?" whispered Bessie as we opened the schoolroom door and looked anxiously in the direction of Madame's closet. Yes! there they were still, without doubt; but the door was no longer ajar, and only an indistinct murmur of voices was audible from within. But as we lingered, hesitating what step next to take, the ante-room door opened, and Madame St. Aubert came forth, followed by Mrs. Fortescue and the stranger, whom Pauline had justly described as "a little, dark man, with a soldier-like bearing." Soldier-like it certainly was, but not the bearing of a gentleman. Indeed there was something about him which struck me, at the first glance, as low, unrefined, and decidedly disagreeable.
'Madame stopped short at the sight of us, for it was most unusual to find any of the girls in the school-room at that hour; and she looked considerably taken aback, and by no means pleased. As for the stranger, after staring at us for a moment in a most cool, insolent way, he turned, with a frown, to Madame St. Aubert, saying: "It seems to me, Madame, that one may scarce hope for privacy in your house for more than ten minutes at a time. And, pray, who may those young gentlewomen be?"
'There was something so peremptory and familiar in his way of speaking, that all three of the said young gentlewomen felt inexpressibly ruffled and indignant; but Henrietta's cheeks were burning, and I never had imagined before that her large, sleepy, grey eyes could look so absolutely fierce as they did for a moment just then.
'"Girls, what are you doing here at this hour? Why are you not in the garden with the rest?" asked Madame St. Aubert, without answering the strange man's question. She glanced at us sharply, and somewhat suspiciously, as if the idea had entered her mind that we might possibly have been listening to the conversation in the ante-room. There was a minute's silence, while Madame, annoyed and impatient, stood waiting for an answer.
'What a privilege I felt it then to be the youngest of the party! I drew back as far behind the others as I could, and twitched Bessie's dress. But though, as I said before, Bessie never stayed to think twice ere she set about an undertaking, she was not always quite so prompt in finishing it. Now and then things would suddenly prove too much for her, and she would break down helplessly before her schemes could be carried out. Now I pulled her dress without producing the slightest effect. It was clear that, if Madame St. Aubert was to be told of our discovery at all, Henrietta must be the person to do it. So, seeing that there was no help for it, she came forward, and speaking, evidently with a great effort, and in a rather husky voice, she gave a very short, but very clear, explanation of how matters stood. Meanwhile Madame St. Aubert looked every moment more and more perplexed and angry, and the mysterious man bit his lip and growled wrathfully to himself. I thought his ejaculations sounded uncommonly like oaths, only they were, fortunately, somewhat indistinct.
'"I warned you how it would be, Madame," said he bluntly, nodding with a sarcastic smile towards Mrs Fortescue, when Henrietta had finished her story. "You lack discretion, Madame—discretion—like most women. I crave pardon, but I cannot but say so. What with loud speaking, and doors left ajar, here are three babbling children acquainted with a matter which you solemnly promised should be kept strictly secret."
'YOU LACK DISCRETION, MADAME—DISCRETION—LIKE MOST WOMEN.'
'Poor Madame St. Aubert looked round distractedly. It was plain that she was very angry, and wished to pour forth her anger upon somebody, but could not make up her mind whether it should fall upon the head of this extremely plain-spoken gentleman, Mrs. Fortescue, or "those three babbling girls," her pupils.