‘The pursuit of a grand seigneur of the court, who has taken a fancy to her, and be hanged to him!’ said Benoit. ‘Come, it will be but for a day or two—perhaps but for an hour. Remember we are brothers, and the law of the Rommany binds you to help me.’
‘True,’ said the gipsy. He advanced towards Louise and, addressing her in French, told her she could remain where she was so long as it suited her convenience, but on one condition.
‘Name it,’ said Louise.
‘To pay no heed to what does not concern you,’ returned the other. ‘I will give you a companion, who, if she amuses you as she has entertained me, will make the time pass pleasantly enough.’
So saying, he opened the door leading to an inner room, and beckoned her to follow.
From the squalor of the outer apartment Louise Gauthier was little prepared for the scene which presented itself. The room into which they passed was small, but furnished with a richness and elegance that would have fitted a royal boudoir. The walls were painted with flowers, and cupids sporting amidst them. Rich curtains of damask almost covered the single window. Piles of cushions, fauteuils of velvet and ormolu, costly tables, and a marble chimney-piece, with its gay pendule, almost dazzled poor Louise; and it was not until she had taken a rapid inventory of all these that she found the room contained an inmate. A young girl, richly dressed, was half-sitting, half-lying on a divan, in the darkest corner. It was Marotte Dupré—the actress who had vainly implored Sainte-Croix, but a short time previously, to rescue her from the Marquis of Brinvilliers. But she had apparently become reconciled to her abduction, or feigned to be so, for, starting gaily to her feet and springing forward, with a merry laugh, she exclaimed—
‘Welcome, mon preux gardien! You have brought me a companion of my own sex, to keep me company until the Marquis returns from the Tuileries. Did you think I wanted one whilst you were here?’
And she threw a witching glance from her dark eye upon the gitano, who, taking her hand, kissed it passionately.
‘She is a young girl, sister to a friend of mine,’ returned the man; ‘who seeks an asylum here for a time.’
‘We welcome her to our court,’ said the actress, with mock dignity, extending her hand to Louise. ‘Sit by us, and tell us of your wishes, hopes, sorrows—everything about you, in fact. And you, my cavalier, dismiss that gentleman with the round face, who is gaping over your shoulder. We would be alone with our new friend.’