In plainness, Nicole's bedroom did not differ from the others in that dwelling. She sat on the edge of the bed, and Gilbert on the dressing-case, which Andrea had given her maid.
Coming up the stairs, Nicole had calmed herself, but the youth felt anger rise as it cooled in the girl.
"So you love our young lady," began Nicole with a kindling eye. "You have love-trysts with her; or will you pretend you went only to consult the magician?"
"Perhaps so, for you know I feel ambition——"
"Greed, you mean?"
"It is the same thing, as you take it."
"Don't let us bandy words: you avoid me lately."
"I seek solitude——"
"And you want to go up into solitude by a ladder? Beg pardon, I did not know that was the way to it."
Gilbert was beaten in the first defenses.