"But I did not stir from the parlor."
"Oh, of course, you know better than me," said Nicole.
"You must mistake," replied the other with the utmost sweetness: "I never left the seat; but I remember that I was cold, for I walked quite swiftly."
"When I saw you in the garden, however, you walked very freely."
"I, in the grounds?—you know I never go out after dark."
"I should think I knew my mistress by sight," said the maid, doubling her scrutiny; "I thought that you were taking a stroll with somebody."
"With whom would I be taking a stroll?" demanded Andrea, without seeing that her servant was putting her to an examination.
Nicole did not think it prudent to proceed, for the coolness of the hypocrite, as she considered her, frightened her. So she changed the subject.
"I hope you are not going to be sick, either with fatigue or sorrow. Both have the same effect. Ah, well I know how sorrows undermine!"