“I do not think you can call them fit for a princess,” replied Jeanne.
“And you are a princess?” said he, in an ironical tone.
“I was born a Valois, monseigneur, as you were a Rohan,” said Jeanne, with so much dignity that he felt a little touched by it.
“Madame,” said he, “I forgot that my first words should have been an apology. I wrote to you that I would come yesterday, but I had to go to Versailles to assist at the reception of M. de Suffren.”
“Monseigneur does me too much honor in remembering me to-day; and my husband will more than ever regret the exile to which poverty compels him, since it prevents him from sharing this favor with me.”
“You live alone, madame?” asked the cardinal.
“Absolutely alone. I should be out of place in all society but that from which my poverty debars me.”
“The genealogists do not contest your claim?”
“No; but what good does it do me?”
“Madame,” continued the cardinal, “I shall be glad to know in what I can serve you.”