“What key, countess?”
“Ah, Monsieur le Cardinal, that is my secret—or rather it is not, for if it were mine, I should feel bound to tell it to my generous protector.”
“There is, then, an obstacle, countess?”
“Alas! yes, monseigneur. It is not my secret, and I must keep it. Let it suffice you to know that to-morrow I shall go to Versailles; that I shall be received, and, I have every reason to hope, well received.”
The cardinal looked at her with wonder. “Ah, countess,” said he, laughing, “I shall see if you will get in.”
“You will push your curiosity so far as to follow me?”
“Exactly.”
“Very well.”
“Really, countess, you are a living enigma.”
“One of those monsters who inhabit Versailles.”