When he entered, the queen introduced the countess to him.
“Pray do not let me send you away, Madame la Comtesse,” said he, as Jeanne made a move to depart.
The queen also requested her to stay. “You have returned from the wolf-hunt, then?” she said.
“Yes, sister, and have had good sport; I have killed seven. I am not sure,” continued he, laughing, “but they say so. However, do you know I have gained seven hundred francs?”
“How?”
“Why, they pay a hundred francs a head for these beasts. It is dear, but I would give two hundred of them just now for the head of a certain journalist.”
“Ah! you know the story?”
“M. de Provence told me.”
“He is indefatigable. But tell me how he related it.”
“So as to make you whiter than snow, or Venus Aphroditus. It seems you came out of it gloriously; you are fortunate.”