“Oh, you call that fortunate. Do you hear him, Andrée?”
“Yes, for you might have gone alone, without Madame de Lamballe; and you might not have had Madame de la Motte there to stop your entrance.”
“Ah! you know that too?”
“Oh yes; the count told everything. Then you might not have had Madame de la Motte at hand to give her testimony. You will tell me, doubtless, that virtue and innocence are like the violet which does not require to be seen in order to be recognized; but still I say you are fortunate.”
“Badly proved.”
“I will prove it still better. Saved so well from the unlucky scrape of the cabriolet, saved from this affair, and then the ball,” whispered he in her ear.
“What ball?”
“The ball at the Opera.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the ball at the Opera; but I beg pardon, I should not have mentioned it.”