"Well, what is that slip of paper which you are putting back into your pocket and which you are dying to show me?"
"I am still very anxious to show it you, it is true, monseigneur."
"Very well, then, show it me!"
"I dare not."
"Give it me!"
I held out my hand towards the prince and with the greatest submission, I handed him the paper.
"Good!" he said; "it is sure to be some infernal machine."
"Read it, monseigneur."
The prince cast a glance at the scrap of paper and blushed red to his eyes.
He blushed very easily, and granting this to be a weakness in him, it was one he shared in common with the Duc de Nemours and the Duc d'Aumale.