“My daughter to rule in my house,” cried the woman, with distrust and inexpressible jealousy.
“Under your orders,” the girl hastened to say, while reddening.
“No, no,” persisted Pitou, who went on well since he was in full swing: “I bear the commission entire: Master Billet delegates and authorizes Miss Catherine to see to all the work and govern the house and household in his stead.”
As Billet was infallible in his wife’s eyes, all her resistance ceased instantly.
“Billet is right,” she declared after a glance at her daughter; “she is young but she has a good head, and she can even be headstrong. She can get along outdoors better than me; she knows how to make folks obey. But to be running about over field and hills will make a tomboy of her—--“
“Fear nothing for her,” interposed Pitou with a consequential air; “I am here and I will go around with her.”
This gracious offer, by which Ange probably intended to make an effect, drew such a strange glance from Catherine that he was dumbfounded.
Pitou was not experienced in feminine ways but he guessed by her blush that she was not giving complete acquiescence, for he said with an agreeable smile which showed his strong teeth between the large lips:
“Even the Queen has a Lifeguard. Besides, I may be useful in the woods.”
“Is this also in my husband’s instructions?” queried Madam Billet who showed some tendency towards cutting sayings.