"Where is she?"
"In her own room."
"Alone?"
"No, no, no! I would not have allowed that. You must excuse me, Miss Catherine, coming out as the master here, but your having stopped at my house before you went to town made me one of the family, I thought, in a manner of speaking, and I was very fond of you and poor Master Isidore."
"So you know?" said Catherine, wiping away her tears.
"Yes, yes, killed for the Queen's sake, like his brother. But he has left something behind him, a lovely boy, so while we mourn for the father we must smile for the son."
"Thank you, Clovis," said she, giving her hand: "but my mother?"
"I had Mother Clement the nurse to sit with her, the same who attended to you——"
"Has my mother her senses yet?" asked the girl hesitating.
"Sometimes I think so, when your name is spoken. That was the great means of stirring her, but since yesterday she has not showed any signs even when you are spoken of."