"Thanks," returned the young gentleman, dryly. "I know Mademoiselle de Lartigues by name only, and I have no desire for any further acquaintance with her."
"Well, you are wrong, morbleu! Nanon is a good person to know in every way."
The young man's brows contracted.
"Oho! I beg your pardon," said the astonished traveller; "but I thought that at your age—"
"I know that I am of an age at which such suggestions are ordinarily accepted," replied the other, noticing the bad effect his prudery seemed to have produced, "and I would gladly accept, were it not that I am simply a bird of passage here, and am compelled to continue my journey to-night."
"Pardieu! surely you will not go until I know the name of the gentle knight who so courteously saved my life?"
The young man hesitated for a moment before he replied,—
"I am the Vicomte de Cambes."
"Aha!" said his companion; "I have heard of a lovely Vicomtesse de Cambes, who has large estates near Bordeaux, and is a close friend of Madame la Princesse."
"She is a kinswoman of mine," said the young man, hastily.