But neither the Brécé ladies nor Madame de Courtrai was listening; their united attention was given to another matter.
“Jean,” cried the Duchess to her husband, “Jean, look at this!” And she pointed to a red leather case lying on the table near the lamp which a servant had just brought in. The case was round in shape, topped with a kind of knob like a thimble, and divided at the base in the shape of a clover leaf. A visiting card lay beside it. All around the table were heaps of tissue paper, that made one think of little white dogs tied up with pale blue ribbon.
“Do look, Jean!”
The Abbé Guitrel, who was standing near the table, opened the case with reverent hands, and displayed a golden ciborium.
“Who sent it?” asked M. de Brécé.
“Look at the card. I am horribly worried—I don’t know what to do.”
M. de Brécé put on his glasses, picked up the card, and read aloud:
Baronne Jules de Bonmont.
For Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles.
He replaced the card upon the table, took off his glasses and murmured:
“How very annoying!”