"Certainly not, father dear. . . . I feel sure that milor himself would not have suggested it. . . ."
"My position near His Majesty . . . you understand, my dear," he explained volubly, "and also my . . . our association with Gaston. . . ."
"Certainly—certainly," she repeated, emphasizing her words, "our association with Gaston. . . ."
"And he really is acting like a perfect gentleman . . . a man of honour. . . ."
"Indeed?"
"His enthusiasm, his courage, and devotion have been quite marvellous. And though we shall primarily owe the success of our enterprise to you, my dear, yet His Majesty feels as I do, that we also owe much to Monsieur de Stainville. Ah! mon Dieu! what it is to be young!"
"What has Monsieur de Stainville done, dear, to arouse your special enthusiasm?" she asked.
"You shall judge of it yourself, my dear. After the esclandre provoked by Irène to-night, the publicity given to our scheme, we held a hurried boudoir meeting, at which His Majesty and Madame de Pompadour were present, as well as myself and Gaston. We all felt that you too should have been there, dear, but you had gone with milor, and . . ."
"Yes, yes, never mind about me, father," she interrupted impatiently, seeing that he was getting lost in the mazes of his polite apologies. "You held a boudoir meeting. What did you decide? . . ."
"That after the publicity given to the main idea of our scheme, you understand," he rejoined, "it would be no longer safe to wait for its execution until Le Levantin was ready for sea. Something had to be risked, of course, but on the whole we all thought that now that the matter had become 'le secret de Polichinelle' a six days' delay would be dangerous, if not fatal to success. You were not there, Lydie," he repeated diffidently, "we could not consult you. . . ."