“O! as for that,” said the girl, “the value of a place to me is the value of its company.”
“Well, you will have plenty in a little while.”
“Plenty, and to spare,” said Fanchette, drily.
“What do you mean, child?”
“I foresee just one too many for my peace of mind, that is all.”
“One! What one?”
“Cannot your Highness guess? Yet I saw very well that I was not the only one of us two to make note of somebody’s reappearance in Parma yesterday.”
Isabella gave a little gasp; but subterfuge was impossible to her. Only she sat silent, and breathing quickly, for a few moments.
“Well,” she said presently, with difficulty: “what if you were not? I do not see how your peace of mind is affected by M. Tiretta’s return.”
“Hush, I implore your Highness!” said Fanchette. “I would not betray the poor man, whatever distress his persistence may cause me. Possibly your Highness may have observed the recklessness of the act which brought us for that one instant together. I shuddered, I can tell you, for his safety—and it was all that he might whisper to me to meet him later on the Mezzo bridge.”