“We shall have many happy days together,” he said, “when the fight is won.”
And as I looked at them I fancied that happy future already realized.
“You perceive, M. de Tavernay,” he smiled, catching my eyes, “that though I have the honor to be this lady’s husband, I have never ceased to be her lover.”
“Indeed, that is not wonderful, M. le Comte,” I said, with a glance at the adoring face beside him. “Anything else is inconceivable.”
“Thank you, monsieur!” cried madame. “You have the tongue of a courtier.”
“I assure you, madame,” I protested, “that came from the heart.”
She laughed as she rose to her feet, and held out her hand to me with a quick little pressure of the fingers.
“Do not be long,” she said. “We women will be lonely.”
I held back the drapery at the door for her and watched her as she passed—the beautiful, fair head, set imperiously upon the slender neck; the little ear, pink-tinted; the rounded, perfect arm——
Then another vision passed and eclipsed the first one, though all I caught of it was a glance from a pair of eyes dancing with mischief.