“Shall we go and look, or shall we leave them in peace?”
“Leave them in peace, by all means.”
“The man will be slipping away soon, no doubt. Both Thérèse and Annette are good little girls.”
“Don’t let’s bother about them. You will be sending me away soon, too, and I shall deserve it. Brute that I am. You were so tired, and I—”
“Oh, I’m better now,” I said. “Of course I must send you away by and by, but not quite yet. First, I want to ask if you weren’t glad when you saw the jewels?”
“Jewels?” echoed Raoul. “What jewels?”
“You don’t mean to say you haven’t yet opened the little bag I gave you at the theatre?” I exclaimed.
Raoul looked half ashamed. “Dearest, don’t think me ungrateful,” he said, “but before I had a chance to open it I met Godensky, and he told me—that lie. It lit a fire in my brain. I forgot all about the bag, and haven’t thought of it again till this minute.”
At last I laughed with sincerity. “Oh, Raoul, Raoul, you’re not fit for this work-a-day world! Well, I’m glad, after all, that I shall be with you, when you see what that little insignificant bag which you’ve forgotten all this tune has in it. Take it out of your pocket, and let’s open it together.”
For the moment I was almost happy; and that Raoul would be happy, I knew.