CHAPTER XVII.
IN THE WOODS.
Sidonie, the picture of sorrow, was leaning against the trunk of a giant oak crying as though her heart would break. In her merry moods she was never at a loss for friends, but in her sorrow she wept alone.
Her life seemed ended. She felt crushed and soul wounded. However, when Mademoiselle Faillot approached her, and addressed her in mocking terms, Sidonie staunchly defended herself.
“Don’t provoke me! Don’t provoke me, I say.”
“What! you threaten?”
“Never mind. Only go, I tell you!”
“Insolent hussy!” cried the enraged Léocadia.
“Take care!” replied Sidonie. “But for you no one would have believed Bruno. You shall pay for it. The occasion for revenge always comes. And I will find a way to get mine if I have to wait until the day of your death.”
Mademoiselle Faillot did not like to have her death mentioned in such a manner.