The Duchess was constrained into making a signal. The liveried attendants placed the wax tapers on the mantel and left the apartment and Amélie deftly and modestly made a hasty toilet. Then she turned to the Duchess, saying:
"Will you now be good enough to explain your conduct?"
The Duchess advanced upon her in fury.
"I dare say," she hissed, "that you can guess I have come to break the cords by which you hold my son,—you and that imposter, your father. The scales have at last dropped from René's eyes; he is disillusioned and repentant. He revealed to me your hiding place. In his name I come."
"You lie, madam. May my soul be banished forever from God if René knows you are here. Did he know it, he would stand before me now and shield me from you."
"Impertinent, intriguing adventuress! I tear away your mask. Believe what you choose regarding my son, but prepare to obey my orders."
"And I remind you that I am your son's betrothed wife."
"That pretence is the most amusing proof of your ingenuity. The wife of my son! So great an honor, Mademoiselle Naundorff, would overwhelm our family. The de Brezé contract an alliance with the daughter of the convict Prussian watch-maker!—Let us talk rationally; you are the sweetheart of a good man who loves you devotedly. My steward, Jean Vilon, is ready to marry you at this moment."
"What!" shrieked Amélie. "What do you say of Jean Vilon?"
"That he is to be your excellent husband. The dear fellow is wild with joy in knowing that I have brought the chaplain in my chaise to bless the couple. You have made him lose his head about you. Ah, do not play the innocent. You have understood each other very well for some time. I shall stand sponsor and bestow a dot upon you. As for Jean? I shall give him the Plouret farm. In short you shall be consoled for not being the Marquise de Brezé. The wife of an honest man is a more suitable position for your station—"