"Then he might do the same sort of thing as your Papa," suggested Mlle. de Chaulnes, "and go abroad to see the Princes, and so on."
"Indeed," said Anne rather wistfully, "I wish M. le Vicomte could have gone to Verona instead of Papa. But they all wanted Papa to go."
"They had a meeting to settle it, of course," said Mme. de Chaulnes, as one stating a fact rather than asking a question.
"Yes," said Anne, nodding. "In our house."
"Your Papa told you all about it afterwards, I suppose?"
"No," replied the Comte de Flavigny sedately; "I was there."
"You, child!" exclaimed Mme. de Chaulnes incredulously. "Nonsense!"
"But yes!" persisted Anne, wriggling on his chair. "You see, it was in the dining-room, and I got out of bed and went down, because I thought they were going to Noroway-over-the-foam, as it says in the poem, and M. le Chevalier wrapped me up in the tablecloth and took me on his knee, and I heard all about it. Elspeth was dreadfully angry next morning," he concluded.
"I don't wonder!" was Mme. de Chaulnes' comment. "Fancy a boy of your age up at that time of night. You know, Anne," she went on seriously, "you must be careful how you talk about what you heard at that meeting—if you were really awake and heard anything. You must not speak of such things except to your father's friends. But I expect you know that, my child, don't you?"
Anne-Hilarion had flushed up. "But yes, Madame," he replied earnestly. "Papa has told me that often, not to be a chatterbox. But I did not really understand what they were talking about, except that Papa was to go to see the Regent—I do not know why—and that there was soon to be an expedition to France."