"Perhaps then you will be kind enough to enlighten me as to why this mysterious quarrel coincided with his return from captivity."
"But, Grand'mère, it did not! It . . . it came about suddenly, only the day he left, and it was . . . my fault."
"Indeed!" remarked the Vicomtesse. "And you are now penitent! Nevertheless, I do not believe you. I had observed you for days before that—not at all the happy lovers I expected to see. Tell me, has Aymar taken any steps yet about the dispensation for your marriage?—Answer me, has he?"
"No."
"Why not, pray?"
But Avoye could not, without betraying Aymar, reveal that the abstention was entirely on his side. She did not answer.
"You did not find him so attractive when he was unsuccessful, I suppose?" suggested Mme de la Rocheterie.
"You have no right to say that, Grand'mère!" retorted the girl, firing up. "It is false!"
"How, then, did you prevent so constant a lover from taking that necessary step?"
"I did not prevent him." The words escaped her against her will.