He sighed.
"You are so adorable, Angèle," he murmured.
"And you," she answered, "are so indiscreet. It is not your day, and I am expecting Gustav at any moment, I have left word that he is to be shown up here. There, my hand for one moment, not so roughly, sir. And now tell me why you came."
"On a diplomatic errand, my dear cousin. I must see Miss Poynton."
She touched a bell.
"I will send for her," she said. "I shall not let you see her alone. She is much too good-looking, and you are far too impressionable!"
He looked at her reproachfully.
"Angèle," he said, "you speak so of a young English miss—to me, Henri de Bergillac—to me who have known—who knows——"
She interrupted him laughing. The exaggerated devotion of his manner seemed to amuse her.
"My dear Henri!" she said. "I do not believe that even a young English miss is safe from you. But attend! She comes."