“Oh, Julien, Julien, tu es bien longtemps à venir. Helas! ne te reverrai-je plus?”[5]
Madame, waiting below, wondered if the stranger wasn’t “some exiled nobleman, he looks so distinguished. Rather seedy, though.”
Soon she grew impatient.
“What is he keeping me so long in suspense for, I should like to know?”
When he came down at last, his eyes burned like hot coals, and he had for her questions never a word of answer. He walked swiftly away, and returned with a carriage before she had recovered from her amazement. Still speechless, he again made his way to the attic, and when he descended this time he bore something in his arms very tenderly.
It was little Julie, wrapped in his cloak.
“You are behaving very strangely, sir! What are you doing? Where are you taking her?”
“Where she will be cared for, rest assured!”
“What do you mean, sir?” cried madame, following down the steps. “Do you dare insinuate that she wouldn’t be cared for here? I want to know what right you have to be meddling with that child?”