The fearful strangeness of her situation, the very imminence of peril, inspired her with coolness and self-possession.
Haughtily pointing to a chair, she said to Louis with affected indifference:
“Will you be kind enough, monsieur, to explain the object of this unexpected visit?”
The marquis, seeming not to notice this sudden change of manner, took a seat without removing his eyes from Mme. Fauvel’s face.
“First of all, madame,” he began, “I must ask if we can be overheard by anyone?”
“Why this question? You can have nothing to say to me that my husband and children should not hear.”
Louis shrugged his shoulders, and said:
“Be good enough to answer me, madame; not for my sake, but for your own.”
“Speak, then, monsieur; you will not be heard.”
In spite of this assurance, the marquis drew his chair close to the sofa where Mme. Fauvel sat, so as to speak in a very low tone, as if almost afraid to hear his own voice.