Was it not certain that this was the very thing she would ask; in fact, the only thing she could ask? Ah! how much would the young girl have preferred one of her father’s violent scenes, and brutalities which would have exalted her energy, instead of crushing it!
Attempting to gain time,
“Well, yes,” she answered, “I’ll tell you every thing, mother, but not now, to-morrow, later.”
She was about to yield, however, when her father’s arrival cut short their conversation.
The cashier of the Mutual Credit was quite lively that night. He was humming a tune, a thing which did not happen to him four times a year, and which was indicative of the most extreme satisfaction. But he stopped short at the sight of the disturbed countenance of his wife and daughter.
“What is the matter?” he inquired.
“Nothing,” hastily answered Mlle. Gilberte,—“nothing at all, father.”
“Then you are crying for your amusement,” he said. “Come, be candid for once, and confess that Maxence has been at his tricks again!”
“You are mistaken, father: I swear it!”
He asked no further questions, being in his nature not very curious, whether because family matters were of so little consequence to him, or because he had a vague idea that his general behavior deprived him of all right to their confidence.