She would probably have some nervous attack or other; and he would be thoroughly upset. However, he thought of how much she must have suffered; and he pitied her.
He felt that it would be cruel, as well as unworthy of him, to keep away from her who was to have been his daughter-in-law, the Viscountess de Commarin.
He sent a message, asking her to wait a few minutes in one of the little drawing-rooms on the ground floor.
He did not keep her waiting long, his appetite having been destroyed by the mere announcement of her visit. He was fully prepared for anything disagreeable.
As soon as he appeared, Claire saluted him with one of those graceful, yet highly dignified bows, which distinguished the Marchioness d’Arlange.
“Sir—,” she began.
“You come, do you not, my poor child, to obtain news of the unhappy boy?” asked M. de Commarin.
He interrupted Claire, and went straight to the point, in order to get the disagreeable business more quickly over.
“No sir,” replied the young girl, “I come, on the contrary, to bring you news. Albert is innocent.”
The count looked at her most attentively, persuaded that grief had affected her reason; but in that case her madness was very quiet.