The old gentleman thought so too, and asked her repeatedly,—
“What are you thinking of, dear child?”
“Of nothing, dear papa,” she replied.
“You are sadder than usual: why are you so?”
“Alas! How do I know? Does anybody know why one day we have sunshine in our hearts, and another day dismal clouds?”
But the next day she insisted upon being taken to her seamstresses, and finding Mechinet, the clerk, there, she remained a full half-hour in conference with him. Then, in the evening, when Dr. Seignebos, after a short visit, was leaving the room, she lay in wait for him, and kept him talking a long time at the door. Finally, the day after, she asked once more to be allowed to go and see Jacques. They could no longer refuse her this sad satisfaction; and it was agreed that the older of the two Misses Lavarande, Miss Adelaide, should accompany her.
About two o’clock on that day they knocked at the prison-door, and asked the jailer, who had come to open the door, to let them see Jacques.
“I’ll go for him at once, madam,” replied Blangin. “In the meantime pray step in here: the parlor is rather damp, and the less you stay in it, the better it will be.”
Dionysia did so, or rather, she did a great deal more; for, leaving her aunt down stairs, she drew Mrs. Blangin to the upper room, having something to say to her, as she pretended.
When they came down again, Blangin told them that M. de Boiscoran was waiting for them.