At this simple question Berthe was overcome by a great shame. She remembered she was half-naked, and blushed from head to foot. In this long thrill of shame, she crossed her arms over her bosom, as though to escape the glances directed at her. And she stammered out:
“He found me—he caught me——”
The two others understood, and looked at each other with indignation in their eyes. Lisa, whose candle lighted up the scene, pretended to share her master’s reprehension. At this moment, however, the explanation was interrupted by Angèle also hastening to the spot; and she pretended to have just woke up, rubbing her eyes heavy with sleep. The sight of the lady with nothing on her but a chemise suddenly brought her to a standstill, with a jerk, a quivering of her precocious young girl’s slender body.
“Oh!” she simply exclaimed.
“It’s nothing; go back to bed!” cried her father.
Then, understanding that some sort of story was necessary, he related the first that came into his head, but it was really too ludicrous.
“Madame sprained her ankle coming down-stairs, so she’s come here for assistance. Go back to bed; you’ll catch cold!”
Lisa choked back a laugh on encountering Angèle’s wide-open eyes, as the latter returned to her bed, all rosy, and quite delighted at having seen such a sight. For some minutes past Madame Campardon had been calling from her room. She had not put her light out, being so interested in her Dickens, and she wished to know what had happened. What did it all mean? who was there? why did not some one come to set her mind at rest?
“Come, madame,” said the architect, taking Berthe with him. “And you, Lisa, wait a minute.”
In the bed-room, Rose was still spread out in the middle of the big bed. She throned there with her queenly luxury, her quiet serenity of an idol. She was deeply affected by what she had read, and she had placed the book on her breast, with the heavings of which it gently rose and fell. When the cousin in a few words had made her acquainted with what had taken place, she also appeared to be scandalized. How could one go with a man who was not one’s husband? and she was filled with disgust for that which was denied to her. But the architect now cast confused glances at the young woman, and this ended by making Gasparine blush.