"I thank you with all my heart for your care and attentions, Suzanne, for I know how much you must have aided in Sabine's restoration to health."
And again turning to his daughter, Cloarek held out his arms.
"One more embrace, my child, one more!" he cried.
"Fathers and daughters as well as lovers like to be alone together after a long absence, my dear," Segoffin whispered to the housekeeper.
"You are right, Segoffin," replied Suzanne, starting toward the door.
"Ah, Suzanne, what a fine opportunity this would be for a tender interview if we wanted one," said M. Cloarek's clerk as he followed Dame Roberts into the adjoining room.
"Unfortunately love is blind, my poor Segoffin, and you are only half blind yet."
"That will not prevent you from becoming Madame Segoffin," responded our friend, in tones of the most profound conviction. "That which is to be, will be."
CHAPTER XI.
SABINE'S CONFESSION.
When Yvon found himself alone with his daughter, he embraced her again even more passionately than before, as if Dame Roberts's presence had been rather a constraint upon the transports of paternal tenderness hitherto; then making Sabine seat herself on an ottoman near him and taking both her hands in his, he asked: