Then the marquise whispered in the ear of Madame Dutertre:
"Your husband may come at any moment; he must be charmed, fascinated, and he will be."
Then turning to Antonine, Madeleine added:
"Quick, quick, my child; help me to place this table before the window, and we will first arrange Sophie's hair."
"But really, Madeleine," said Madame Dutertre, smiling, for she was awakening in spite of herself to hope and happiness, "you are silly."
"Not so silly," replied the marquise, making Sophie sit down before the toilet-table.
Uncoiling her friend's magnificent hair, she said:
"With such hair, if I were as ugly as a monster, I would make myself attractive in the highest degree; judge for yourself, Sophie. Here, help me, Antonine, this hair is so long and so thick, I cannot hold it all in my hand."
It was a charming sight to see the three friends of such diverse beauty, thus grouped together. The pure face of Antonine expressed an innocent astonishment at this improvised toilet; Sophie, touched, and distressed by the tender recollections of other days, felt under her veil of brown hair her lovely face, sad and pale up to that moment, colour with an involuntary blush; while Madeleine, handling her friend's superb hair with marvellous skill, was making a ravishing coiffure.
"Now," said the marquise to Sophie, "what gown are you going to wear? But now I think of it, they all fit you horribly, and all of them are cut on the same pattern."