The prince broke it, by saying to Bertha,—
"You must have had some trouble, madame, in finding this isolated abode in the midst of this deserted quarter?"
"No, sir!" replied Bertha, blushing to her eyes; "my father lives very close by."
This reply, which the young lady had made without reflection, redoubled her confusion, by recalling to her the first time she detected her love for Arnold, who added quickly,—
"That is different, madame; but for real Parisians to come to the Ile Saint Louis it is always a kind of journey."
"At least," said De Brévannes, "they are recompensed for the journey, as you call it, sir, by being enabled to admire this hôtel, which is really a palace."
"Indeed," said Paula, to carry on the conversation, "in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, the quarter for fine houses, where we resided for some time, we could not find any thing comparable to this really spacious residence."
"We build no palaces now," said De Brévannes; "fortunes are too much divided. You gentlemen foreigners have much more sense than we have: in England, Russia, and Germany also, I presume, the right of primogeniture has wisely preserved the principle of large inheritance."
"I am sure, sir," said De Hansfeld, with a smile, "you have never had brother or sister?"
"True, sir; but whence do you deduce that certainty?"