"The Duchesse de Senneterre!" repeated the hunchback. "Not quite."
"Of course not, but the matter is virtually settled."
"So at last you are satisfied with Gerald, Mlle. de Beaumesnil, and me, are you not, my dear baroness?"
"Delighted, my dear marquis."
"That is all I want to know. Now I can devote my attention to that stout man and your serpent of a husband, whose coils—"
"What! M. de la Rochaiguë has dared—"
"Ah, my poor baroness, your ingenuousness rends my heart. Look, listen and profit thereby, poor credulous woman that you are!"
As the marquis uttered these words, M. de Mornand was already bowing low before Mlle. de Beaumesnil to remind her of the engagement she had made to dance with him.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PROSPECTIVE MINISTER'S DEFEAT.
"Mademoiselle has not forgotten that she promised me this dance, I trust," said M. de Mornand, complacently. "Will she do me the honour to accept my arm?"