"You can have the entire evening, my dear Laîné, and take Thérèse with you, if you choose."
"But what if mademoiselle should need something before our return?"
"Oh, I shall not need anything. Mlle. Herminie and I will wait on each other. Go, and enjoy yourself, by all means, my dear Laîné, and be sure to take Thérèse with you."
"Mademoiselle is very kind. I thank her a thousand times. If mademoiselle should need anything, she has only to ring, however, for Mlle. Helena told Placide to come down so as to be ready to answer mademoiselle's bell if she rang."
"Very well, I will ring for her if I want anything. Good night, my dear Laîné."
The governess bowed and retired, and the two young girls were left almost alone in the big house, all the other inmates of the dwelling having gone out, with the exception of Mlle. Helena de la Rochaiguë and Placide, that lady's personal attendant, who had been instructed to respond to the summons should Mlle. de Beaumesnil ring.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FOILED!
The clock had just struck ten.
It was a dark and stormy night, and the howling of the wind was the only sound that broke the profound silence which pervaded the spacious mansion.
The young girls had been talking for two hours of their sad past and their radiant future, though it seemed to them that the interchange of confidence had scarcely begun.