“None, I assure you.”
“And madame?”
“Madame will confirm it, if you find a seat for her.”
Rosamund Culling was received in the count’s gondola, cordially thanked, and placed beside the marquis.
“I stay on board and pay these fellows,” said Roland.
Renée was told by her father to follow madame. He had jumped into the spare gondola and offered a seat to Beauchamp.
“No,” cried Renée, arresting Beauchamp, “it is I who mean to sit with papa.”
Up sprang the marquis with an entreating, “Mademoiselle!”
“M. Beauchamp will entertain you, M. le Marquis.”
“I want him here,” said the count; and Beauchamp showed that his wish was to enter the count’s gondola, but Renée had recovered her aplomb, and decisively said “No,” and Beauchamp had to yield.