"Then it must be the mayor of Chailly or the old notary from Fontainebleau."
"Oh! the craft of women! You know very well that it would be none of those people. Come, Ralph, tell madame the name she has on the tip of her tongue but doesn't choose to pronounce herself."
"You need not go through so much preparation to announce a visit from Monsieur de Ramière," said Sir Ralph, tranquilly, as he threw away his cigar; "I suppose that it's a matter of perfect indifference to her."
Madame Delmare felt the blood rush to her cheeks; she made a pretence of looking for something in the salon, then returned to the window with as calm a manner as she could command.
"I fancy that this is a jest," she said, trembling in every limb.
"On the contrary I am perfectly serious; you will see him here at eleven o'clock to-morrow."
"What! the man who stole into your premises to obtain unfair possession of your invention, and whom you almost killed as a criminal! You must both be very pacific to forget such grievances!"
"You set me the example, dearest, by receiving him very graciously at your aunt's, where he called on you."
Indiana turned pale.
"I do not by any means appropriate that call," she said earnestly, "and I am so little flattered by it that, if I were in your place, I would not receive him."