He did my bidding, and I dismounted, and was about to get away, when I saw the Chevalier de la Darante and the Intendant appear at the door. They paused upon the steps. The Chevalier was speaking most earnestly:
"To a nunnery—a piteous shame! it should not be, your Excellency."
"To decline upon Monsieur Doltaire, then?" asked Bigot, with a sneer.
"Your Excellency believes in no woman," responded the Chevalier stiffly.
"Ah yes, in one!" was the cynical reply.
"Is it possible? And she remains a friend of your Excellency?" came back in irony.
"The very best; she finds me unendurable."
"Philosophy shirks the solving of that problem, your
Excellency," was the cold reply.
"No, it is easy. The woman to be trusted is she who never trusts."
"The paragon—or prodigy—who is she?"