"'Good! And all those letters from Italy?'
"She sat down again so as to laugh at her ease.
"'Oh! those letters—well, they were a bit of poetry. The Comte was not a Minister of Foreign Affairs for nothing.'
"'But—another thing?'
"Oh! the other thing is my secret. I don't want to compromise anyone.'
"And bowing to him with a rather mocking smile, she left the room without any emotion, an actress who had played her part to the end."
And the Comte de L—— added by way of moral:
"So take care about putting your trust in that sort of turtle dove!"