“Mon Dieu, no, madame,” said she. “I will carry it. No—Hodendouche shall carry it—he grows fat. Yes, madame; do not interfere with me—I will call him——”
She skipped out on to the landing with swift light step, and hailed Hodendouche from below.
She came back, her lips parted with the exertion.
“Madelaine,” said Betty—“will you come to the station and see me off?”
“Mon Dieu, yes, madame. I would have gone if I had walked—in tight new shoes.”
Betty laughed sadly. She went to her and put her hands on the girl’s shoulders. She held her off at arm’s length. There was a lovely glow on the girl’s beautiful dark Southern face.
“Madelaine, you are all a-tremor! What has happened?”
Madelaine laughed gaily:
“Ah, madame; it was intoxicating,” she said. She hesitated—almost shyly for Madelaine. “When I drove through the streets—in the carriage—it was splendid.... All the world thought I was some man’s mistress——”
“Oh, Madelaine!”