"No, Monsieur," she said quietly, "not of yours but of William's."
The tone of her reply evidently pleased the engineer, for turning to Perrine he gave her an encouraging smile.
"But if you are replacing Mr. Bendit?" said Mombleux obstinately.
"Say that Mademoiselle is keeping his job for him," retorted Fabry.
"It's the same thing," answered Mombleux.
"Not at all, for in a week or two, when he'll be better, he'll come back in his old place. He certainly would not have had it if Mademoiselle had not been here to keep it for him."
"It seems to me that you and I also have helped to keep it for him," said Mombleux.
"Yes, but this little girl has done her share; he'll have to be grateful to all three of us," said Fabry, smiling again at Perrine.
If she had misunderstood the sense of Mombleux's words, the way in which she was treated at Mother Françoise's would have enlightened her. Her place was not set at the boarders' table as it would have been if she had been considered their equal, but at a little table at the side. And she was served after everyone else had taken from the dishes what they required.
But that did not hurt her; what did it matter to her if she were served first or last, and if the best pieces had already been taken. What interested her was that she was placed near enough to them to hear their conversation. She hoped that what she heard might guide her as to how she should act in the midst of the difficulties which confronted her.