"I am going to take you back to Paris."
This statement caused a shock at which she gave way as an old piece of furniture when its wood cracks. She crossed herself at once at the idea of going to that doomed city to wait upon a wicked woman, no doubt, and shaking her head from right to left, she stammered:
"No, no, M. Albert."
"Why will you not accept? Where will you go?
"To Madame Elizabeth."
He frowned.
"You will leave me?"
"Oh, no, Monsieur Albert. Only there are the little ones, and then, Madame Elizabeth has been so kind. You don't know how she took care of madame. Day and night she was always here."
He cut these praises short.
"I know," he said.