At the bend of the path appeared Isabelle Orlandi, accompanied by Jean Berlier. She was talking with an almost feverish animation.
“Look,” she said to the two girls as they joined her—and she showed her left hand, on which a ruby and an emerald glistened.
“Two engagement rings!” she said.
“Two engagement rings?” repeated Alice, amused.
“Yes, M. Landeau is very generous. If you could only see my jewels! They will fill a big box. I had to choose an ornament, and as I hesitated between the best of them my very kind fiancé, with a magnificent gesture, simply said, ‘Keep the lot!’ So I kept them all to please Mamma. And look at this lorgnette with its handle encrusted with precious stones.”
“But your eyes are quite good,” said Jean.
Isabelle acknowledged the compliment with a curtsey.
“That doesn’t matter. It’s smart to use one,” she said.
As she was dilating on her good fortune, Madame Dulaurens, escorted by Captain Guibert and M. Landeau appeared.
Uneasy at her daughter’s long absence she had proposed to her two guests a stroll in the oakwood. She breathed more freely when she was with Alice. But she noticed her heightened color, however, and traces of trouble in her face.