'No.... Perhaps.'
'You're an angel!'
And he trudged home on the air. 'If a woman will listen!' his heart sang. 'If a woman will come to see your garden!'
XIII.
That evening a servant handed him a letter.
'A footman has brought it from Granjolaye, and is waiting for an answer.'
The letter ran thus:—
'Monsieur:
'I am directed by Her Majesty the Queen Hélène to request the pleasure of your company at the Château de Granjolaye to-morrow at eleven. Her Majesty desires me to add that she has only to-day learned of your presence in the country.
'Agréez, Monsieur, l'assurance de mes sentiments distingués,