Raoul, blushing deeply, rose to his feet, and with eyes fixed on the ground, murmured:
"No, sir, I was just saying my prayers, as I ought to have done every night, but I felt ashamed to."
It was on the tip of La Tour's tongue to say:
"Oh! leave that to your aunt. She can pray enough for both of us."
But he kept the words back, and with an indulgent smile which implied plainly that he thought the boy's occupation was of small consequence, he said in a kindly tone:
"Well, you'd better get back into your blankets again. We're going to have a stormy night, if I am not greatly mistaken."
That he had not mis-read the weather signs became evident ere midnight, for a snow-storm set in which grew in violence hour by hour, until by daylight it was so furious that not even Charles La Tour had the hardihood to brave it.