"No," said Claude, who was not at all unwilling to receive her as his confidante. "You see I was taken away from France when I was an infant."
"When you were an infant!" said Mimi. "How very, very sad!" and saying this, she turned her eyes, with a look full of deepest commiseration, upon him. "And so, of course, you cannot remember anything at all about France."
Claude shook his head.
"No, nothing at all," said he. "But I'm on my way there now; and I hope to see it before long. It's the most beautiful country in all the world—isn't it?'
"Beautiful!" exclaimed Mimi, throwing up her eyes; "there are no words to describe it. It is heaven! Alas! how can I ever bear to live here in this wild and savage wilderness of America!"
"You did not wish to leave France then?" said Claude, who felt touched by this display of feeling.
"I!" exclaimed Mimi; "I wish to leave France! Alas, monsieur! it was the very saddest day of all my life. But dear papa had to go, and I do not know why it was. He offered to let me stay; but I could not let him go alone, for he is so old and feeble, and I was willing to endure all for his sake."
"What part of France did you live in?" asked Claude.
"Versailles."
"That is where the court is," said Claude.