The only answer Berthe made was to lean her head forward on her friend's breast and burst into tears.
'How like that woman is to Marguerite la modiste!' whispered O'Hara to Friezecoat. 'I'm not astonished at her she calls Berthe having mistaken the body in the Morgue.'
'Oh, Caroline dear, then you are alive!' said little Berthe, at length finding words amid her sobs.
'Alive!—yes, really alive, ma mignonne, and I shall be chastising you presently to prove it, if you don't dry those tears. Why do you weep?'
'I went into the Morgue to see the body of a girl who had drowned herself, and, oh! it was so like you; and then, you know, Caroline, you've been away those three days.'
'And have I never been at Choisy-le-Roi for three days before? Giddy—giddy girl, you've been to the Morgue. Don't tell this to the grand-père.'
'Yes, and I have had such a fright. Don't frown, Caroline. I thought 'twas you I saw laid out, and when I awoke I was in a carriage with those gentlemen, who have been very kind to me and brought me home.'
The brunette bowed graciously to Friezecoat and O'Hara, and said:
'I thank you infinitely, messieurs, for your kindness to my young friend; and if you'll have the goodness to wait a little, I'll call my grandfather, and he will thank you too, and pay for this vehicle.'
'Madame, you offend me,' said Friezecoat gruffly.