But M. Belmont was not one of these. When he first heard of the preparations for the ball, he grew very serious.
"It is a snare," he said, "set to entrap us."
A day or two later, when he received a formal invitation, he was so truly distressed that he fell into a fever.
"Happy malady," he muttered, "I shall now have a valid excuse."
Pauline nursed him with her usual tenderness, but could not extract from him the cause of his illness. She had heard, of course, of the great event which was the talk of the whole town, but never suspected that her father had been invited, and it was, therefore, with no misgiving that she accepted, at his solicitation, Eugene's offer of a trip to the Sarpy mansion, the particulars of which have already been set before the reader. A few hours after her departure, Batoche suddenly made his appearance with the startling intelligence that the Bastonnais would return the next day to begin the regular siege of the town, and the anxious father commissioned him to set out and bring back his daughter at once. In the course of the same evening Roderick Hardinge called and was very much concerned to learn the absence of Pauline, but was partially reassured when M. Belmont informed him of her expected speedy return. Roderick's visit was short, owing to some undefined constraint which he observed in the conversation of M. Belmont, and it was perhaps on that account also that he omitted stating the reason why he particularly desired to speak to Pauline. We have seen that he was waiting at the outer gate when she drove up in the early morning accompanied by Batoche and Cary Singleton.
As soon as they found themselves alone and safe within the town, Roderick said abruptly:
"I would not have had you absent to-day for all the world."
Pauline noticed his agitation and naturally attributed it to his fears for her personal safety, but she was soon undeceived when he added:
"You must by all means come to the ball with me this evening, my dear."
"To the ball?" she asked with no feigned surprise, because the events of the preceding day and night had completely driven the recollection of it from her mind.