The governess smiled sadly but she was cheerful enough when she spoke.
“Come at once, Mesdemoiselles,” she said briskly. “Proté, tell Felice that the young ladies wish their coiffures done at once, and see to their mantles and hats yourself.” Then she turned to Lisle, who still stood lounging against the door.
“What will you do while they are away, Monsieur Lisle?” she asked.
Lisle smiled in his quiet, teasing way.
“I’m going to ride with my tutor, Madame,” he answered.
Madame le Pont threw up her hands. “Please do not do it when it so worries Madame your mother. It makes her afraid when you are so reckless!” she exclaimed.
“You are never to say that my mother is afraid, if you please, Madame,” Lisle said and, as he spoke, he opened the door and went out.
Madame le Pont went over to the table and stood fingering the bits of gold lace there. Marie Josephine watched her. Why had she not been told that she could go with Hortense and Denise? Rosanne de Soigné was her greatest chum. They could have sat quietly in a corner and talked. Marie Josephine turned toward the nurseries and then looked back at the governess, who still stood by the table.
“Le Pont is worrying. She is uneasy like maman. This is a bad time. Grandfather said that it would come. He said to me: 'Little Marie Josephine, I can almost see the black clouds, they are so thick ahead of us. But when they come I shall not be here, and I am the only one that seems to know they are drifting toward us!’”
The governess looked up and when she looked at Marie Josephine it was as though she had for the moment forgotten her.