When la pauvre grand'mère entered, an hour or so later, she found her beloved one calm and easy in his mind. It was only after M. le Marquis and his beautiful young daughters had gone that he told her of his very great adventure.
"It was the biggest of all my life," he said. "Two ladies, très belles and très jeunes, appeared and introduced themselves as mes cousines, les Marquises Rose et Clotilde. Ah, but they were charmantes. Then behold, they spoke to me of a wonder, a très petite wonder in the établissement of Madame Marcelle. They asked me to go with them to see her, and I went."
"Ah, but thou naughty one; thou adorable naughty one," said la Comtesse.
"But behold, listen," continued the old man. "I enjoyed myself; they were so gay, so young, so brilliant in the cheeks, so dainty in the chapeaux. Then I arrived. They took me in their own car; but I could not see that petite wonder, who seems to rule the établissement; and suddenly, behold, the real Marquis Odile appeared with his beautiful daughters, Rose and Clotilde. Ah, but it was an adventure; it was wonderful. Thinkest thou, Madame beloved, that the others were—were spirits? I looked to right, I looked to left, and nowhere could I see them after the Marquis appeared. Thinkest thou they were spirits, Madame la Comtesse?"
"They were wicked women," said Madame. "They thought to take thee in, but they failed."
"Ah, but indeed they were not wicked," said M. le Comte. "They looked young and elegant. How gently did the one who called herself Clotilde support my feeble steps; and how admirable were the manners of the one called Rose. I will amuse myself well this afternoon in telling the story of this queer adventure to la petite Comtesse."
"Please thyself, mon Alphonse; but now lie quietly and rest, while I prepare the bouillon which will nourish thee after those adventures, which only ought to happen to the young."
The entire story was repeated to Margot when she appeared on the scene; but the old man seemed now dull and drowsy and stupid. Perhaps he was too old for adventures—he could not say. As the evening advanced, he talked in a puzzled way of two Marquises called Rose, and two Marquises called Clotilde, and of a "little wonder" in a certain établissement. He was decidedly feverish, and Margot held his hand and soothed him as only she knew how.
"Oh the wicked, wicked women," sobbed la belle grand'mère, after the doctor had come and gone. "The wicked, wicked women, to injure mon Alphonse."
When Margot had a minute of time to attend to la belle grand'mère, she told her that the false Marquises were only her hideous old gouvernantes dressed up to look young, and that she herself meant to give them a piece of her mind.