"Someone has given le bon mari a profound shock," he remarked.
"It is true; it is quite true," said the Comtesse. "Oh, Dr. Jacqueline, I must confide in you. Listen and you will know all. Before I met my beloved husband, I was the well-known Ninon Lecoles and there was not an établissement like mine in the whole of Arles, but behold! I met the old man, so gracious, so lonely, so neglected, and I exercised upon him a little piece of what the English would call the deceit. I told him of my wealth and he offered me his hand but only on condition that I would give up the établissement which brought me in the francs in such multitudes. Monsieur, I pretended to agree, but oh, la! la! how could I give up my beautiful établissement; how could I keep this château as it is now and give mon Alphonse his comforts? So I changed the name of the établissement and called it no longer that of Ninon Lecoles, but the establishment unique of Madame Marcelle. But it was mine—mine all the time, kind M. le docteur. How could I keep this place going without it? And then when la petite Comtesse came, she proved to have the gift extraordinaire, and she worked in my établissement and does work there every day and she brings in the francs as they never came before. But we decided to keep the knowledge from the old man because he is weak and feeble. Ah, M. le docteur, what am I to do? If I give up my établissement, the death of mon Alphonse will assuredly lie at my door and yet, if I keep it—Oh, doctor, counsel a wretched woman!"
"You must keep the établissement, sans doute. Votre mari has had a shock but he will not die. That girl was mean who told him, but I have just been removing the stings of bees from her and she will be much swollen and distressed for some days. There is no doubt whatever that she has got her punishment. Ah, and here comes la petite Comtesse!"
The little Comtesse stared in some astonishment at the doctor's motor-car, at la belle grand'mère's tearful face and at the confusion which seemed to surround the hitherto peaceful place.
"Oh, grand'mère," she exclaimed. "I have sold three thousand francs worth of goods for thee this morning. Oui, très vrai, with my own skill I did it! I would not look at Lady Hébé nor at Lady Dorothy, the ugly stuck-up things that they are. But I attended to the wives of the farmers and they paid cash down, grand'mère, and they are going to Paris all three of them in their new chapeaux and robes and fans. Ah, but I made the stout one look slim and the slim one a little grosse, n'est ce pas? And the whole of them elegant. And Dorothy and Hébé were fluttering round waiting for my judgment, but grand'mère, I gave it not. I would not speak to them; they offended me. I gave them my back, grand'mère."
"But thou hast injured thy grandpère," said the poor little Comtesse. "That Dorothy is wicked, and has had her revenge. She found mon Alphonse in the garden with the peaches and the bees, and she told him all about thee, ma petite. He fell in a swoon, his horror was great, but the chères abeilles have stung her well."
"And thou art weeping when I have made three thousand francs for thee," said little Margot. "I will go straight to grandpère and set him right."
"Let the little one have her way, she has the genius," said the doctor.
"You keep away, grand'mère; let me go alone to mon grandpère," said Margot. And she ran in the direction of the salon with the couch of down.
Margot had a very gentle way of speaking, few things put her seriously out, and she was more pleased than otherwise at grandpère learning the truth. He was lying very still on his sofa; his face was white and a tear or two trickled down his withered cheeks.