“Dear Richard, you were always so clever.”
“To be sure; it runs in the family.”
“And the Signora, she is well, I hope?”
“Pretty well; the teaching goes on tant bon que mauvais, as our friends over here say. The Clementi is a little thinner in tone than when you heard it last, and a little farther off concert pitch; but as most of my aunt’s pupils sing flat, that’s rather an advantage than otherwise. But where are you going, Miss Vane? because wherever it is, I’d better see you there. If we stand before this book-stall any longer, the proprietor may think we’re going to buy something, and as the Parisians don’t seem a buying people, the delusion might be too much for his nerves. Where shall I take you, Miss Vane?”
“To the Rue de l’Archevêque, if you please, behind the Madeleine. Do you know it?”
“Better than I know myself, Miss V. The Signora lived in that direction when I was a boy. But how is it that you are all alone in the streets at this time of night?”
“Papa had an appointment with two gentlemen, and he——”
“And he left you to walk home alone. Then he still——”
“Still what, Richard?”
The young man had stopped hesitatingly, and looked furtively at Eleanor.