"Pray, monsieur, why do you ask?"
"Be good enough to answer me, madame; repeat my question, and I insist upon a reply. I have received instructions that I shall not hesitate to carry out."
"I have lived with nuns, but that, monsieur, was a long while ago."
"It is not a question of time. What was your motive for leaving these ladies, and who enabled you to do so?"
"I left the convent after my first communion. I left it openly, and of my own free will. Pray be good enough to allow me to continue my journey."
"On leaving the convent, where did you go?"
"First to one of my relatives, then to another, and at last to Paris, where I got married."
"Married? What, madame, are you married? Oh, young lady, what behaviour is this? Your simple, modest mien plainly shows what you were before this marriage. But why did you want to get married?"
As he said this, the little Duc du Maine, suffering, perhaps, from a twinge of colic, began to cry. The brigadier, more amazed than ever, ordered the infant to be shown as well.
Seeing that she could make no defence, Madame Scarron began to shed tears, and the officer, touched to pity, said: