"Well, Claude, you have brought your Madame the Countess home to the King. He'll be satisfied, I hope."
Apparently both the allusion and the bitterness were lost upon him. He only answered with a bright smile: "I am satisfied, my Deborah. What the King thinks is not my concern. Oh, I had not told you, had I?—that the King is not here. He is coming home with the army next Saturday, the 13th, from Strasbourg. You know he has been fighting all summer. They are going to give him a triumph on his return. There will be a procession through the street, and the King will ride in it. You will see him then, Deborah. Shall you like it all?"
"I—don't know. I never saw a king," responded the girl, interested in spite of herself in the anticipation of these hitherto scarcely dreamed-of glories.
At half-past eleven o'clock their chaise passed the barrier, and they rolled down the narrow street towards the river, in Paris at last. Claude himself was quiet now. He was a little anxious; he could not be sure just what he should find "at home." Moreover, the familiar streets and sounds no longer raised his spirits. Instead, they came so near to bringing tears to his eyes, that he was relieved when Deborah asked:
"Where are we going? To another inn?"
"I am not sure. I have directed the man to the Hôtel de Mailly. But, if no one is there, we must go to an inn. Look, Deborah, there is the Seine, there is the Pont Royal, and there, just ahead, is Henri's house, where we are going. Are you glad—little one?"
* * * * * * *
It was half-past ten o'clock that night before Claude and his wife were again alone together. They had left the salon thus early through weariness, leaving the rest of the family party to disband as it would. Neither the Count nor Deborah spoke till the suite of apartments assigned them on the second floor had been gained and the door to their antechamber closed. Deborah was going on to what she supposed must be their bedroom, when Claude caught her hand.
"Surely you are going to say good-night?" he asked, smiling.
"Good-night! Why—I don't understand," she said, quickly.