"You will go to Paris and the Capitaine de Sabron will get well rapidly. He will follow you, and if it were not for Tremont, myself, your Red Cross Society and the presence here of Madame de la Maine, you would have been very much compromised. But never mind," said the Marquise d'Esclignac magnificently, "my name is sufficient protection for my niece. I am thinking solely of the poor young man."
"Of Monsieur de Sabron?"
"Of course," said the Marquise d'Esclignac tartly, "did you think I meant Robert? You have so well arranged his life for him, my dear."
"Ma tante," pleaded the girl.
The marquise was merciless.
"I want you to promise me, Julia, before you sail for home, that if Sabron follows us and makes you to understand that he loves you, as he will, that you will accept him."
Julia Redmond looked at the Marquise d'Esclignac in astonishment. She half laughed and she half cried.
"You want me to promise?"
"I do," said her aunt firmly, regarding her niece through her lorgnon. "In the first place the affair is entirely unconventional and has been since we left France. It is I who should speak to the Capitaine de Sabron. You are so extremely rich that it will be a difficult matter for a poor and honorable young man.... Indeed, my dear, I may as well tell you that I shall do so when we reach home."
"Oh," said the girl, turning perfectly pale and stepping forward toward her aunt, "if you consider such a thing I shall leave for America at once."