"But you know it so well," said Julia. "Hasn't he cared for you for a long time?"
Madame de la Maine wondered just how much Julia Redmond had heard, and as there was no way of finding out, she said graciously:
"He has seemed to love me very dearly for many years; but I am poor; I have a child. He is ambitious and he is the Duc de Tremont."
"Nonsense," said Julia. "He loves you. That's all that counts. You will be awfully happy. You will marry the Duc de Tremont, won't you? There's a dear."
"Happy," murmured the other woman, "happy, my dear friend, I never dreamed of such a thing!"
"Dream of it now," said Julia Redmond swiftly, "for it will come true."
CHAPTER XIX
THE MAN IN RAGS
The Marquise d'Esclignac, under the stars, interviewed the native soldier, the beggar, the man in rags, at the foot of the veranda. There was a moon as well as stars, and the man was distinctly visible in all his squalor.
"What on earth is he talking about, Robert?"