"There now!" she exclaimed; "what ever is the use of expecting a word of sense from a lunatic like you?"
"You asked me for the truth, and I have told it to you!" I replied, laughing secretly at the trick I was playing her.
"Leave off talking rubbish! Can't you understand, you silly boy, that I am speaking to you about Kondjé-Gul because I can see how the land lies? It is quite clear to me that between you two there is some sort of secret understanding; now what is it? I know nothing about it, but however innocent this mystery may be, I see too much danger about it not to caution you. Mademoiselle Murrah is not one of those drawing-room dolls with whom it is safe for a man to risk a little of his heart in the game of flirtation; no, the man who once falls in love with her will love her for ever, body and soul, he will be bewitched."
"Why, then, she must be Circe herself," I exclaimed: "it's a terrible look-out for me!"
"Oh, you need not laugh," she continued: "your lofty philosophical contempt would not serve you in the least. A beautiful sorceress like that girl is all the more dangerous because her own heart is liable to be kindled by the flames of her incantations. In her heart slumber passions which will devour her some day, both her and the man she loves. That is why I am reading you this lecture, with the object of warning you in time, before your youthful recklessness has carried you too far in this affair; especially as you are already betrothed to another."
Notwithstanding the semi-jocular manner which my aunt had preserved throughout this lecture, I could easily perceive that she was seriously alarmed on my behalf. I therefore abandoned my jesting tone, assuring her that neither my imagination nor my heart were in the smallest danger with Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul Murrah, and that "no change whatever would be made in our present relations." This jesuitical reply appeared to satisfy her.
"In that case," she continued, "I may set to work to get her married?"
"Get her married?" I exclaimed in astonishment.
"Certainly. Did I not tell you, before I began questioning you, that I had an important commission to discharge? My young cousin Kiusko adores her, he has begged me to see Madame Murrah on his behalf, and I expect to call on her this very day, to set this important business in train."