She rose again, drooping yet stately, and drew her cloak about her.
“Nothing has happened!” she exclaimed vehemently. “Do you hear—nothing has happened!”
“Why do you deny yourself?” cried Luc. “Why are you lying to me?”
“Nothing has happened!” she repeated; “nothing. Keep your dreams.”
It seemed to Luc that she, while she spoke, was looking beyond him at some one else, and with a throbbing brain he turned and gazed towards the gloomy back of the house.
There was, as he had expected, a man coming slowly towards them.
Luc stiffened and narrowed his eyes.
“This is the man who will be useful to you,” said Carola, in an ordinary tone.
The stranger, who wore a black velvet mantle and a hat with a high white plumage fastened by a steel loop and button that glittered in the strong sun, approached at an easy gait. When he uncovered to the Countess, Luc recognized, with an angry heart, M. de Richelieu.
The Duke marked him with instant and unmistakeable surprise.