"Oh, I have the greatest confidence in him; but he is abroad at present."
"Did you not know his address?"
"No. And, besides, what could I have said to him? That gentleman behaved very well. It was not until to-day . . . But I don't know if . . ."
"I beg you, mademoiselle, speak frankly. You can have confidence in me also."
"Well, M. Ribeira came just now. He told me that he had been sent by a French lady who was paying a short visit to Bougival, that this lady had a little girl whose education she would like to entrust to me and that she wished me to come and see her without delay. The thing seemed quite natural. And, as this is a holiday and as M. Ribeira had hired a carriage which was waiting for him at the end of the road, I made no difficulty about accepting a seat in it."
"But what was his object, after all?"
She blushed and said:
"To carry me off, quite simply. He confessed it to me after half an hour. . . ."
"Do you know nothing about him?"
"No."