"But you will do so soon?" anxiously.
A week later he came to Eliot where he sat with his sisters in the library, their favorite room, for here Sylvie seldom obtruded her presence.
Maud, so lovely and happy now that she did not look like the pensive girl of a month ago, sprung up impetuously and caught his arm.
"Oh, you look so happy, you surely found our darling girl!"
Taking Eliot's and Edith's indulgence for granted, he pressed a light kiss on her pure brow.
"You have guessed aright," he answered, "I have seen Mr. Chesterton's governess. She calls herself Mademoiselle Lorraine, and teaches French to the little Chestertons, but she is indeed no other than our Una."
"Thank Heaven!" Eliot cried, springing up, "I will go to her at once."
"Nonsense! She will not receive you," said his friend, and Eliot flung himself down again with a groan.
"Listen," said Pierre Carmontelle, "Mademoiselle Lorraine goes out every afternoon to walk with her little charges. She is always closely veiled, and sometimes she walks past this very house, and looks up at the windows with eyes full of sadness. I saw her myself to-day, and recognized her in spite of her thick veil. I followed her, and when near the gate, I spoke to her; but afterward I was almost sorry I had done so, she was so terribly frightened."
"Frightened!—but why?" cried Maud.