”‘I wonder you could bear to leave them,’ said Pierre, almost indignantly; but Nanette did not resent his tone. She turned to him, her eyes full of tears.
”‘I did my utmost to stay,’ she replied, ‘but my lady would not hear of it. Albert had waited so long, she said; it was not right to put him off still, though for my part I could have found it in my heart to put him off altogether. I saw that the idea worried her. Then, too, I think she was glad for me to come home to talk to you—to explain things a little. She dare not write very much—letters are never very safe. And she is so lonely—in the midst of all that racket—she and Mademoiselle Edmée.’
”‘Have they no friends they care for?’ asked Pierre.
”‘Few—very few. And already of those some have left the country. Yes, indeed,’ said Nanette, ‘it is not yet much known, but several of the wiser and far-seeing among the nobility have gone to Switzerland—some to Holland, and to England, on pretence of travelling, but it is known they do not intend to return till they see how things turn out.’
”‘It seems almost cowardly,’ said Pierre.
”‘Yes,’ said Nanette, ‘so my lady said. But I do not know that it is so. What can the few do in such a state of things? And they have their children to think of.’
”‘It is true. But our lady need not go so far. In no foreign country could she be so safe as here in her own Valmont.’
”‘It seems so at present,’ said the girl with a sigh. ‘But all the talk I have heard frightens and confuses me. Once the fire is lighted, who can say? Still I wish with all my heart, and so does my old uncle Ludovic, that the ladies were here, and not in Paris. And you may be sure the Countess will seize the first chance of returning. I was to tell you this—and to say that she will count on you, father Germain, and on Pierre, to help them if occasion arises.’
”‘She will not be disappointed,’ said Germain, and Pierre eagerly agreed with him.
”‘But all the same,’ continued his father, ‘I confess I do not see the great difficulty about their getting away; the Marquis would never force his sister to stay?’