The interrogation had been on his lips more than once whilst Othmar had been with him, but his worldly wisdom had kept it back unspoken.
'Entre l'arbre et l'écorce ne mettez pas le doigt,' was an axiom of which he, so often the exponent of Sganarelle, knew the profound truth.
Aloud he added:
'Of course I will see her, and with the greatest pleasure. When and where?'
'I will take you to-morrow. I shall remain in Paris two days.'
'Then to-morrow I will await you. Do not think me a cynical and indifferent old hermit. If I dread to see youth throw itself into the river of fire which leads to fame, it is only because I have seen so many burned up in its course. I always advocate obscurity for women. Penelope is a much happier woman than Circe, though the latter is a goddess and a sorceress. Your protégée may become great only to die like Desclée, like Rachel. You would do her a greater service if you married her to one of your clerks, gave them a modest little house in the banlieue, and became sponsor to their first child. Though I have been a graceless artist all my life, I confess I hesitate at being the person to assist such a friendless creature as you describe to enter on a dramatic career. I have seen so many failures! By-the-bye, is she handsome?'
'She has beauty,' said Othmar a little coldly, because the question slightly confused and irritated him.
'It was a needless interrogation,' said Rosselin to himself. Even the chivalry of Othmar would have deemed it necessary to do so much for a plain woman.
When he went to Les Hameaux on the following day he saw her, heard her, studied her, stayed some two hours near her, now and then reciting to her himself, half a scene from 'Le Joueur,' a single speech from the 'Misanthrope,' a few lines of Feuillet, a few stanzas from the 'Odes et Ballades.'
'Oh, who are you?' she asked in transport, the tears of delight and admiration rising to her eyes.