"And wondered why I should come here? Well, I 've some right to, for my mother was a Montenay. Did you not know it?"
"No. But what brings you here, since you are not a ghost, but your very own self?"
"Tiens, Aline, I have wished myself any one or anything but myself this last fortnight! You must know that when I was set free—and oh, ma chérie, I heard it was your husband who saved me, and of course that means you——"
"Not me," said Aline quickly. "He did it. Who told you?"
"The Abbé Loisel. He knows everything—too much, I think! I don't like him, which is ungrateful, since he got me out of Paris."
"Did he? Where did you go then?"
"Why, to Switzerland, to Bâle, where I joined my father; and then, then—oh, Aline, do you know I am betrothed?"
"My dear, and you are happy?"
Marguerite screwed up her face in an unavailing attempt to keep grave, but after a moment burst out laughing.
"Why, Aline, he is so droll, and a countryman of your own. Indeed, I believe he is a cousin, for his name is Desmond."