“Oh! I know the place,” said Honorine, “but it seems to me to be very large for a single man.”
“Oh! what difference does it make? Besides, Freluchon will come to see me often, and pass the night.”
“I thought that he didn’t like this part of the country.”
“He will get used to it; for my part, the longer I am here, the better I like it.”
As he said this, Edmond’s eyes were fixed on Agathe, and she understood perfectly why the young man liked Chelles so much.
But it was not without considerable disquietude that Honorine saw Edmond Didier take up his abode so near to them; and Agathe, who could read her protectress’s face very easily, said to her after Edmond’s departure:
“How serious you look! Are you sorry that Monsieur Edmond has hired a country house in this vicinity? You frown at me; is it my fault?”
“Your fault? yes, of course it’s your fault; and yet I can’t scold you! Why, you know perfectly well that this young man is in love with you; and that that was the only motive that led him to hire that house, which is large enough for ten persons.”
“My dear friend, I swear to you that Monsieur Edmond has never said a word to me which would lead me to suppose that—that he was thinking of me.”
“I believe you; indeed, he has not been coming here long.”