"Yes," said Marguerite, who sought to resume her ordinary assurance, "for you must have come for something."
"And I have found more than I had believed possible," said the marquis, smiling. Then, without appearing to notice the embarrassment which his presence caused, he approached Blanche, took her hand, and cried,—
"You in this retreat! you hidden from all eyes!—when you should be the ornament of the world and receive the homage of the whole universe."
"Forgive me, monsieur," said Blanche, "but I don't understand you."
"I don't understand you either," murmured Marguerite, fixing her small eyes on the marquis.
"Better still, adorable girl," responded the marquis to Blanche, without paying the least attention to Marguerite. "They did not deceive me, this is innocence itself, the most perfect ingenuousness united to the most seductive grace and beauty."
"But, monsieur, was that what M. Touquet told you to say to me?"
"No, lovely child, not at all," said the marquis laughing, and still retaining Blanche's hand, which she vainly tried to disengage.
"It's necessary however that you should explain yourself," said Marguerite in a dry tone, "you have been here for a quarter of an hour and you have not yet said why you came. It is very late and we are accustomed to go to bed early."
"Oh, well, old woman, go to your bed; I will remain with this lovely child until the return of Master Touquet."