“But, mademoiselle, it’s for the child’s good!”
“But I don’t choose to make madame feel badly.”
Jasmin made up his mind like a devoted servant: he went to his master. Monsieur de Grandvilain was lying on his couch, enveloped in his morning gown; his head was covered with a jaunty green velvet cap, which he was careful to place over the ear which he no longer had. For some time the old marquis had had the habit of moving his jaws, as one does when one is sucking or eating something, and that constant movement gave his face the appearance of a nut-cracker. Those persons who were not aware of this trick of the marquis, waited, before speaking to him, for him to finish swallowing what he was chewing; but they waited in vain, for the jaws continued to make the same movement.
Since the occasion of the fireworks, Monsieur de Grandvilain had treated his valet with less affability. However, Jasmin’s face bore so many scars that his master could hardly bear him ill-will for an accident of which he had been the second victim.
“What do you want of me, Jasmin?” said Monsieur de Grandvilain, when he saw that his valet stood before him with an embarrassed air.
“Monsieur, I hope that you will excuse me for what I am going to say, but it is my attachment for you and our young marquis that has decided me to speak.”
“I am aware of your attachment, Jasmin, although the proofs of it which you have given me have sometimes had unfortunate results.”
As he spoke, Monsieur de Grandvilain scratched the place where his ear should have been.
“Well, what have you to tell me?”
Jasmin glanced about him, walked closer to his master, and said in a low voice and with a mysterious air: