"Oh! no, father! on the contrary, he thanked me for doing it."
"Go now, and take your friend her letter. It probably contains the same invitation as this one."
"Yes, father, I am going. But if you knew how excited I am! What will Bathilde say when she learns that I went to her seducer's father and told him everything?"
"Why, you are not afraid of her scolding you, are you? I have forgiven you."
"Oh! that is not the same thing."
"True; with me, you are always sure of being in the right. But you acted for Bathilde's good—and, above all, for her child's! Go—go; if the friend blames, the mother will pardon you!"
Ambroisine left her father and went to her friend's room, concealing beneath her neckerchief the marquis's second letter. She tried to assume an indifferent, cheerful air as she walked toward Bathilde; but the latter was not deceived, and after looking into Ambroisine's eyes for an instant she said, somewhat sharply:
"You have something to tell me, and you are afraid to speak; what makes you afraid? Cast out and cursed by my parents, abandoned by the man I loved, it seems to me that I can defy fate now. What more have I to dread?"
"It is true that I have something to tell you; but it is no new misfortune that threatens you—far from it!"
"What is it, then, and why do you hesitate to say what you have to say?"