The keenest delight was depicted on every face. Bathilde uttered a cry of joy. Landry went to his daughter and took her in his arms. Ambroisine and her father were in ecstasies.
The old Marquis de Marvejols offered his son his hand as a sign of reconciliation.
And no one thought to ask for the end of the adventure which the belle baigneuse had begun to narrate.
XXXVI
A STRANGE CHOICE
One beautiful day in spring, Valentine de Mongarcin sat in the salon where her aunt Madame de Ravenelle preferred to pass her time, amusing herself by picking out chords on her zither and singing the words of a new virelay.
Madame de Ravenelle, reclining on an immense couch, listened to her niece, keeping time gently with her head, and smiling with the contented expression of a person whose digestion is good and who has no cares.
The fair Valentine was a long way from displaying a countenance as placid as her aunt's; her brow often contracted; her mouth expressed melancholy rather than pleasure, and her eyes, which she turned constantly from side to side, indicated that her mind was deeply preoccupied.
"Well! go on, Valentine; why have you stopped singing?" inquired the old lady.
"What do you say, aunt? was I singing?"
"Well! this is charming! do you mean that you did not know it? that you sang without being aware of it?"