Violette did not notice the gentleman who approached her and halted in front of her flowers. But on raising her eyes and recognizing Georget's protector, the man who had treated her so harshly and turned her out of his house, the poor child shuddered and had not courage to utter a word.
"Yes, it is I, mademoiselle," said the count, imparting to his voice its mildest intonation; "I frighten you, I see; you lower your eyes in order not to meet mine. Oh! do not be afraid; you would not read in them any trace of anger, but rather an expression of sorrow; for I behaved very badly toward you, poor girl! But at that time cruel memories led my reason astray; since then I have realized how unjust, how cruel I was to you, when you came to ask for aid and protection; and so, on the day after that scene, I came here to ask your pardon."
"Pardon! pardon!" murmured Violette, not daring as yet to believe what she had heard, and timidly raising her eyes to Monsieur de Brévanne's face. "Ah! is it possible, monsieur? Then you no longer despise me?"
"I have never despised you, my child; I simply vented upon you a fit of anger which never should have touched you; for you are not the guilty one.—Once more, are you willing to forget my injustice? Are you willing to forgive me?"
"Oh! with all my heart, monsieur; I have never been angry with you, but it made me very unhappy."
"Have you been sick, that you have not been here selling your flowers?"
"Yes, monsieur, I have been sick; but only for a week; it is all over now, and I have forgotten about it."
"But you are still pale and changed."
"It is the result of the fever; but I feel better, and now, monsieur, that you have told me that you are not angry with me any more, why, I feel perfectly well; it seems to me that my strength has come back to me, and that my health is as it was."
"I am glad to hear that, for your absence from this place worried me a great deal; and if I had known where you lived, I should have gone to inquire for you."