The stranger frowned, and was silent for some moments; at last he continued:
"Well, that isn’t the question now; do you propose to allow this girl to be whisked away from you by your rival, when it is entirely in your power to possess her? I confess that that surprises me on the part of the young Baron de Marcey."
"Thoughtless and enterprising as I am, or as I have been, I have always respected the happiness of my friends. I may have tried to triumph over Edouard when it was a question simply of a caprice, of a mere amourette! But since this girl has turned his head to the point that he proposes to make her his wife——"
"To make her his wife!" cried the stranger, with an outburst of sarcastic laughter. "Oh! that would be too much, upon my word! If you love Monsieur Edouard, you will confer a genuine service upon him by preventing him from doing such a foolish thing."
"You speak with much assurance. What makes you think so ill of this girl, pray?"
"I have eyes and experience; and you, who know women, how can you fail to see that this one with her simple, sweet manner is a little minx who knows a great deal? What do you think of a girl whose parents no one knows, and to whom they who adopt her leave all their property? Who entertains generously all those who seek hospitality at her hands? Who lives alone in these mountains, and talks as correctly as a woman brought up in the city? But that is not all; there are other mysterious circumstances, and I shall discover them."
Alfred reflected upon what he had heard; he could not help thinking that Isaure’s conduct was in fact calculated to arouse strange suspicions.
The man who had stopped in front of Alfred watched him closely while he reflected; one could see that he was trying to read his eyes, to divine what was taking place in the depths of his heart. After a rather long silence he continued at last:
"Upon my word, you hesitate a long while; a lot of time and sighs wasted upon a girl who amounts to nothing; and who asks nothing better than to be seduced! If she were the heiress of a great name, or a noble châtelaine, you could not treat her with more respect! In heaven’s name, have we gone back to the time of the Renauds and the Amadises? I am tempted to believe it. You ought to give tournaments for this young beauty; to break a lance or two to demonstrate her virtue, and to shatter a few helmets in favor of her innocence! Happy times those were when, in order to be recognized as the loveliest and the most virtuous of women, a maid had only to choose the bravest and strongest champion."
Alfred listened closely to the speaker’s last words. He scrutinized him with more attention than before, and said to him: