"Why, what happens in the White House, pray?" asked Eudoxie.
"What happens there!" replied Robineau; "oh! nobody knows; but it seems clear that something happens there. It is uninhabited and yet lights are seen in it; sounds are heard and yet no person is seen! That is very strange, is it not?"
"It is terrifying," said Mignon.
"It is utterly absurd," said Cornélie.
"However, mesdames, the said shepherdess is the only person who is not afraid of the White House, and she lives close beside it. That is rather surprising for a young girl, eh?"
"A clever trick!" said Eudoxie; "of course her lover lives in the house, and she knows very well that he isn’t the devil."
"Her lover!" exclaimed Edouard; and, struck by the widow’s suggestion, he suddenly became pale, and trembled visibly.
"Oh! mon Dieu! how you frighten me, monsieur!" said Cornélie; "I thought that you had an attack of hysteria."
"I beg pardon, mademoiselle, but I don’t know—I had a sudden flush."
"No one would have suspected it, for you are as pale as a ghost!"