"Your friends are very agreeable, are they not, to pass all their time travelling about no one knows where, and coming here only to eat? Hereafter, monsieur, I will invite the persons whom I wish to receive."
"Very well, my dear love, if you wish, I will go and tell Alfred and Edouard that they can go at once, that we don’t care."
"Another absurd remark! No, monsieur, say nothing, do nothing, meddle in nothing,—that is all I ask of you."
And with that, Cornélie left Robineau, who, when he was alone, stamped the floor viciously, saying:
"I will not thwart her, because this is our honeymoon; but I know that I am master, and that is enough for me."
After walking for a sufficiently long time with Eudoxie, Alfred returned to the château; he arranged everything for his approaching departure and then joined Edouard.
"What was your reason for consenting to defer our departure?" said Alfred; "I supposed that you were in a hurry to leave this region and these mountains."
"Yes, yes, of course," replied Edouard, with some embarrassment; "but before leaving Auvergne, to which I shall never come again, I would like,—you will scold me, Alfred!"
"No; tell me frankly what hope you have."
"I have no hope at all, but I cannot resist the longing to see Isaure once more, to bid her a last farewell!"