"For getting you into that confounded engagement with young von Klausen. It was stupid of me. I don't know how I ever blundered into it."
"It's of no consequence. I dare say I can stand him for once."
"Of course you can, dear. Still, I know how you dislike the Captain, and so I hope you'll pardon——"
"Nonsense," yawned Muriel. "Don't think about it any more. And do turn out the light. I'm awfully sleepy."
XVI
IN THE BOIS
That little army of fashion which daily takes the air of the Bois rarely begins its invasion through the Porte Dauphine before mid-afternoon, and so the long, lofty avenues of what was once the Forêt de Rouvray and the Parc de St. Ouen were as yet almost deserted. Through the city streets and the Champs Elysées, Muriel and von Klausen had chatted in sporadic commonplaces, but when their open carriage, driven by a stolid coachman seated well ahead of his passengers, passed the Chinese Pavilions and turned to the left into the wide Route de Suresnes, a strained silence fell upon the pair. For fully ten minutes neither spoke, and then the horses slackened their pace upon the Carrefour du Bout des Lacs.
"Shall we walk?" asked von Klausen.