"Dear father, my life has been bathed in such sunlight for the last three days, that I shall keep that glow of warmth for the rest of my life."
"I only ask, you little daughter, to do nothing, to say nothing, before the end of this fête. We have no right, however grave our personal troubles and responsibilities are, to betray the hospitality of the Duchess. To-morrow, after the fête, I will talk to Albert. Go, my darling, go back to that poor boy. I hate to send you to practice a dissimulation that I abhor, but we are in a situation of such delicacy and difficulty…. God keep you!"
He kissed her tenderly. She went back to her fiancé, to find to her surprise that the Countess de Morgueil had just passed by with him. Maurice pointed them out where they were walking slowly in the distance.
"Oh! so much the better," said Esperance. "That gives me an excuse to go to my room."
Maurice urged her to wait. "I am convinced that that woman is meddling in our affairs. It is plain enough that we have upset her."
"How? What do you mean, cousin?"
"Did you not know that the Countess is madly in love with the Duke, and that she had hoped to marry him this winter?"
"Poor woman," sighed Esperance, sincerely.
The Duke came by, and seeing them alone, he joined them.
"The three of you alone?" he cried. "Then you will allow me to join you for a moment?"