"Look," said Maurice, indicating Albert and the Countess de Morgueil.
"There is a dangerous woman who is making mischief at this moment!…
And, nevertheless, I owe her the happiness this moment brings me."
"My father," said Esperance, "has been as indulgent to me as always."
"Thanks for these tidings," said the Duke. "Do you think he will receive me to-morrow, if I go to him?"
"Oh! certainly, after the fête; a little while after, for first he wished to speak to Count Styvens," she said timidly.
"Will you," the Duke asked Maurice, "make an appointment for me, and tell me as soon as you have an answer?"
"With pleasure."
The Duke bowed to the girls and withdrew. He took Maurice's hand, "I am happy, my friend, everything is going as I wish. I seem to hear laughter coming out of the shadows."
And he disappeared.
The young people waited for Albert a little while longer, but as he did not appear, Maurice advised the girls to retire, and he returned to sit down anxiously under the oak.