"Well, what do you think?" François Darbois asked him.
"I think that the most important thing in all the world is to save her! I will wait…."
François pressed his hand, and there was taken between these two men, who were so different in every way, a silent pledge that both were determined to keep at all costs.
From that instant each one strained every nerve to revive in Esperance her dearest desire.
Several days after this visit, Esperance received a letter from the Comedie-Française, asking her to come to the office. She turned pink. Her lovely forehead brightened for the first time in many months. She handed the letter to her father, who knew what it contained, and had been watching his child's surprise very closely.
"We must go back to Paris, father, I feel entirely well."
"Good, Mademoiselle, we will obey your orders," he said tenderly.
She kissed her father as she used to do, and began to tease him a little.
"How nice it is to have such an agreeable papa! You have plenty of cause to be severe, for I give you endless trouble."
"So you are to make your début at the Comedie-Française?"