"Have you ridden far to-day?" she said, crumbling a roll with her fingers as if she were not quite free from nervousness; and looking now at the table and now again at me in a way almost appealing.
"From Sauve, Madame," I answered.
"Ah! And you propose to go?"
"No farther."
"I am glad to hear it," she said, with a charming smile. "You are a stranger in Nîmes?"
"I was. I do not feel so now."
"Thank you," she answered, her eyes meeting mine without reserve. "That you may feel more at home, I am going presently to tell you my name. Yours I do not ask."
"You do not know it?" I cried.
"No," she said, laughing; and I saw, as she laughed, that she was younger than I had thought; that she was little more than a girl. "Of course, you can tell it me if you please," she added lightly.
"Then, Madame, I do please," I answered gallantly. "I am the Vicomte de Saux, of Saux by Cahors, and am very much at your service."