“But I can not see any reason why we should not take Jacqueline with us to Italy. She is just of an age to profit by it.”
These words were spoken by M. de Nailles after a long silence at the breakfast-table. They startled his hearers like a bomb.
Jacqueline waited to hear what would come next, fixing a keen look upon her stepmother. Their eyes met like the flash of two swords.
The eyes of the one said: “Now, let us hear what you will answer!” while the other strove to maintain that calmness which comes to some people in a moment of danger. The Baroness grew a little pale, and then said, in her softest tones:
“You are quite right, ‘mon ami’, but Jacqueline, I think, prefers to stay.”
“I decidedly prefer to stay,” said Jacqueline.
Her adversary, much relieved by this response, could not repress a sigh.
“It seems singular,” said M. de Nailles.
“What! that I prefer to pass a month or six weeks with Madame d’Argy? Besides, Giselle is going to be married during that time.”
“They might put it off until we come back, I should suppose.”