VII
As soon as the daylight entered Rosette's room, D'Albert made his appearance, with an eagerness that was not usual with him.
"Here you are," said Rosette, "I would say very early, if you could ever arrive early.—To reward you for your gallantry I present you my hand to kiss."
And she drew from beneath the sheet of Flemish linen trimmed with lace the prettiest little hand that was ever seen at the end of a plump, well-shaped arm.
D'Albert kissed it with compunction:—"And the other, little sister, are we not to kiss that too?"
"Mon Dieu, yes! nothing is easier. I am in my Sunday humor to-day; here."—And she extended her other hand with which she tapped him lightly on the lips.—"Am I not the most obliging woman on earth?"
"You are grace itself, and temples of white marble should be erected to you in thickets of myrtle.—Really, I am very much afraid that the same thing will happen to you that happened to Psyche, and that Venus will be jealous of you," said D'Albert, taking the fair one's hands in one of his and raising them together to his lips.
"How you say all that without taking breath! any one would think it was something you had learned by heart," said Rosette, with a delicious little pout.
"No; you deserve to have the phrase turned expressly for you, and you were made to pluck the virgin bloom from compliments," rejoined D'Albert.