Part 18 (2/2)

She was so much taken up with arranging her flowers on a side-table that she did not see M. de Clagny, who was watching her attentively as she came and went, with the pretty, graceful movements of a bird as it flies backwards and forwards before finally perching itself.

At length, however, he spoke, and the sound of his voice made Denyse start.

”It's very certain that it came direct from Paris--that pretty dress,”

he said.

”Oh!” exclaimed Bijou, scared, ”you nearly frightened me.” And then, going up to the count, and daintily patting her light, gauzy dress, she continued: ”That pretty dress did not come from Paris; it was made at Bracieux, near Pont-sur-Loire.”

Thoroughly astonished, the count asked:

”Oh, no! by whom, then?”

”By Denyse, here present, and by an old sewing-woman, who is a dresser at the theatre.”

He had risen, and was now walking round the young girl in almost timid admiration. She was so pretty, emerging from the pinky-looking cloud, which seemed to scarcely touch her dainty little figure, and out of which peeped her shoulders, tinted, too, with that singular pinky gleam which made her delicate skin look so velvety and soft.

M. de Clagny could not help thinking that Bijou was not only beautiful to look at, but fascinating in the extreme, with her tempting mouth, and her innocent, frank eyes. The charm of her person was rendered all the more complex by this same child-like expression.

Whilst he was examining her curiously, Bijou was saying to herself that ”this old friend of grandmamma's” was much younger-looking than she had imagined him to be. He certainly did make a good appearance, tall and slender, with his hair quite white on his temples, whilst his fair moustache had scarcely a touch of grey. His brown eyes had a gentle expression, and his mouth, sometimes mocking, and at times even almost cruel, showed, when he smiled, the sharp, white teeth, which lighted up his whole face in a singular way.

The silence was getting embarra.s.sing, until Bijou at last broke it:

”Grandmamma has not come down then yet? I expected to find her here.”

”She went away to dress just as you came in.”

”She will never be ready.”

M. de Clagny looked at his watch.

”But dinner is to be at eight--she has plenty of time; it is not half-past seven.”

”Oh!” exclaimed Bijou regretfully. ”If only I had known, I should not have hurried so much. I was so afraid of being late.”

”I'm the one to be glad that you hurried so much. I shall have you to talk to for a minute”--

”For a good half-hour at least,” she said, laughing; ”no one is ever in advance here--oh, never, not even the guests any more than the people of the house.”

”Ah, about the guests, tell me with whom I am going to dine. Your grandmamma said, 'You will dine with some friends of yours.' Now, as to friends, I cannot have many here now, considering that for the last twelve years I have not been in this part of the world. There have probably been many changes since then.”

”Not so many as all that; let's see, now! you will dine with the Tourvilles.”

”The Tourvilles? they are not dead yet?”

”Those with whom you are going to dine are living. They had some parents who are dead.”

<script>