Volume II Part 95 (1/2)
”Oh! madame, do not think it,” cried Fleur-de-Marie; ”you are sent by them--I have no question to ask--I follow you blindly; only tell me if Madame George is well!”
”She is perfectly so.”
”And--M. Rudolph?”
”Perfectly well also.”
”You know him, then, ma'am? Yet just now, when I spoke of him with Rigolette, you said nothing.”
”Because I must say nothing--I have my orders.”
”Did he give them to you?”
”Isn't she curious, the dear; isn't she curious?” said the housekeeper, laughing.
”You are right; pardon my questions, ma'am. Since we go on foot to the place to which you conduct me,” added Fleur-de-Marie, sweetly, ”I shall know what I so much desire to know.”
”In fact, my dear, before a quarter of an hour we shall have arrived.”
The housekeeper, having left behind her the last houses of Batignolles followed, with Fleur-de-Marie, a gra.s.sy footpath. The day was calm and beautiful, the sky toward the west half concealed by red and purple clouds; the sun, beginning to decline, cast his oblique rays on the heights of Colombe, on the other side of the Seine. As Fleur-de-Marie drew near the banks of the river, her pale cheeks became slightly colored; she inhaled with delight the sharp, pure air of the country, and cried, in a burst of artless joy, ”Oh! there in the middle of the river, do you see that pretty little island covered with willows and poplars, with the white house on the sh.o.r.e? How charming this habitation must be in summer, when all the trees are covered with leaves! What repose, what refres.h.i.+ng air must be found there.”
”Verily!” said Mrs. Seraphin with a strange smile, ”I am delighted that you find the island pretty.”
”Why, madame?”
”Because we are going there.”
”To that island?”
”Yes; does it surprise you?”
”A little, ma'am.”
”And if you should find your friends there?”
”What do you say?”
”Your friends collected there, to celebrate your deliverance from prison! would you not be more agreeably surprised?”
”Can it be possible: M. Rudolph? Ah! is it true I go to see Madame George? I cannot believe it.”
”Yet a little patience--in fifteen minutes you will see her, and then you will believe.”
”What I cannot comprehend,” added Fleur-de-Marie, thoughtfully, ”is that Madame George awaits me there, instead of at the farm.”
”Always so curious, the dear--always so curious!”
”How indiscreet I am, ma'am!” said Fleur-de-Marie, smiling.