_Au revoir_!"
As soon as the door closed Jeanette ran to her father, bare-footed,
her hair flying, just as she had jumped out of bed.
"Great Heavens!" said the Innkeeper, "you were listening."
"Yes, I was listening, I heard; I will prepare the room, but it shall
be for the other!"
"Do you know who the other is?"
"No," she said quickly.
"Do you know why they are fighting?"
"How should I know?" she demanded.
She did know, however. However she sat mute under the gibes of the
other servants.
Albert had returned with his mother, who seemed gayer, happier than
usual. Esperance went at once to speak to her and was enthusiastically
congratulated on her superb bearing.
The Countess kissed Esperance whose eyes were filling with tears, and
she kissed the Countess's hands with so much emotion that the lady
raised the blonde head, saying tenderly, "No, no, you must not cry! We
must love each other joyfully. I have never seen my son so happy, I
should be jealous if I loved him less. See, dear, I want to give you
these jewels myself; I believe that they are going to suit you very
well."
She clasped a magnificent collar of pearls around the young girl's
neck. Esperance could not refuse them. She thanked the lovely lady
affectionately.
"My father will tell me what to do," she thought.
Lunch was an hour earlier as the fete was to begin at half-past two.
"Heavens," said Mme. Styvens with perturbation, "I shall never be
ready.
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