I fled, and as a coach chanced to come that way, I
clutched at the window and hung there. Within the coach there were two
ladies, and one of them, taking compassion upon me, invited me to enter and
thus rescued me. That lady, sir," I ended with a bow, "was Mademoiselle
your daughter."
In his eyes I read it that he had guessed the name of my nameless
gentleman.
The ladies were struck dumb by my apparent effrontery. Yvonne at last
recovered sufficiently to ask if my presence at the ch?teau arose from my
being attached to M. de Mancini. Now, "attached" is an unpleasant word. A
courtier is attached to the King; a soldier to the army; there is
humiliation in neither of these. But to a private gentleman, a man may be
only attached as his secretary, his valet, or, possibly, as his bravo.
Therein lay the sting of her carefully chosen word.
"I am M. de Mancini's friend," I answered with simple dignity.
For all reply she raised her eyebrows in token of surprise; Canaples looked
askance; I bit my lip, and an awkward silence followed, which, luckily, was
quickly ended by the appearance of Andrea.
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