When we told him that, he would have left it at once."
"Yes," she said.
"He did not know that his mother was still in New Orleans. And when we
told him how ill she was he would have come to her then. It was as much
as we could do to persuade him to wait until we had seen Monsieur de
Carondelet. Mr. Ritchie and I came directly to town and saw his
Excellency."
It was characteristic of the Vicomtesse that she told this almost with a
man's brevity, that she omitted the stress and trouble and pain of it
all. These things were done; the tact and skill and character of her who
had accomplished them were not spoken of. The girl listened immovable,
her lips parted and her eyes far away. Suddenly, with an awakening, she
turned to Helene.
"You did this!" she cried.
"Mr. Ritchie and I together," said the Vicomtesse.
Her next exclamation was an odd one, showing how the mind works at such a
time.
"But his Excellency was having his siesta!" said Antoinette.
Again Helene glanced at me, but I cannot be sure that she smiled.
"We thought the matter of sufficient importance to awake his Excellency,"
said Helene.
"And his Excellency?" asked Antoinette. In that moment all three of us
seemed to have forgotten the tragedy behind the wall.
"His Excellency thought so, too, when we had explained it sufficiently,"
Helene answered.
Pages:
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762