But if she made them happy by her gaiety, what matter! The tears dried,
and she flashed a malicious look at the young Seigneur, as though to say:
"You had your chance, and you made nothing of it, and these simple
gentlemen have done the gracious thing."
Perhaps it was a liberal interpretation of his creed which prompted the
Cure to add with a quaint smile:
"'Thou art not far from the Kingdom,' my daughter."
The avocat, who had no vanity, hastened to add to his former remarks, as
if he had been guilty of an oversight:
"Dear madame, you have flattered my poor gleanings in history; I am happy
to tell you that there is here another and a better pilot in that sea. It
is Monsieur Valmond," he added, his voice chirruping in his pleasure.
"For Napoleon--"
"Ah, Napoleon--yes, Napoleon?" she said, turning to Valmond, with a look
half of interest, half of incredulity.
"--For Napoleon is, through him, a revelation," the avocat went on. "He
fills in the vague spaces, clears up mysteries of incident, and gives,
instead, mystery of character."
"Indeed," she added, still incredulous, but interested in this bizarre
figure who had so worked upon her old friend, interested because she had
a keen scent for mystery, and instinctively felt it here before her.
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