"Yes, let
us go to supper!" he exclaimed; "perhaps that will change the
luck."
This was a decisive consideration. The room emptied as if by
magic; and no one was left at the table but Pascal, who scarcely
knew what to do with all the gold piled up before him. He
succeeded, however, in distributing it in his pockets, and was
about to join the other guests in the dining-room, when Madame
d'Argeles abruptly barred his passage.
"I desire a word with you, monsieur," she said. Her face still
retained its strange immobility, and the same stereotyped smile
played about her lips. And yet her agitation was so evident that
Pascal, in spite of his own uneasiness, noticed it, and was
astonished by it.
"I am at your service, madame," he stammered, bowing.
She at once took his arm, and led him to the embrasure of a
window. "I am a stranger to you, monsieur," she said, very
hurriedly, and in very low tones, "and yet I must ask, and you
must grant me, a great favor."
"Speak, madame."
She hesitated, as if at a loss for words, and then all of a sudden
she said, eagerly: "You will leave this house at once, without
warning any one, and while the other guests are at supper."
Pascal's astonishment changed into stupor.
"Why am I to go?" he asked.
"Because--but, no; I cannot tell you. Consider it only a caprice
on my part--it is so; but I entreat you, don't refuse me. Do me
this favor, and I shall be eternally grateful.
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