VIII.
The justice of the peace and Mademoiselle Marguerite were at last
alone in M. de Chalusse's study. This room, which the count had
preferred above all others, was a spacious, magnificent, but
rather gloomy apartment, with lofty walls and dark, richly carved
furniture. Its present aspect was more than ever solemn and
lugubrious, for it gave one a chill to see the bands of white tape
affixed to the locks of the cabinets and bookcases. When the
magistrate had installed himself in the count's arm-chair, and the
girl had taken a seat near him, they remained looking at each
other in silence for a few moments. The magistrate was asking
himself how he should begin. Having fathomed Mademoiselle
Marguerite's extreme sensitiveness and reserve, he said to himself
that if he offended or alarmed her, she would refuse him her
confidence, in which case he would be powerless to serve her as he
wished to do. He had, in fact, an almost passionate desire to be
of service to her, feeling himself drawn toward her by an
inexplicable feeling of sympathy, in which esteem, respect, and
admiration alike were blended, though he had only known her for a
few hours. Still, he must make a beginning. "Mademoiselle," he
said, at last, "I abstained from questioning you before the
servants--and if I take the liberty of doing so now, it is not,
believe me, out of any idle curiosity; moreover, you are not
compelled to answer me.
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