One
of them, a little old man with a vapid smile and twinkling eyes,
tapped me on the cheek, and said: 'So she is as good as she is
pretty!' I could have struck him; but all the others laughed
approvingly, with the exception of M. de Chalusse, whose manner
became more and more frigid, and whose lips wore a constrained
smile, as if he had resolved to keep his temper despite all
provocation. It seemed to me that he was suffering terribly, and
I afterward learned that I had not been mistaken. Far from
imitating the old gentleman's manner, he bowed to me very gravely,
with an air of deference that quite abashed me, and went away
after saying that he would return the next day to conclude the
arrangements.
"I was at last left alone with the superior, whom I longed to
question, but she gave me no time to do so, for with extreme
volubility she began to tell me of my surprising good fortune,
which was an unanswerable and conclusive proof of the kindness and
protection of Providence. 'The count,' she said, 'was to become
my guardian. He would certainly give me a dowry; and by and by,
if I were grateful to him for his goodness, he would adopt me, a
poor, fatherless and motherless girl, and I should bear the great
name of Durtal de Chalusse, and inherit an immense fortune.' In
conclusion, she said that there was no limit to the count's
generosity, that he had consented to reimburse the asylum the
money that had been spent on me, that he had offered to dower, I
do not know how many poor girls, and that he had promised to build
a chapel for the use of the establishment.
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