She had reached the hall,
when the garden door suddenly opened, and Madame Leon came in.
The lights in the hall were burning brightly, so that it was easy
to observe the housekeeper's manner and countenance. She was
panting for breath, like a person who had been running. She was
very pale, and her dress was disordered. Her cap-strings were
untied, and her cap had slipped from her head and was hanging over
her shoulders. "What is the matter with you?" asked Mademoiselle
Marguerite in astonishment. "Where have you been?"
On seeing the girl Madame Leon recoiled. Should she fly off or
remain? She hesitated for an instant; and it was easy to read her
hesitation in her eyes. She decided to remain; but it was with a
constrained smile and in an unnatural voice that she replied: "Why
do you speak to me like that, my dear young lady? One might
suppose you were angry with me. You must know very well that I've
been in the garden!"
"At this hour of the night?"
"MON DIEU! yes--and not for pleasure, I assure you--not by any
means--I--I----" She was evidently seeking for some excuse; and,
for a moment or two, she stammered forth one incoherent sentence
after another, trying to gain time and imploring Heaven to grant
her an inspiration.
"Well?" insisted Mademoiselle Marguerite, impatiently. "Why did
you go out?"
"Ah! I--I--thought I heard Mirza barking in the garden. I thought
she had been forgotten in all the confusion, and that the poor
creature had been shut out, so I summoned all my courage, and----"
Mirza was an old spaniel that M.
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