"
"I am ready, as you see, but not willing," she answered, bridling up
with a scornful air. "Very much the reverse indeed. The more I think
over it the more outrageous and preposterous your behaviour seems.
Where are we going? I insist upon knowing. I must have a plain
categorical answer or I will not move an inch." Her dogged, determined
air was belied by her dress and the obvious preparations already made
for departure. Her present attitude I set down to the vacillation of
her character. She might make up her mind one moment and one way, and
yet be quite prepared to change it the next.
"You are fully entitled to know where you are going, and I have not
the smallest desire to keep it from you," I replied, still speaking in
a smooth, courteous voice. "I propose that you should take up your
residence for a time--the very shortest time possible--at Le Bourget,
a small place at the head of the lake. You may know it; there is a
snug little hotel in the village, the Dent du Chat. You will like it."
"I shall not like it. I dislike the whole idea exceedingly. Why should
I be buried alive in such an out-of-the-way spot?"
"It will be no worse than Fuentellato, a place you chose for
yourself.
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