"That is what I do not know, and it frightens me a little," said Hélène. "Frightened here with me!" "Yes, Angelot!" She tried to speak, but he would hardly let her. She held him back with both hands, and went on hurriedly--"It was mamma's look--she looked at me so strangely, she spoke severely, as if I had done wrong, and indeed I have, mon Dieu! but she does not know it, and I hope she never may. If she knew, I believe she would kill me. Let me go, I must!" "One moment, darling! Come away with me! I will fetch a horse and carry you off. Then it won't matter what any one knows!" "You are distracted!" Hélène began to laugh, though her eyes were full of tears. "Listen, listen," she said. "Your father and mother and uncle were just going, when mamma called them back. She said to papa and them that she wished to consult the family. Oh, what is it all about? What can it be?" "That matters very little as long as they don't want us. Let them talk. What are you afraid of, my sweet?" "I can't tell you. I hardly know," murmured Hélène; and in the next instant she had snatched herself from him and flown upstairs. There were quick steps in the hall below, and Monsieur Joseph's voice was calling "Angelot!" CHAPTER X HOW ANGELOT REFUSED WHAT HAD NOT BEEN OFFERED Madame de Sainfoy herself hardly knew why she wished to consult the family, there and then, on the fate proposed for Hélène. The truth was, she relied on Urbain, and wanted his support against her husband, with whom the subject was a difficult one. As to Anne de la Marinière, no particular sympathy was to be expected from her, certainly; but one could not detain Urbain at that hour without detaining her too. It was the same with Joseph, in a less degree. Neither to him nor to Madame Urbain did it matter in the least what marriage was arranged for Hélène de Sainfoy; they had even no right to an opinion; they were neither aunt nor uncle, they had no special place in the world, and the girl had nothing to expect from them. But Madame de Sainfoy knew that her husband took a different view of all this, that he made a certain fuss with these old cousins, considered them as his family, and would not endure that they should be in any way shut out or slighted. "He likes to be surrounded by these country admirers," Madame de Sainfoy would have said. "If I do not talk to them about this, he will; and it will please him that I should consult them. Urbain is different, of course. Urbain is a sensible man; he will be on my side."