"I can describe that accurately," said I. "As I look from the rear of the house, in which my apartment is, I am at the extreme right, next the angle; and one pair of stairs up, from the hall." "Very well; you must have observed, if you looked into the park, two or three clumps of chestnut and lime-trees, growing so close together as to form a small grove. You must return to your hotel, change your dress, and, preserving a scrupulous secrecy, as to why or where you go, leave the Dragon Volant, and climb the park-wall, unseen; you will easily recognize the grove I have mentioned; there you will meet the Countess, who will grant you an audience of a few minutes, who will expect the most scrupulous reserve on your part, and who will explain to you, in a few words, a great deal which _I_ could not so well tell you here." I cannot describe the feeling with which I heard these words. I was astounded. Doubt succeeded. I could not believe these agitating words. "Mademoiselle will believe that if I only dared assure myself that so great a happiness and honour were really intended for me, my gratitude would be as lasting as my life. But how dare I believe that Mademoiselle does not speak, rather from her own sympathy or goodness, than from a certainty that the Countess de St. Alyre would concede so great an honour?" "Monsieur believes either that I am not, as I pretend to be, in the secret which he hitherto supposed to be shared by no one but the Countess and himself, or else that I am cruelly mystifying him. That I am in her confidence, I swear by all that is dear in a whispered farewell. By the last companion of this flower!" and she took for a moment in her fingers the nodding head of a white rosebud that was nestled in her bouquet. "By my own good star, and hers--or shall I call it our '_belle_ étoile?' Have I said enough?" "Enough?" I repeated, "more than enough--a thousand thanks." "And being thus in her confidence, I am clearly her friend; and being a friend would it be friendly to use her dear name so; and all for sake of practising a vulgar trick upon you--a stranger?" "Mademoiselle will forgive me. Remember how very precious is the hope of seeing, and speaking to the Countess. Is it wonderful, then, that I should falter in my belief? You have convinced me, however, and will forgive my hesitation." "You will be at the place I have described, then, at two o'clock?" "Assuredly," I answered. "And Monsieur, I know, will not fail, through fear. No, he need not assure me; his courage is already proved." "No danger, in such a case, will be unwelcome to me." "Had you not better go now, Monsieur, and rejoin your friend?" "I promised to wait here for my friend's return. The Count de St. Alyre said that he intended to introduce me to the Countess." "And Monsieur is so simple as to believe him?" "Why should I not?"