"It is true," said Madame de Ravenelle, partly rising, "that the young Comte de Marvejols did not come." "He is the one I mean. I trust that now you will not give another thought to my marrying this gentleman, who shows--I will not say so little zeal, for he has shown zeal in avoiding me!--but who is almost discourteous to us!" "But, Valentine, young Léodgard's father, the Marquis de Marvejols, accepted our invitation; he apologized for his son and said that fatigue, an attack of fever, kept him at home." "Of course you do not suppose that I believe a word of that! Fatigue! fever! If he were ill, would his father have come to our party?" "He may be only indisposed; the marquis, his father, was delightfully amiable with me! He is a man of the old school; he stands very well at court; it is said that the king is much attached to him, and that the cardinal himself has the highest esteem for Monsieur de Marvejols." "Mon Dieu! aunt, I have never ventured to doubt any of monsieur le marquis's estimable qualities, although his manner seems to me rather stern than amiable. That he stands very well at court is possible; but that does not make it any the less true that his son will never be my husband. Upon my word! fancy my taking for my husband a man who despises me!" "Oh! my dear niece!" "Why, my dear aunt, since this gentleman does not deign to take the trouble to pay court to me, since he even avoids my society, does it not mean that he disdains an alliance with me?" "Have you heard of his paying court to any other woman? No!--If you could name some nobly born person, some _grande dame_, whose assiduous attendant he was, I could understand your irritation. But young Léodgard goes most rarely into society; he likes those parties of young men, where they gamble and drink and fight and raise the deuce with passers-by.--Mon Dieu! niece, such amusements have been indulged in by many young men of illustrious birth. Why, some even go so far as to say that one of our kings took great pleasure in going out at night with his favorites, his _mignons_, and that they used to steal cloaks from the people they met!" "Oh! aunt! do you approve of that?" "No, surely not! But I simply mean to say that young Léodgard may be only a heedless youth, who dreads the moment when he must marry; because he knows that then he will have to reform, to change his mode of life altogether and live in a circle where he must maintain his rank worthily." Valentine made no reply. A few moments later she rang, and said to Madame de Ravenelle: "I am going to tell Miretta to finish this tapestry; the work tires me, and the little Béarnaise does it so beautifully!--She did that corner, and it's much better than I can do. She is running over with talent, that girl--she has excellent taste in everything; she trims a cap with marvellous skill!--Will you allow her to work here, aunt, on my stool? We shall not have any visitors to-day."