"And I," said the abbé, "I have heard a thousand times repeated by the Archbishop of Paris that M. de Létorière was almost the serpent of the terrestrial paradise. . . . 'If it were an affair of the government of Paris,' said this good prelate to me this morning, 'I would mask him with a cowl, like a black penitent, to hide his eyes, and choke the sound of his voice; for, in a question of precedence which interested one of my relations, this tempter has turned upside down my whole chapter-house, and fascinated my prebendaries so that they speak of nothing but him.'" At this moment the door of the boudoir was thrown open, and a valet-de-chambre announced with a loud voice: _Monsieur the Marquis de Létorière!_ "M. de Létorière in my house! I have never received him! What audacity!" cried Madame de Rohan-Soubise, with as much astonishment as anger. [Footnote 1: See for these details, and for other biographical particulars of Létorière, the charming _Souvenirs de Madame la Marquise de Créquy._] CHAPTER IX THE DEPARTURE At the announcement of the Marquis, Madame de Rohan-Soubise had risen; the count and the abbé did the same,--and so also did the princess Julie. The Marquis found these four persons present: Madame Rohan-Soubise, in full dress, arrogant, irritated, haughty; the abbé, by way of reassuring himself, caressed _Puff_, who, awaking with a start, whined a little; the count, leaning his elbow on the mantle-piece, played carelessly with his watch-chain; Mlle. de Soissons, calm and resolved, supported herself with one hand on her embroidery frame, and looked at Létorière with an air at once tender and grateful. The Marquis had hardly respectfully saluted Madame Rohan-Soubise, when she turned towards M. de Lugeac, with a gesture of supreme disdain, and asked him, "Who is this gentleman?" The count, very much embarrassed, hesitated to answer, when the Marquis sharply said, "M. de Létorière absolves M. de Lugeac from being responsible for him to Madame de Rohan-Soubise." "It was at my request, madame, that M. the Marquis of Létorière has been kind enough to come here," said the princess Julie, in a firm and decided voice. "At your request? . . . yours . . . Julie?" cried Madame Rohan-Soubise, at the height of astonishment. "'Tis impossible!" "However _unknown_ I may unhappily be to Madame de Rohan-Soubise, I dare to hope that she will understand that the formal orders of Mlle. de Soissons have been necessary to bring me to the Chateau Soubise--an honor which, until now, I have at least had the modesty or the good taste never to aspire to," replied the Marquis, in a tone of marked irony. "Princess Julie . . . explain yourself . . . this has already continued too long!" cried Madame de Rohan-Soubise, imperiously. The count and the abbé made a movement to retire, but Mlle. de Soissons said to them: "Have the goodness to remain, gentlemen, that you may be witnesses to what I wish to say to madame."