"I thank you, baron," said the voice, with a joyful inflection, which seemed to find an echo in the passage. "Go, go! I thank you; to-morrow I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again." This time the baron recognized, beyond possibility of mistake, the voice, the eyes, and the unspeakably delicious smile of the fascinating being who slipped between his fingers, so to speak, the night that the courier brought him the order from the Duc d'Épernon. A last glance at the portrait, dimly lighted as it was, showed the baron, whose eyes were beginning to be accustomed to the half-darkness, the aquiline nose of the Maillé family, the black hair and deep-set eyes of the princess; while the woman before him, who had just played through the first act of the difficult part she had undertaken, had the eye level with the face, the straight nose with dilated nostrils, the mouth dimpled at the corners by frequent smiling, and the plump cheeks which denote anything rather than the habit of serious meditation. Canolles knew all that he wished to know; he bowed once more as respectfully as if he still believed that he was in the princess's presence, and withdrew to the apartment set apart for him. II. Canolles had formed no definite plan of action. Once in his own quarters he began to stride rapidly back and forth, as undecided folk are wont to do, without noticing that Castorin, who was awaiting his return, rose when he saw him, and was following him, holding in his hands a _robe de chambre_, behind which he was hardly visible. Castorin stumbled over a chair and Canolles turned about. "Well," said he, "what are you doing with that _robe de chambre?_" "I am waiting for monsieur to take off his coat." "I don't know when I shall take off my coat. Put the _robe de chambre_ on a chair and wait." "What! monsieur does not propose to take off his coat?" queried Castorin, who was by nature a capricious rascal, but seemed on this occasion more intractable than ever. "Monsieur does not intend to retire at once?" "No." "When does monsieur intend to retire, pray?" "What's that to you?" "It's a great deal to me, as I am very tired." "Ah! indeed!" exclaimed Canolles, pausing in his walk, and looking Castorin in the face, "you are very tired, are you?" It was easy to read upon the lackey's face the impertinent expression common to all servants who are dying with the longing to be turned out of doors. Canolles shrugged his shoulders. "Go and wait in the antechamber," said he; "when I have need of you I will ring." "I forewarn monsieur that if he delays long, he will not find me in the antechamber." "Where shall you be, I pray to know?" "In my bed. It seems to me that after travelling two hundred leagues it is high time to go to bed." "Monsieur Castorin," said Canolles, "you are a clown."