"
"Even after I have insulted you?" said the count, with a sort of
regret.
"Some are placed so high that insult cannot touch them. Monsieur le
comte,--I am one of them."
As she said the words, the girl assumed an air of pride and nobility
which impressed the prisoner and made the whole of this strange
intrigue much less clear to Hulot than the old soldier had thought it.
He twirled his moustache and looked uneasily at Mademoiselle de
Verneuil, who made him a sign, as if to say she was still carrying out
her plan.
"Now," continued Marie, after a pause, "let us discuss these matters.
Francine, my dear, bring lights."
She adroitly led the conversation to the times which had now, within a
few short years, become the "ancien regime." She brought back that
period to the count's mind by the liveliness of her remarks and
sketches, and gave him so many opportunities to display his wit, by
cleverly throwing repartees in his way, that he ended by thinking he
had never been so charming; and that idea having rejuvenated him, he
endeavored to inspire this seductive young woman with his own good
opinion of himself. The malicious creature practised, in return, every
art of her coquetry upon him, all the more adroitly because it was
mere play to her. Sometimes she let him think he was making rapid
progress, and then, as if surprised at the sentiment she was feeling,
she showed a sudden coolness which charmed him, and served to increase
imperceptibly his impromptu passion.
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