With that precociously sophisticated instinct of hers she realised that the man had been emotionally stirred, and divined in her funny child's mind that it was her dancing which had so stirred him.
It gave her a curious sense of power.
"Sieur Hugh is _afraid_ because he likes me to dance," she told her mother, with an impish little grin of enjoyment.
(On one occasion Hugh had narrated for her benefit the history of an ancestor, one Sieur Hugues de Vallincourt, whose effigy in stone adorned the church, and she had ever afterwards persisted in referring to her father as "Sieur Hugh"-- considerably to his annoyance, since he regarded it as both disrespectful and unseemly.) From this time onwards Magda seemed to take a diabolical delight in shocking her father--experimenting on him, as it were.

In some mysterious way she had become conscious of her power to allure.

Young as she was, the instinct of conquest was awakened within her, and she proceeded to "experiment" on certain of her father's friends--to their huge delight and Hugh's intense disgust.

Once, in an outburst of fury, he epitomised her ruthlessly.
"The child has the soul of a courtesan!" If this were so, Hugh had no knowledge of how to cope with it.

His fulminations on the subject of dancing affected her not at all, and a few days after he had rebuked her with all the energy at his command he discovered her dancing on a table--this time for the delectation of an enraptured butler and staff in the servants' hall.
Without more ado Hugh lifted her down and carried her to his study, where he administered a sound smacking.