"He is nothing--nothing at all to you, my child." "Well, I want him to be less than nothing to Mlle.

Delhasse," said the duchess, with a pout for her protector and a glance for me.
"Mlle.

Delhasse is very angry with me just now," said I.
"Oh, why ?" asked the duchess eagerly.
"Because she gathered that I thought she ought to wait for an invitation from you, before she went to your house." "She should wait till the Day of Judgment!" cried the duchess.
"That would not matter," observed the Mother Superior dryly.
Suddenly, without pretext or excuse, the duchess turned and walked very quickly--nay, she almost ran--away along the path that encircled the group of graves.

Her eye had bidden me, and I followed no less briskly.

I heard a despairing sigh from the poor old lady, but she had no chance of overtaking us.