Instantly he turned to examine Athanase, and detected him in the significant silence of deep meditation.

Presently, a look cast by the young man on Mademoiselle Cormon carried to the soul of the chevalier a sudden gleam.

That momentary flash of lightning enabled him to read the past.
"Ha! the devil!" he said to himself; "what a checkmate I'm exposed to!" Monsieur de Valois now approached Mademoiselle Cormon, and offered his arm.

The old maid's feeling to the chevalier was that of respectful consideration; and certainly his name, together with the position he occupied among the aristocratic constellations of the department made him the most brilliant ornament of her salon.

In her inmost mind Mademoiselle Cormon had wished for the last dozen years to become Madame de Valois.