I believed that my conductor had made a mistake, or that his guests had departed, and I turned towards him to ask for an explanation.

He merely pointed onwards, however, and I advanced; whereupon a young and handsome lady, who had been seated in the shadow of the great fireplace, rose suddenly, as if startled, and stood looking at me, the glow of the burning wood falling on one side of her face and turning her hair to gold.
'Well!' M.de Rosny said, in a voice which sounded a little odd in my ears.

'You do not know madame, I think ?' I saw that she was a complete stranger to me, and bowed to her without speaking.

The lady saluted me in turn ceremoniously and in silence.
'Is there no one else here who should know you ?' M.de Rosny continued, in a tone almost of persiflage, and with the same change in his voice which had struck me before; but now it was more marked.

'If not, M.de Marsac, I am afraid--But first look round, look round, sir; I would not judge any man hastily.' He laid his hand on my shoulder as he finished in a manner so familiar and so utterly at variance with his former bearing that I doubted if I heard or felt aright.