We have had visitors, among others Alphonse Giraud, whom I believe you do not yet know.

If contrasts are mutually attractive, then you will like him.

I wonder if you know, or suspect, that he is more or less an acknowledged aspirant to Lucille's hand, but--" Madame de Clericy had run her pen through the last word, leaving it, however, legible.

And here she began a new subject, asking me, indeed, to write and give her news of the Vicomte.

I am no indoor man or subtle analyst of a motive--much less of a woman's motive, if, indeed, women are so often possessed of such, as some believe--but the obliterated word and Madame de Clericy's subsequent embarkation on a new subject made me pause while I deciphered her letter.
It had originally been arranged that the Vicomte should follow the ladies to La Pauline, leaving me in Paris to attend to my duties, but the sudden political crisis led to a delay in his departure.