But I noticed that the speaker's animation, which had been as a soul to her beauty when she entered the room, was gone.

A strange stillness was it fear of the Vidame?
had taken its place.
"The Abbess of the Ursulines ?" Bezers continued thoughtfully.

"SHE brought you here, did she ?" There was surprise, genuine surprise, in his voice.

"A good soul, and, I think I have heard, a friend of yours.
Umph!" "A very dear friend," Madame answered stiffly.

"Now, Diane!" "A dear friend! And she spirited you hither yesterday!" commented the Vidame, with the air of one solving an anagram.