Guillaume asked:
"Did you not meet my mother? She is looking for you in the garden."
"Is your mother here?"
"Oh, Gilberte, would I have come without her, when I would not even go over there, among the rocks, for fear of displeasing you?"
She recalled her disappointment of the last evening and the evening before and was on the point of accusing herself ... but of what? Had she lent a willing ear to the calumnies of the town? She said, simply:
"I am glad of what you have done for Mme. de la Vaudraye."
"What have I done?"
"Was it not a sacrifice to be at her parties?"
He went up to Gilberte:
"A sacrifice? Not at all. ... Ah, that's because you don't know what has happened during the last few days! ... Why, I am prepared to do all that she wishes and to
