Page:A Nameless Nobleman.djvu/29

Rh bird's nest? or has the cat turned over in her sleep? or—oh, horrors! has she discovered the fearful rent I made in my new dress last night, by running against a rose-bush in the dark? Now that was your fault, François, and"—

"Here she is! I was just going to propose escaping into the labyrinth; but it is too late. Well, Marie, here is Mademoiselle Valerie."

"So I see, Monsieur le Baron," panted the old woman, holding on to her fat sides, and casting reproachful glances up into the tree, where Valerie's bright and glowing face laughed down at her.

"If you had but answered me, mademoiselle, you would have had the news sooner."

"And saved your poor old legs, nursey," replied the child with a burst of tinkling laughter. "Well, now you have found me, what is it? Has the king come to ask me to marry monseigneur the dauphin? He is a thought young for me, but still"—

"You might have guessed farther afield, my poppet," replied the nurse with a sagacious nod of the head; "for it is, if not the king, one of the king's gentlemen; and, as for his errand, who knows?"

"One of the king's gentlemen! What do you mean, nurse?" demanded François, turning so suddenly that the old woman uttered an affected little shriek.

"Mercy, Monsieur le Baron! you need not eat me up alive with your sharp way, so like madame the comtesse, whom you do not remember."

And Marie crossed herself with a very expressive