Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/149

Rh "And does not your son return to dinner?" inquired Kehlmark of the burgomaster.

"Oh, as for him, he takes his bread and meat with him every morning," was the reply of Claudie.

After dinner, Henry seemed in no hurry to go; Claudie, convinced that this was owing to her charms, still walked him up and down the Govaertz lands. She cleverly enlightened him as to their fortune. Their fields extended so far, in that direction, beyond the windmill. "There, where you see that white birch." She gave the Dykgrave to understand that they were very rich already, quite apart from their expectations. Michael's two sisters, the two old bigots, although they had quarrelled with the Burgomaster, had promised to leave their fortune to his children.

Kehlmark had allowed time to drag on so that it was evening when it occurred to him to call for his horse. The Count was hoping to see the little bugler again, and at the moment of making up his mind to depart, he made another inquiry after him. "Often he does not return till night," said Claudie, scowling at the mere mention of the despised urchin. "He sometimes even