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He was furtively watching the two men, who had dropped into chairs at a vacant table beneath the shade of the trees and were talking to a waitress. Having taken a good look at Van Koon, he turned his attention to Van Koon's companion, a little, dapper man, smartly dressed in bright blue serge, and finished off with great care in all his appointments.
Madame Desvarennes looked through the window to see what was the matter, and remained stupefied. At the turning of a path she espied Serge, with a woman on his arm. She uttered a cry that caused the couple to turn round. Seeing that pale face, they sought to hide themselves. In a moment Madame Desvarennes was out of the carriage. The guilty couple fled down a path.
The first two months of this union were truly enchanting. Serge and Micheline never left each other. After an absence of eight days they had returned to Paris with Madame Desvarennes, and the hitherto dull mansion in the Rue Saint-Dominique was filled with joyful bustle. The splendid stables, formerly too large for the mistress's three horses, were now insufficient for the service of the Prince.
She knew how he received her advice and bore her remonstrances. An explanation between her and Serge was impossible, and her interference would only hurry him into the abyss. "Well, then, I will speak to him," said Pierre, resolutely. "No," said Madame Desvarennes, "not you! Only one here can tell him efficaciously what he must hear, and that is Cayrol.
Now the vast garden was endowed with that charm of laughter. 'How old are you? asked Albine, when her song had ended in a faint expiring note. 'Nearly twenty-six, Serge answered. She was amazed. What! he was twenty-six! He, too, was astonished at having made that answer so glibly, for it seemed to him that he had not yet lived a day an hour. 'And how old are you? he asked in his turn.
It was a young girl of some twelve or fourteen years old, in the round white cap worn by all of her age and sex; but from beneath it hung down two thick plaits of the darkest hair he had ever seen, and though the dress was of the ordinary dark serge with a coloured apron, it was put on with an air that made it look like some strange and beautiful costume on the slender, lithe, little form.
And the branch did break, but only slowly, with such deliberation that, as it gradually settled towards the ground, it let Albine slip down in very gentle fashion. She did not appear in the least degree frightened; but gave herself a shake, and said: 'That was really nice. It was quite like being in a carriage. Serge had jumped down from the tree to catch her in his arms.
In vain did I smell that my serge skirts were getting dreadfully singed, in vain did I see most uncertain bits of rail before me: it was all too perfectly enchanting to care for danger or disgrace, and I could have found it in my heart to echo G 's plaintive cry for "More!" when we came to the end and had to get off.
Then before the older woman could do more than murmur "Thank you," Betty had slipped away and taken her place in the circle of girls between Meg and Esther, not without noticing, however, that their guardian looked unusually well in a dress of plain white serge with her dark hair bound about her head like a coronet.
Our detective had just re-entered the journalist's study. There, on the floor, lay the bundle which had excited his curiosity when Vagualame was present. "The enemy," thought he, "has retired, but has abandoned his baggage!" Juve relighted the lamp, and undid the black serge covering of the bundle. "Ah! I might have guessed as much, it is an accordion, Vagualame's accordion!"
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