Abrupt as were
my movements, however, someone had contrived to warn her; for
though two of her women sat working on stools near her, I heard a
hasty foot flying, and caught the last flutter of a skirt as it
disappeared through a second door. My wife rose from her seat,
and looked at me guiltily.
"Madame," I said, "send these women away. Now," I continued when
they had gone, "who was that with you?" She looked away dumbly.
"You do well not to try to deceive me, Madame," I continued
severely. "It was Mademoiselle D'Oyley."
She muttered, not daring to meet my eye, that it was.
"Who has absented herself from the Queen's service," I answered
bitterly, "and chosen to hide herself here of all places!
Madame," I continued, with a severity which the sense of my false
position amply justified, "are you aware that you have made me
dishonour myself? That you have made me lie; not once, but three
times? That you have made me deceive my master?"
She cried out at that, being frightened, that "she had meant no
harm; that the girl coming to her in great grief and trouble--"
"Because the Queen had scolded her for breaking a china jar!" I
said, contemptuously.
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