duct a trick?" cried Madame de la Baudraye,
swallowing down a few tears that dried up with the fire of outraged
pride.

She leaned back in the corner of the chaise, crossed her arms, and gazed
out at the Loire and the landscape, at anything rather than at Lousteau.
The journalist put on his most ingratiating tone, and talked till they
reached La Baudraye, where Dinah fled indoors, trying not to be seen
by any one. In her agitation she threw herself on a sofa and burst into
tears.

"If I am an object of horror to you, of aversion or scorn, I will go,"
said Lousteau, who had followed her. And he threw himself at her feet.

It was at this crisis that Madame Piedefer came in, saying to her
daughter:

"What is the matter? What has happened?"

"Give your daughter another dress at once," said the audacious Parisian
in the prim old lady's ear.

Hearing the mad gallop of Gatien's horse, Madame de la Baudraye fled to
her bedroom, followed by her mother.

"There are no papers at the inn," said Gatien to Lousteau, who went out
to meet him.

"And you found none at the Chateau d'Anzy either?" replied Lousteau.

"You have been making a fool of me," said Gatien, in a cold, set voice.

"Quite so," replied Lousteau. "Madame de la Baudraye was greatly annoyed
by your choosing to follow her without being invited. Believe me, to
bore a woman is a bad way of courting her. Dinah has played you a trick,
and you have given her a laugh; it is more than any of you has done in
these thirteen years past. You owe that success to Bianchon, for your
cousin was the author of the Farce of the 'Manuscript.'--Will the horse
get over it?" asked Lousteau with a laugh, while Gatien was wondering
whether to be angry or not.

"The horse!" said Gatien.

At this moment Madame de la Baudraye came in, dressed in a velvet gown,
and accompanied by her mother, who shot angry flashes at Lousteau. It
would have been too rash for Dinah to seem cold or severe to Lousteau
in Gatien's presence; and Etienne, taking advantage of this, offered his
arm to the supposed Lucretia; however, she declined it.

"Do you mean to cast off a man who has vowed to live for you?" said
he, walking close beside her. "I shall stop at Sancerre and go home
to-morrow."

"Are you coming, mamma?" said Madame de la Baudraye to Madame Piedefer,
thus avoiding a reply to the direct challenge by which Lousteau was
forcing her to a decision.

Lousteau handed the mother into the chaise