, that he never even read a line of my correspondence with Madame
Marie-Gaston."

Until then, Monsieur Dorlange had stood before the fireplace, at one
corner of which I was seated; but he now took a chair beside me and
said, by way of preamble:--

"I mentioned to you, madame, the family of Lanty--"

At that instant--provoking as rain in the midst of a picnic--Madame de
la Bastie came up to ask me if I had been to see Nathan's last drama.
Monsieur Dorlange was forced to give up his seat beside me, and no
further opportunity for renewing the conversation occurred during the
evening.

I have really, as you see now, no light upon the matter, and yet when
I recall the whole manner and behavior of Monsieur Dorlange, whom I
studied carefully, my opinion inclines to his perfect innocence. Nothing
proves that the love I suspected plays any part in this curious affair;
and I will allow you to think that I and my terrors, with which I
tormented you, were terribly absurd,--in short, that I have played the
part of Belise in the _Femmes Savantes_, who fancies that every man she
sees is fatally in love with her.

I therefore cheerfully abandon that stupid conclusion. Lover or not,
Monsieur Dorlange is a man of high character, with rare distinction of
mind; and if, as I believe now, he has no misplaced pretensions, it is
an honor and pleasure to count him among our friends. Nais is enchanted
with her preserver. After he left us that evening, she said to me, with
an amusing little air of approbation,--

"Mamma, how well Monsieur Dorlange talks."

Apropos of Nais, here is one of her remarks:--

"When he stopped the horses, mamma, and you did not seem to notice him,
I thought he was only a man."

"How do you mean,--only a man?"

"Well, yes! one of those persons to whom one pays no attention. But, oh!
I was so glad when I found out he was a monsieur. Didn't you hear me cry
out, 'Ah! you are the monsieur who saved me'?"

Though her innocence is perfect, there was such pride and vanity in this
little speech that I gave her, as you may well suppose, a lecture upon
it. This distinction of man and monsieur is dreadful; but, after all,
the child told the truth. She only said, with her blunt simplicity, what
our democratic customs still allow us to put in practice, though they
forbid us to put it into words. The Revolution of '89 has at least
introduced that virtuous hypocrisy into our social system.

But I refrain from politics.