"You err, madame. Eh! Mon Érou! The chances of fortune are hazardous, and if I were a woman, especially the wife of a banker, whatever confidence I had in my husband's good fortune, I would begin to assure myself an independent fortune, by putting my interests in hands unknown to him."
M. de Sacqueville-Danglars returned from the salon, and made some sarcastic comments about the fact that the viscount de Pérégrin was so little enamoured of his daughter, that he had only danced with her once, and had not even noticed that Andurillo danced with her three times. "Behold a destiny that was fixed beyond the walls of Arde," he snickered.
"M. le vicomte Réginard de Pérégrin!" announced the valet, coincidentally. Réginard entered, very handsome and merry. He saluted the baroness with ease, Sacqueville-Danglars with familiarity, and Monte Fato with affection. Then he returned to the baroness, and said: "Madame, will you permit that I inquire after Mlle. de Sacqueville-Danglars?"
"Very well, monsieur; at this moment, she is making music with M. Pseudonimo."
And indeed, the voices of the two young people mingled beautifully in the delightful song of the South:
