“You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring.”
He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back.
“That’s a present!” she said, blushing once more and vainly striving to hide her embarrassment.
“Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been given by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? Why torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise has been accepted!”
“That’s what I said!” exclaimed the old lady.
“And what did she answer, madame?”
“What I chose,” said Christine, driven to exasperation. “Don’t you think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted long enough? As far as I am concerned …”
Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her:
“I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know the good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, you no doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to tell you what I have seen—and I have seen more than you suspect, Christine—or what I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, I have sometimes been inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes.”
“Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?”