Fergus asked Madame to walk with him in the garden, which was sunny and bright, but which only held some apples, some pears, and such like fruits on the old trees. The peaches had vanished, the bees had gone into their winter quarters. It was never cold at Arles, but the people there thought it cold. Anyhow the bees felt that they might rest from their labours.
Madame la Comtesse thought Fergus Desmond very handsome. She adored _mon_ Alphonse, but she enjoyed talking to any handsome man.
"Thou hast brought _la petite_ back with you, Monsieur," she said.
"I have," he replied. "It is her French grandfather's turn to have her for three months. These partings are sore blows. Madame, I would speak with you."
"Ah, but I did think so," replied Madame. "Is not life assuredly of the most miserable unless we speak out our innermost thoughts? Thou hast a weight on thy mind, Monsieur le Desmond."
"I have; it is a bad subject, it must be got through. I have learnt from the lips of John Mansfield, Madame, and also from the lips of a very nasty girl who goes to the school of a certain princess, that our little Margot assists you in a shop. It is kept by a certain Madame Marcelle. But it is in reality your shop. Her grandfather does not know, neither her French grandfather nor her Irish grandfather. Such news would kill either of them. Madame, it must cease. The child goes to her grandfather, she does not go to you. You must assure me now and here on your word as an honourable woman that you will never allow the little Margot to enter the shop of Madame Marcelle, which is in reality your shop, any more."
"But listen! Understand, monsieur. May not _la petite_ enter the apartment where the chapeaux are sold, may not _la pauvre chérie_ buy a chapeau for herself? Ah, but _non, non_, you can not say against it, monsieur. _La chère petite_ must be dressed according to the wishes of her grandfather and me, and, behold! I am making her _dot_ and it will be solid--oh a pile, a pile; francs by the thousand, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands! Your little niece will be _très riche_, monsieur, but she must be dressed, ah, _oui_, in the proper way, monsieur. She wears not now the correct garments for _la petite_ Comtesse St. Juste, but I was ready for that, and I have a fresh set of little garments all waiting for her in her _chambre de nuit_. You will agree with me, monsieur, _n'est-ce pas_?"