Margot gave a little sigh, said that she must ask grandpère, and would let her friend know the following day.
Grandpère was highly pleased that his little cabbage should have tea in the true French style with _le pauvre_ Gustave.
"He was once a very great man," said grandpère, "but he lived through his fortune and now--now he subsists on his pride. It is a great possession, the pride, _ma très belle_ Margot, but it produces the hunger. I took care to do otherwise. I married my Ninon and since then, behold, I live in luxury, and can give thee a glorious _dot_, _ma petite_!"
While Margot and her grandfather were talking, Madame la Comtesse entered the room. She was dressed in a pale shade of green with quantities of sequins of the same colour arranged on the front of her dress. Her little collar was of the best Honiton lace. Her dress was short, coming barely to her ankles. She wore open-work silk stockings of the same shade and little green kid shoes _en suite_. She looked very charming and young, and no one could tell from her appearance what her age could possibly be.
She rushed up now to "_mon_ Alphonse," arranged his down pillows, settled his soft rug of crimson plush and said, "Ah, behold, art thou not full of comfort, my adored one? And what has _la petite_ been saying to thee?"
"Good news, my Ninon," replied grandpère. "Gustave, the present Marquis de Serrègnon, wants this _bébé_ to have tea with his nieces Hébé and Dorothy to-morrow evening. Ah, but I fear the food will be poor, but the Marquis is the Marquis, and we must not despise him. This little Margot, this _chère petite_, loves dearly his English niece, Lady Dorothy Duncan, but it is the sister whom Lady Dorothy wishes her to meet."
A cloud, very imperceptible, but undoubtedly there, swept over the face of Madame la Comtesse.
"All shall be as thou dost wish, my most adorable Alphonse," she remarked, and she kissed the old man first on the hand, then on the brow, then on each cheek and then, by an almost imperceptible wave of her own small white hand, motioned Margot to follow her out of the room.
"Answer me, and answer me truly, _mon enfant_," she said. "Hast thou seen the Lady Hébé Duncan in my _établissement_? Hast thou perchance served her, _ma petite_?"