Adrienne looked at her aunt for a second, and then burst into so free and
sonorous a laugh, that it rang for quite a time through the vast
apartment. D'Aigrigny and Baron Tripeaud started in indignation. The
princess looked angrily at her niece. The doctor raised his eyes to
heaven, and clasped his hands over his waistcoat with a sanctimonious
sigh.

"Madame," said Abbe d'Aigrigny, "such fits of laughter are highly
unbecoming. Your aunt's words are serious, and deserve a different
reception."

"Oh, sir!" said Adrienne, recovering herself, "it is not my fault if I
laugh. How can I maintain my gravity, when I hear my aunt talking of
blind submission to her orders? Is the swallow, accustomed to fly upwards
and enjoy the sunshine, fledged to live with the mole in darkness?"

At this answer, D'Aigrigny affected to stare at the other members of this
kind of family council with blank astonishment.

"A swallow? what does she mean?" asked the abbe of the baron making a
sign, which the latter understood.

"I do not know," answered Tripeaud, staring in his turn at the doctor.
"She spoke too of a mole. It 'is quite unheard-of--incomprehensible."

"And so, madame," said the princess, appearing to share in the surprise
of the others, "this is the reply that you make to me?"

"Certainly," answered Adrienne, astonished herself that they should
pretend not to understand the simile of which she had made use,