"Would you not regret the lovely face that?"

"Oh! indeed I should, but less for my own sake than for the sake
of someone else whose delight it might have been. And, after
all, if I were loved, always loved, and truly loved, what would
my beauty matter to me?--What do you say, Clara?"

"It is a dangerous speculation," replied Mme de Serizy.

"Is it permissible to ask His Majesty the King of Sorcerers when
I made the mistake of touching the axe, since I have not been to
London as yet?----"

"_Not so_," he answered in English, with a burst of ironical
laughter.

"And when will the punishment begin?"

At this Montriveau coolly took out his watch, and ascertained the
hour with a truly appalling air of conviction.

"A dreadful misfortune will befall you before this day is out."

"I am not a child to be easily frightened, or rather, I am a
child ignorant of danger," said the Duchess. "I shall dance
now without fear on the edge of the precipice."

"I am delighted to know that you have so much strength of
character," he answered, as he watched her go to take her place
in a square dance.