CHAPTER VIII

MADEMOISELLE, remain yet another day with us. The more complete now your rest, the better speed will you make hereafter, so that the time will not be lost.’ Thus Monsieur de Corbal to his guest on the following afternoon. They sat in the library, whither he had earlier conducted her; an untidy, dusty room, panelled in soiled white on all sides but one, which was packed from floor to ceiling with serried ranks of books. Its furnishings were handsome and as massive as anything produced in the reign of Louis XV, but t…