For a minute she made no answer, and I saw that my proposal
failed to meet with her approbation. She indulged in no movement
of withdrawal, which I half-expected; she only said coldly,
"I belong to a time when that was not the custom."
I felt rather snubbed but I exclaimed good humoredly to Miss Tita,
"Oh, you will do as well!" I shook hands with her while she replied,
with a small flutter, "Yes, yes, to show it's all arranged!"
"Shall you bring the money in gold?" Miss Bordereau demanded,
as I was turning to the door.
I looked at her for a moment. "Aren't you a little afraid,
after all, of keeping such a sum as that in the house?"
It was not that I was annoyed at her avidity but I was really
struck with the disparity between such a treasure and such
scanty means of guarding it.
"Whom should I be afraid of if I am not afraid of you?"
she asked with her shrunken grimness.
"Ah well," said I, laughing, "I shall be in point of fact a protector and I
will bring gold if you prefer."
"Thank you," the old woman returned with dignity and with an inclination
of her head which evidently signified that I might depart. I passed
out of the room, reflecting that it would not be easy to circumvent her.
As I stood in the sala again I saw that Miss Tita had followed me,
and I supposed that as her aunt had neglected to suggest that I should
take a look at my quarters it was her purpose to repair the omission.
But she made no such suggestion; she only stood there with a dim, though not
a languid smile, and with an effect of irresponsible, incompetent youth
which was almost comically at variance with the faded facts of her person.
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