He looked at his watch. Although his cabriolet was already at the
door, he had a few minutes to spare. He excused himself from Le
Chapelier, and went briskly out to the anteroom.
She advanced to meet him, her manner eager, almost feverish.
"I will not affect ignorance of why you have come," he said quickly,
to make short work. "But time presses, and I warn you that only
the most solid of reasons can be worth stating."
It surprised her. It amounted to a rebuff at the very outset,
before she had uttered a word; and that was the last thing she had
expected from Andre-Louis. Moreover, there was about him an air
of aloofness that was unusual where she was concerned, and his
voice had been singularly cold and formal.
It wounded her. She was not to guess the conclusion to which he
had leapt. He made with regard to her - as was but natural, after
all - the same mistake that he had made with regard to yesterday's
letter from his godfather. He conceived that the mainspring of
action here was solely concern for M.
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