On each side of the broad, smooth road was a row
of fine trees, whose falling leaves lay piled upon the ground in yellow
heaps, or whirled in the wind before de Sigognac and Isabelle, as they
walked along beneath their spreading branches, finding the exercise a
welcome relief after sitting for a long time in the chariot in rather
a cramped position. One day as they were walking thus side by side,
de Sigognac said to his fair companion, "I wish you would tell me,
Isabelle, how it has happened that you, with all the characteristics
of a lady of lofty lineage in the innate modesty and dignity of your
manners, the refinement and purity of your language, the incomparable
grace of your carriage, the elevation of your sentiments upon all
subjects, to say nothing of the delicate, aristocratic type of your
beauty--should have become a member of a wandering band of players like
this--good, honest people no doubt, but not of the same rank or race as
yourself."
"Don't fancy that I am a princess in disguise, or a great lady reduced
to earn my living in this way," she replied, with an adorable smile,
"merely because of some good qualities you think you have discovered in
me. The history of my life is a very simple, uneventful one, but since
you show such kind interest in me I will gladly relate it to you.
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