I had not had
such a happy day for months. Hartmann, it is true, was constantly in and
out of the room, but even Hartmann was less in the way than usual. He
seemed absent and preoccupied, and was therefore not so watchful as at
other times. In the meanwhile I could still hear, though faintly, the
noises in the rooms below; but all became quiet about five o'clock in the
evening, and Monsieur Maurice, who had been told they were only cleaning
the state apartments, asked no questions.
Meanwhile the afternoon waned, and the sun bent westward, and still no one
came to fetch me away. My father knew where I was; Bertha was probably too
busy to think about me; and I was only too glad to stay as long as
Monsieur Maurice was willing to keep me. By and by, about half-past six
o'clock, the sky became overclouded, and we heard a low muttering of very
distant thunder. At seven, it rained heavily.
Now it was Monsieur Maurice's custom to dine late, and ours to dine early;
but then, as his luncheon hour corresponded with our dinner-hour, and his
dinner fell only a little later than our supper, it came to much the same
thing, and did not therefore seem strange. So it happened that just as the
storm came up, Hartmann began to prepare the table.
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