They came like a flight of birds of evil
omen, ravens, choughs, and owls, the embodiments of wicked thoughts.
But such thoughts suited her mood, and she neither chid nor banished
them, but let them light and brood, and hatch fresh mischief in her
soul.
She looked up to see who was laughing so merrily while she was so
angry and so sad, and beheld the Intendant jesting and toying with a
cluster of laughing girls who had caught him at the turn of the
broad stair of the terrace. They kept him there in utter oblivion
of Angelique! Not that she cared for his presence at that moment,
or felt angry, as she would have done at a neglect of Le Gardeur,
but it was one proof among a thousand others that, gallant and gay
as he was among the throng of fair guests who were flattering and
tempting him on every side, not one of them, herself included, could
feel sure she had made an impression lasting longer than the present
moment upon the heart of the Intendant.
But Bigot had neither forgotten Angelique nor himself. His wily
spirit was contriving how best to give an impetus to his intrigue
with her without committing himself to any promise of marriage.
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