It was easy to account for his
journey to England, by saying that he was going to get particulars of
the accident from the place off which it happened. This would seem only
natural to Mathilde, who must on no account be told that he had any hope
of finding the child. She had accepted the news of its death without
questioning it, and it was far better to let her continue under this
impression than to raise fresh hopes, which, after all, might never be
realised, and if he could only persuade her to come to Parc du Baffy
while he was away he would feel quite happy about her.
Madame de Courcy and the baroness were on intimate terms with each
other, although Madame de Courcy was a staunch Protestant, and both the
baron and baroness bigoted Romanists; but the great attraction to
Mathilde, as Madame de Courcy guessed, would be her child, a beautiful
boy of three years old, in whom the baroness had delighted until her own
baby was born and absorbed all her time and affection. Knowing this,
Madame de Courcy offered to send her boy to the chateau with the baron,
hoping to inveigle the baroness to return with him to Parc du Baffy, a
manoeuvre which succeeded admirably, for Mathilde, not having seen the
little Rex for some weeks, was so enraptured with him that she could not
part with him, and as Madame de Courcy could not be asked to spare her
child as well as her husband, the baroness consented to go and stay at
the Parc while the baron was away.
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