Nanon had hardly finished the letter, when they heard hurried footsteps
at the foot of the stairs, and Courtauvaux ran up quickly and opened
the door, with the expansive expression of a bearer of news which he
knows to be awaited with impatience.
"Here is Monsieur de Canolles, whom I met within a hundred yards of the
house," he said.
The duke uttered an exclamation of good-humored surprise. Nanon turned
pale, and darted to the door, muttering,--
"It is written that I shall not escape the meeting."
At that moment a new personage appeared in the doorway, arrayed in
a magnificent costume, holding his hat in his hand, and with a most
gracious smile upon his lips.