Modeste was the more enchanted by this great practical genius, because
he was evidently charmed with the exquisite beauty of Modeste,--he,
through whose hands so many women had passed, and who had long since
examined the sex, as it were, with magnifier and scalpel.
"It would be a sad pity," he said, with an air of gallantry which he
occasionally put on, and which contrasted with his assumed
brusqueness, "if a mother were deprived of the sight of so charming a
daughter."
Modeste insisted on serving the simple breakfast which was all the
great surgeon would accept. She accompanied her father and Dumay to
the carriage stationed at the garden-gate, and said to Desplein at
parting, her eyes shining with hope,--
"And will my dear mamma really see me?"
"Yes, my little sprite, I'll promise you that," he answered, smiling;
"and I am incapable of deceiving you, for I, too, have a daughter."
The horses started and carried him off as he uttered the last words
with unexpected grace and feeling. Nothing is more charming than the
peculiar unexpectedness of persons of talent.
CHAPTER XX
THE POET DOES HIS EXERCISES
This visit of the great surgeon was the event of the day, and it left
a luminous trace in Modeste's soul.
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