CARMILLA.
207
"'And mine to yours, to let it staywhere it is,' she replied.
"'Well, then, at least you will tell me whether you are French or German; you speak both languages so perfectly.'
"'I don't think I shall tell you that, General; you intend a surprise, and are meditating the particular point of attack.'
"'At all events, you won't deny this' I said, 'that being honoured by your permission to converse, I ought to know how to address you. Shall I say Madame la Comtesse?'
"She laughed, and she would, no doubt, have met me with another evasion—if, indeed, I can treat any occurrence in an interview every circumstance of which was pre-arranged, as I now believe, with the profoundest cunning, as liable to be modified by accident.
