“I am to teach the grandson of Le Comte de Valmont!”
Madame Madeleine sat up sharply.
“Le Comte de Valmont?” she repeated, “C’est impossible!”
“C’est impossible!”“Why is it impossible?” Larisa asked.
“To go to the Château Valmont? No, M’mselle! No! No! No!”
ChâteauM’mselle!No!”“Why do you say that?” Larisa asked. “Is there something wrong?”
“It depends what you mean by wrong,” Madame Madeleine replied, “but if you meet Comte Raoul de Valmont it would be a catastrophe!”
Larisa looked at her in perplexity.
“Who is the Comte Raoul?”
“You have not heard of him?”
“No, never!” Larisa answered. “It was the Comte de Valmont who wrote to my mother, and he signed his name ‘Francois’.”
“He is head of the family,” Madame Madeleine explained. “He is a great aristocrat. The de Valmonts are pa
