M. de Maillefort, having asked to see Mlle. de Beaumesnil, was conducted straight to Ernestine's apartments.
"Have you some good news for Herminie?" cried Ernestine, hastening forward to meet him.
"A little, I think."
"How glad I am! Can I tell Herminie when I see her what you have just told me?"
"Yes; tell her to hope, and yet not to expect too much. And now, as you seem to have forgotten all about yourself, I will add that the result of my inquiries concerning M. Olivier has been eminently satisfactory."
"I was sure it would be."
"I even discovered one rather strange fact. It is that, while he was working during his leave so he might be able to assist his uncle, he went down to Beaumesnil, your estate near Luzarches, to help a contractor with his estimates there."
"M. Olivier? That was, indeed, strange."
"And this circumstance suggested a plan which I think may prove a good one, for now I think, with you, that you could not have made a wiser choice, but--"
"But what?"
"It is such an important matter that I have thought one more test might be advisable. What is your opinion on the subject?"
"Try it; I have no fears."
"Besides, you shall witness it yourself, my dear child. If M. Olivier withstands it, you will be the proudest and happiest of women, and there can be no further doubt of your future happiness. If, on the contrary, he succumbs, it will, alas! only be a fresh proof that the noblest natures sometimes yield to certain temptations. This test, too, will have another and very important result."
"And what is that?"
"After this test M. Olivier can not feel the slightest scruples about marrying the richest heiress in France, and you know, my dear child, that you have some very grave apprehensions on that score."
"Ah, monsieur, you are, indeed, our good angel!"
"Wait a little, my child. Don't praise me too soon. Now, one thing more.
Didn't you tell me that there was a back stairway that led up to your guardian's rooms?"
"Yes, monsieur, several of his intimate friends, who are never formally announced, always make use of it mornings."
"Very well; I propose to play the part of an intimate friend myself, then, and give the baron a surprise. Show me the way, my child."
As they were passing through Madame Laine's room, Ernestine paused and said to the hunchback:
"I have always forgotten to tell you how I managed to leave the house unobserved the night I went to Madame Herbaut's party, M. de Maillefort.
That door you see over there opens upon another back stairway that leads down to the street. The door at the foot of it was nailed up a long time ago, but my governess succeeded in opening it, and it was through that door we left the house and entered it."
"Has this door been securely nailed up again?" inquired the hunchback, thoughtfully.
"My governess told me that she had fastened it securely on the inside."
"My dear child, your governess is an unprincipled woman. She assisted you in making your escape from the house and also favoured your long visits to Herminie. No matter how reprehensible your motives had been, she would have obeyed you just the same, so she is not to be trusted."
"I have no confidence in her, of course, M. de Maillefort, and, as soon as I can, I intend to pay her liberally, as I promised, and send her away."
"This door, which affords such easy access to your apartments and which is so entirely at this woman's disposal, seems to me a very bad thing,"
remarked the hunchback. "You had better tell your guardian to-day that you have discovered this door, and ask him to have it walled up as soon as possible, or else give you some other room."
"I will do as you say, monsieur, but what fears can you have on the subject?"
"I have no well-founded fears at all, my dear child. I consider the walling up of this door as, first, a matter of propriety, and subsequently as a matter of prudence. There is nothing in this to alarm you in the least. Now, au revoir. I am going to have a bout with your guardian, and hope to have some good news for you on my return."
A moment afterwards M. de Maillefort had reached the floor above. Seeing a key in the lock of the door in front of him, he opened this door, and, finding himself in a narrow passage, he followed this passage until he came to a second door, which he opened like the first and found himself in M. de la Rochaigue's study.
That gentleman was seated with his back to the door, reading, in the morning paper, an account of the proceedings during the session of the Chamber of Peers the day before. Hearing the door open, he turned his head and saw the hunchback, who came briskly, even gaily, forward, and, giving him a friendly nod of the head, exclaimed, blithely:
"Good morning, my dear baron, good morning!"
M. de la Rochaigue was too much astounded to utter a word.
Leaning back in his armchair, his hands still clutching the paper, he sat like one petrified, though his eyes were full of surprise and anger.
"You see, my dear baron, I am assuming all the privileges of an intimate friend and making myself quite at home," continued the hunchback, in the same jovial, almost affectionate tone, as he seated himself in an armchair near the fireplace.
M. de la Rochaigue was fairly purple with rage by this time, but, having a wholesome fear of the marquis, he controlled his wrath as best he could, and said, rising abruptly:
"It seems incredible, unheard of, outrageous, that--that I should have your presence thus forced upon me, monsieur, after that scene the other evening, and--and--"
"My dear baron, excuse me, but if I had requested the honour of an interview, you would have refused it, would you not?"
"Most assuredly I should, monsieur, for--"
"So I very wisely decided to take you by surprise. Now do me the favour to sit down, and let us talk this matter over like a couple of friends."
"Friends? You have the audacity to say that, monsieur; you, who ever since I first had the misfortune to know you, have fairly hounded me with sneers and sarcasms which--which I have returned in kind," added the baron, with true parliamentary aplomb. "A friend? you, monsieur, who have just outdone yourself by--"
"My dear baron," said the hunchback, interrupting M. de la Rochaigue afresh, "did you ever see an amusing comedy by Scribe, called 'A Woman's Hatred'?"
"I am unable to see any connection--"
"But you will, my dear baron. In this little play, a young and pretty woman seems to pursue with the bitterest animosity a young man, whom in her secret heart she adores."
"And what of that, may I ask?"
"Well, my dear baron, with this slight difference, viz., that you are not a young man, and I am not a pretty woman who adores you, our relative positions are exactly the same as those of the hero and heroine in Scribe's little comedy."
"Once more, monsieur, I--"
"My dear baron, one question, if you please. Have you political aspirations,--yes, or no?"
"Monsieur--"