"Was my ward."
"What ward?"
"Why, Mlle. de Beaumesnil," replied the baron, with a sort of ferocious joy, delighted to subject another person to the same torture to which the marquis had subjected him.
"Is it possible that you are trying to amuse yourself at my expense, M.
le baron?" demanded the duchess, arrogantly.
"Madame la duchesse cannot suppose that I am capable of forgetting myself to such an extent as that."
"Then what does all this mystery mean? And why was it necessary that M.
Olivier should be made to repeat that he had refused Mlle. de Beaumesnil's hand, though he is about to sign his marriage contract with her? and--"
"I promised M. de Maillefort I would keep his secret, so you must apply to him, madame la duchesse. He hasn't his equal for solving enigmas."
Despairing of obtaining any satisfaction from the baron, Madame de Senneterre approached M. de Maillefort, and asked:
"Well, marquis, may I know the object--"
"In five minutes you shall know all, my dear duchess," replied the hunchback.
Then he turned, apparently to give some final instructions to the notary.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCLUSION.
As the little party approached the table where the two contracts lay, Mlle. de Beaumesnil said to Herminie, in subdued tones, but evidently with no little anxiety:
"Alas! the decisive moment has come! What will M. Olivier think? What will he do? If I had committed some terrible crime and it was about to be made public, I could not feel more anxious."
"Courage, Ernestine. You can leave everything to M. de Maillefort without the slightest fear."
If Ernestine experienced dire misgivings in regard to Olivier's scruples, the hunchback was no less uneasy in regard to those of Herminie, who was still ignorant that she had figured in the marriage contract as the adopted daughter of the Marquis de Maillefort, Prince Duc de Haut-Martel.
So it was with considerable inward perturbation that the hunchback now approached the young girl and said:
"You are to sign first, my child."
The notary presented a pen; the girl took it, and, with a hand trembling with joyful emotion, signed, "Herminie."
"Well, my child, why do you stop there?" asked M. de Maillefort, as he saw her about to return the pen to the notary.
And as his protegee turned and looked at him in silent surprise, the hunchback continued:
"Go on, of course, my child, and sign yourself 'Herminie de Maillefort.'"
"Ah, I understand now," Gerald said to his mother, with profound emotion. "M. de Maillefort is the best and most generous of men."
Herminie continued to gaze at the hunchback in speechless astonishment, but at last she said, hesitatingly:
"Why, monsieur, I cannot sign myself 'Herminie de Maillefort.' That name--"
"My child," said the hunchback, in pleading tones, "have you not often told me that you felt a truly filial affection for me?"
"I do, indeed, monsieur."
"And have you not more than once felt that you could best express your gratitude by telling me that I manifested all a father's solicitude for you?"
"Oh, yes, the tenderest, most devoted father's," exclaimed the girl, earnestly.
"Then why should you not take my name?" asked the marquis, with a winning smile. "You have already promised that your son, if you have one, shall bear this name. Besides, are you not by your attachment to me, and by my affection for you, my adopted child? Then why should you not sign this contract as my adopted daughter?"
"I, monsieur?" exclaimed Herminie, unable to believe her own ears. "I your adopted daughter?"
"Yes; think of my audacity. I am famed for it, you know. I even had you so designated in the marriage contract."
"What do you say, monsieur?"
"Tell me," added the hunchback, with tears in his eyes, and in his most persuasive tones, "tell me, do you not think I have justly earned the great happiness of being able to say to every one, 'This is my daughter?' Will you refuse to honour still more, by bearing it, an ever honoured name?"
"Ah, monsieur," said Herminie, unable to restrain her tears, "such kindness as yours--"
"Then sign at once, you obstinate child," said the marquis, smiling, though his eyes were full of tears, "or else our friends here will perhaps imagine that a beautiful and charming creature like you is ashamed to have a poor hunchback like me even for an adopted father."
"Ah, such a thought as that--" exclaimed Herminie, quickly.
"Then sign, sign at once!" urged the marquis.
And with an affectionate movement, he took Herminie's hand, as if to guide her pen, and, drawing her closer, said in a low tone so as not to be overheard:
"Did not the loved one we both mourn implore me to be a father to her daughter?"
Deeply moved by this allusion to her mother, half stunned by this unexpected proposal, and finally vanquished by the affection and gratitude she felt for the marquis, the young girl with a trembling hand affixed the signature of Herminie de Maillefort to the document, little suspecting what a generous gift she was thus accepting from the hunchback, for she had no idea of the amount of his fortune.
Commander Bernard was so deeply affected by this scene, that, hastily approaching the hunchback, he said:
"Monsieur, I am a retired naval officer, and Olivier's uncle. I have the honour of knowing you only by all the good I have heard of you through M. Gerald, and by the aid you so kindly rendered in securing Olivier's promotion; but what you have just done for Mlle. Herminie shows such a generous heart that I beg you will allow me to take you by the hand."
"Very gladly, I assure you, monsieur," said the marquis, responding to the veteran's advances with marked cordiality, "I, too, have the honour of knowing you only by the good I have heard of you through my dear Gerald, M. Olivier's friend. I know, too, the sensible and high-minded advice you gave Gerald in relation to his marriage with Mlle. de Beaumesnil, and, as people of such a keen sense of honour are rare, I deem a meeting with you a most fortunate thing. And it is very pleasant to think that these meetings are likely to be frequent in the future,"
added the hunchback, smiling, "for you love Ernestine and Olivier as devotedly as I love Herminie and Gerald, and we are certain to spend many a delightful hour with these charming young people."
"Yes; as I have decided to live with Olivier and his wife, I shall see you very often, I hope."