she were astonished to have to answer such puerile objections.
"Have you already forgotten the disparaging remarks made by our new
servant, Madame Vantrasson?"

"Good Heavens!"

"I understood her base insinuations as well as you did, and after your
departure I questioned her, or rather I allowed her to tell her
story, and I ascertained that Mademoiselle Marguerite had once been an
apprentice of Vantrasson's brother-in-law, a man named Greloux, who was
formerly a bookbinder in the Rue Saint-Denis, but who has now retired
from business. It was there that Vantrasson met Mademoiselle Marguerite,
and this is why he was so greatly surprised to see her doing the
mistress at the Hotel de Chalusse."

It seemed to Pascal that the throbbing of his heart stopped his breath.

"By a little tact I obtained the Greloux's address from Madame
Vantrasson," resumed his mother. "Then I sent for a cab and drove there
at once."

"And you saw them?"

"Yes; thanks to a falsehood which doesn't trouble my conscience much, I
succeeded in effecting an entrance, and had an hour's conversation with
them." His mother's icy tones frightened Pascal. Her slowness tortured
him, and still he dared not press her. "The Greloux family," she
continued, "seem to be what are called worthy people, that is, incapable
of committing any crime that is punishable by the code, and very proud
of their income of seven thousand francs a year. They must have been
very much attached to Mademoiselle Marguerite, for they were lavish in
their protestations of affection when I mentioned her name. The husband
in particular seemed to regard her with a feeling of something like
gratitude."

"Ah! you see, mother, you see!"

"As for the wife, it was easy to see that she had sincerely regretted
the loss of the best apprentice, the most honest servant, and the best
worker she had ever seen in her life. And yet, from her own story, I
should be willing to swear that she had abused the poor child, and had
made a slave of her." Tears glittered in Pascal's eyes, but he breathed
freely once more. "As for Vantrasson," resumed Madame Ferailleur, "it
is certain that he took a violent fancy to his sister's apprentice. This
man, who has since become an infamous scoundrel, was then only a rake,
an unprincipled drunkard and libertine. He fancied the poor little
apprentice--she was then but thirteen years old--would be only too glad
to become the mistress of her employer's brother; but s