"Tell Godard to go on horseback, and carry this note to the Chancellor's
office.--There is no reply," said she to the maid.

The woman went out of the room quickly, but, in spite of the order,
remained at the door for some minutes.

"There are great mysteries going forward then?" asked Madame d'Espard.
"Tell me all about it, dear child. Has Clotilde de Grandlieu put a
finger in the pie?"

"You will know everything from the Lord Keeper, for my husband has told
me nothing. He only told me he was in danger. It would be better for us
that Madame de Serizy should die than that she should remain mad."

"Poor woman!" said the Marquise. "But was she not mad already?"

Women of the world, by a hundred ways of pronouncing the same phrase,
illustrate to attentive hearers the infinite variety of musical modes.
The soul goes out into the voice as it does into the eyes; it vibrates
in light and in air--the elements acted on by the eyes and the voice. By
the tone she gave to the two words, "Poor woman!" the Marquise betrayed
the joy of satisfied hatred, the pleasure of triumph. Oh! what woes did
she not wish to befall Lucien's protectress. Revenge, which nothing can
assuage, which can survive the person hated, fills us with dark terrors.
And Madame Camusot, though harsh herself, vindictive, and quarrelsome,
was overwhelmed. She could find nothing to say, and was silent.

"Diane told me that Leontine went to the prison," Madame d'Espard went
on. "The dear Duchess is in despair at such a scandal, for she is
so foolish as to be very fond of Madame de Serizy; however, it is
comprehensible: they both adored that little fool Lucien at about the
same time, and nothing so effectually binds or severs two women as
worshiping at the same altar. And our dear friend spent two hours
yesterday in Leontine's room. The poor Countess, it seems, says dreadful
things! I heard that it was disgusting! A woman of rank ought not to
give way to such attacks.--Bah! A purely physical passion.--The Duchess
came to see me as pale as death; she really was very brave. There are
monstrous things connected with this business."

"My husband will tell the Keeper of the Seals all he knows for his
own justification, for they wanted to save Lucien, and he, Madame la
Marquise, did his duty. An examining judge always has to question people
in private at the time fixed by law! He had to ask the poor little
wretch something, if only for form's sake, and the young fell