oice, and as if
with a great effort, 'do you belong to this factory?'--'Yes,
madame.'--'M. Hardy is then in clanger?' she exclaimed.--'M. Hardy,
madame? He has not yet returned home.'--'What!' she went on, 'M. Hardy
did not come hither yesterday evening? Was he not dangerously wounded by
some of the machinery?' As she said these words, the poor young lady's
lips trembled, and I saw large tears standing in her eyes. 'Thank God,
madame! all this is entirely false,' said I, 'for M. Hardy has not
returned, and indeed is only expected by to-morrow or the day
after.'--'You are quite sure that he has not returned! quite sure that he
is not hurt?' resumed the pretty young lady, drying her eyes.--'Quite
sure, madame; if M. Hardy were in danger, I should not be so quiet in
talking to you about him.'--'Oh! thank God! thank God!' cried the young
lady. Then she expressed to me her gratitude, with so happy, so feeling
an air, that I was quite touched by it. But suddenly, as if then only she
felt ashamed of the step she had taken, she let down her veil, left me
precipitately, went out of the court-yard, and got once more into the
hackney-coach that had brought her. I said to myself: 'This is a lady who
takes great interest in M. Hardy, and has been alarmed by a false
report."'

"She loves him, doubtless," said Mother Bunch, much moved, "and, in her
anxiety, she perhaps committed an act of imprudence, in coming to inquire
after him."

"It is only too true. I saw her get into the coach with interests, for
her emotion had infected me. The coach started--and what did I see a few
seconds after? A cab, which the young lady could not have perceived, for
it had been hidden by an angle of the wall; and, as it turned round the
corner, I distinguished perfectly a man seated by the driver's side, and
making signs to him to take the same road as the hackney-coach."

"The poor young lady was followed," said Mother Bunch, anxiously.

"No doubt of it; so I instantly hastened after the coach, reached it, and
through the blinds that were let down, I said to the young lady, whilst I
kept running by the side of the coach door: 'Take care, madame; you are
followed by a cab.

"Well, Agricola! and what did she answer?"

"I heard her exclaim, 'Great Heaven!' with an accent of despair. The
coach continued its course. The cab soon came up with me; I saw, by the
side of the driver, a great, fat, ruddy man, who, having watched me
running after the coach,