in a low voice with Madame Mongenod, the mother, who was sitting
there, and to whom all the affairs of the bank were confided. For over
thirty years this woman had given, to her husband first and then to
her sons, such proofs of business sagacity that she had long been a
managing partner in the firm and signed for it.

Godefroid, as he looked about him, noticed on a shelf certain boxes
ticketed with the words "De la Chanterie," and numbered 1 to 7. When
the conference was ended by the banker saying to his brother, "Very
good; go down to the cashier," Madame de la Chanterie turned round,
saw Godefroid, checked a gesture of surprise, and asked a few
questions of the banker in a low voice, to which he replied in a few
words spoken equally in a whisper.

Madame de la Chanterie now wore gray silk stockings and small prunella
shoes; her gown was the same as before, but she was wrapped in a
Venetian "mantua,"--a sort of cloak which was just then returning into
fashion. On her head was a drawn bonnet of green silk, lined with
white silk, of a style called /a la bonne femme/. Her face was framed
by a cloud of lace. She held herself very erect, in an attitude which
bespoke, if not noble birth, certainly the habits of an aristocratic
life. Without the extreme affability of her manner, she might have
seemed haughty; she was certainly imposing.

"It is the will of Providence rather than mere chance that has brought
us here together, monsieur," she said to Godefroid; "for I had almost
decided to refuse a lodger whose ways of life seemed to me quite
antipathetic to those of my household; but Monsieur Mongenod has just
given me some information about your family which--"