"Perhaps so, madam."

"How? Perhaps? You said yourself"--

"I told you, madam, it would be useless, perhaps even imprudent, to take
any steps before we know the truth. But will we know it? Do you think
that M. de Boiscoran, who has good reasons for being suspicious of
every thing, will at once tell us all in a letter which must needs pass
through several hands before it can reach us?"

"He will tell us all, sir, without reserve, without fear, and without
danger."

"Oh!"

"I have taken my precautions. You will see."

"Then we have only to wait."

Alas, yes! They had to wait, and that was what distressed Dionysia. She
hardly slept that night. The next day was one unbroken torment. At each
ringing of the bell, she trembled, and ran to see.

At last, towards five o'clock, when nothing had come, she said,--

"It is not to be to-day, provided, O God! that poor Mechinet has not
been caught."

And, perhaps in order to escape for a time the anguish of her fears, she
agreed to accompany Jacques's mother, who wanted to pay some visits.