"No: do not go there, madam," he said. "You could not make Blangin
believe that he runs no danger; nor could you sufficiently arouse his
cupidity. I will speak to him myself."

"O sir!" exclaimed Dionysia, "how can I ever?"--

"How much may I offer him?" asked the clerk.

"Whatever you think proper--any thing."

"Then, madam, I will bring you an answer to-morrow, here, and at the
same hour."

And he went away, leaving Dionysia so buoyed up by hope, that all the
evening, and the next day, the two aunts and the marchioness, neither of
whom was in the secret, asked each other incessantly,--

"What is the matter with the child?"

She was thinking, that, if the answer was favorable, ere twenty-four
hours had gone by, she would see Jacques; and she kept saying to
herself,--

"If only Mechinet is punctual!"

He was so. At ten o'clock precisely, he pushed open the little gate,
just as the night before, and said at once,--

"It is all right!"