"In brief, sir, what do you want?" said Father d'Aigrigny, hardly, able
to control himself.

"I have come to unmask you--you, that are as false and hateful a priest,
as Gabriel is admirable and beloved by all."

"Sir!" cried the marquis, becoming livid with rage and emotion.

"I tell you, that you are infamous," resumed the soldier, with still
greater force. "To rob Marshal Simon's daughters, and Gabriel, and Mdlle.
de Cardoville of their inheritance, you have had recourse to the most
shameful means."

"What do you say?" cried Gabriel. "The daughters of Marshal Simon?"

"Are your relations, my dear boy, as is also that worthy Mdlle. de
Cardoville, the benefactress of Agricola. Now, this priest," he added,
pointing to Father d'Aigrigny, "has had them shut up--the one as mad, in
a lunatic asylum--the others in a convent. As for you, my dear boy, I did
not hope to find you here, believing that they would have prevented you,
like the others, from coming hither this morning. But, thank God, you are
here, and I arrive in time. I should have been sooner, but for my wound.
I have lost so much blood, that I have done nothing but faint all the
morning."

"Truly!" cried Gabriel, with uneasiness. "I had not remarked your arm in
a sling. What is the wound?"

At a sign from Agricola, Dagobert answered: "Nothing; the consequence of
a fall. But here I am, to unveil many infamies."