Paul sat up on his couch in speechless amazement. Jenkins in that house?
How could that be? To whom was he talking? What voice was about to reply
to him? There was no reply. A light step walked to the door and the bolt
was nervously drawn back.

"At last I have found you," said the Irishman, entering the room.

And in truth, if he had not taken pains to announce himself, Paul,
hearing it through the partition, would never have attributed that
brutal, hoarse, savage tone to the oily-mannered doctor.

"At last I have found you, after eight days of searching, of rushing
frantically from Genoa to Nice, from Nice to Genoa. I knew that you
hadn't gone, as the yacht was still in the roads. And I was on the point
of investigating all the hotels along the shore when I remembered
Brehat. I thought that you would want to stop and see him as you passed.
So I came here. It was he who told me that you were at this house."

To whom was he speaking? What extraordinary obstinacy the person showed
in not replying! At last a rich, melancholy voice, which Paul knew well,
made the heavy resonant air of the hot afternoon vibrate in its turn.

"Well! yes, Jenkins, here I am. What of it, pray?"

Paul could see through the wall the disdainful, drooping mouth, curled
in disgust.

"I have come to prevent you from going, from perpetrating this folly."

"What folly? I have work to do in Tunis. I must go there."

"Why, you can't think of such a thing, my dear child."

"Oh! enough of your paternal airs, Jenkins. I know what is hidden
underneath. Pray talk to me as you did just now. I prefer you as the
bulldog, rather than as the fawning cur. I'm less afraid of you."

"Very good! I tell you that you must be mad to go to that country all
alone, young and lovely as you are."

"Why, am I not always alone? Would you have me take Constance, at her
age?"

"What about me?"

"You?" She emphasized the word with a most satirical laugh. "And Paris?
and your patients? Deprive Paris of its Cagliostro! No, indeed, never!"

"I am thoroughly resolved, however, to follow you wherever you go," said
Jenkins, with decision.

There was a moment's pause. Paul wondered if it were very dignified in
him to listen to this discussion, which seemed pregnant with terrible
disclosures. But, in addition to his fatigue, an unconquerable curiosity
glued him to his place. It seemed to him that the engrossing enigma by
which he had been so long puzzled and disturbed