"Nay, my dear young lady, you must not ascribe to me all the honor of
this judgment."

"How so, sir?"

"Is not this dear girl the adopted sister of Agricola Baudoin, the
gallant workman, the energetic and popular poet? Is not the affection of
such a man the best of guarantees, and does it not enable us to judge,
as it were, by the label?" added Rodin, with a smile.

"You are right, sir," said Adrienne; "for, before knowing this dear
girl, I began to feel deeply interested in her, from the day that her
adopted brother spoke to me about her. He expressed himself with so much
warmth, so much enthusiasm, that I at once conceived an esteem for the
person capable of inspiring so noble an attachment."

These words of Adrienne, joined to another circumstance, had such
an effect upon their hearer, that her pale face became crimson. The
unfortunate hunchback loved Agricola, with love as passionate as it was
secret and painful: the most indirect allusion to this fatal sentiment
occasioned her the most cruel embarrassment. Now, the moment Mdlle. de
Cardoville spoke of Agricola's attachment for Mother Bunch, the latter
had encountered Rodin's observing and penetrating look fixed upon her.
Alone with Adrienne, the sempstress would have felt only a momentary
confusion on hearing the name of the smith; but unfortunately she
fancied that the Jesuit, who already filled her with involuntary fear,
had seen into her heart, and read the secrets of that fatal love, of
which she was the victim. Thence the deep blushes of the poor girl, and
the embarrassment so painfully visible, that Adrienne was struck with
it.

A subtle and prompt mind, like Rodin's on perceiving the smallest
effect, immediately seeks the cause. Proceeding by comparison, the
Jesuit saw on one side a deformed, but intelligent young girl, capable
of passionate devotion; on the other, a young workman, handsome, bold,
frank, and full of talent. "Brought up together, sympathizing with each
other on many points, there must be some fraternal affection between
them," said he to himself; "but fraternal affection does not blush, and
the hunchback blushed and grew troubled beneath my look; does she, then,
Love Agricola?"

Once on the scent of this discovery, Rodin wished to pursue the
investigation. Remarking the surprise and visible uneasiness that Mother
Bunch had caused in Adrienne, he said to the latter, with a smile,
looking significantly at the needlewoman: "You see, my de