orine! what news? Whence come you, my
child?"

"From Saint-Dizier House, madame."

"And why did you go there?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville, with surprise.

"This morning," said Florine, glancing at the workgirl, "madame, there,
confided to me her suspicions and uneasiness. I shared in them. The
visit of the Abbe d'Aigrigny to M. Rodin appeared to me very serious.
I thought, if it should turn out that M. Rodin had been during the last
few days to Saint-Dizier House, there would be no longer any doubt of
his treachery."

"True," said Adrienne, more and more uneasy. "Well?"

"As I had been charged to superintend the removal from the lodge, I knew
that several things had remained there. To obtain admittance, I had to
apply to Mrs. Grivois. I had thus a pretext for returning to the hotel."

"What next, Florine, what next?"

"I endeavored to get Mrs. Grivois to talk of M. Rodin; but it was in
vain."

"She suspected you," said the workgirl. "It was to be anticipated."

"I asked her," continued Florine, "if they had seen M. Rodin at the
hotel lately. She answered evasively. Then despairing of getting
anything out of her," continued Florine, "I left Mrs. Grivois, and that
my visit might excite no suspicion, I went to the pavilion--when, as I
turn down the avenue--whom do I see? why, M. Rodin himself, hastening
towards the little garden-door, wishing no doubt to depart unnoticed by
that way."

"Madame, you hear," cried Mother Bunch, clasping her hands with a
supplicating air; "such evidence should convince you."

"M. Rodin at the Princess de Saint-Dizier's!" cried Mdlle. de
Cardoville, whose glance, generally so mild, now suddenly flashed with
vehement indignation. Then she added, in a tone of considerable emotion,
"Continue, Florine."

"At sight of M. Rodin, I stopped," proceeded Florine, "and keeping a
little on one side, I gained the pavilion without being seen. I looked
out into the street, through the closed blinds, and perceived a hackney
coach. It was waiting for M. Rodin, for, a minute after, he got into it,
saying to the coachman, 'No. 39, Rue Blanche.'

"The prince's!" exclaimed Mdlle. de Cardoville.

"Yes, madame."

"Yes, M. Rodin was to see him to-day," said Adrienne, reflecting.

"No doubt he betrays you, madame, and the prince also; the latter will
be made his victim more easily than you."

"Shame! shame!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, on a sudden, as she rose,
all her features contracted with pai