Bourse, and have much
to tell you.

Tua tota,

Torna de Godollo.

That "Wholly thine" in Latin seemed charming to la Peyrade, who was
not, however, astonished, for Latin is a second national language to the
Hungarians. The two days' waiting to which he was thus condemned only
fanned the flame of the ardent passion which possessed him, and on the
third day when reached the house by the Madeleine his love had risen
to a degree of incandescence of which only a few days earlier he would
scarcely have supposed himself capable.

This time the porter's wife perceived him; but he was now quite
indifferent as to whether or not the object of his visit should be
known. The ice was broken, his happiness was soon to be official, and he
was more disposed to cry it aloud in the streets than to make a mystery
of it.

Running lightly up the stairs, he prepared to ring the bell, when, on
putting out his hand to reach the silken bell-cord he perceived that the
bell-cord had disappeared. La Peyrade's first thought was that one of
those serious illnesses which make all noises intolerable to a patient
would explain its absence; but with the thought came other observations
that weakened it, and which, moreover, were not in themselves
comforting.

From the vestibule to the countess's door a stair carpet, held at each
step by a brass rod, made a soft ascent to the feet of visitors; this,
too, had been removed. A screen-door covered with green velvet and
studded with brass nails had hitherto protected the entrance to the
apartment; of that no sign, except the injury to the wall done by the
workmen in taking it away. For a moment the barrister thought, in his
agitation, that he must have mistaken the floor, but, casting his eye
over the baluster he saw that he had not passed the entresol. Madame de
Godollo must, therefore, be in the act of moving away.

He then resigned himself to make known his presence at the great lady's
door as he would have done at that of a grisette. He rapped with
his knuckles, but a hollow sonority revealing the void, "intonuere
cavernae," echoed beyond the door which he vainly appealed to with his
fist. He also perceived from beneath that door a ray of vivid light,
the sure sign of an uninhabited apartment where curtains and carpets and
furniture no longer dim the light or deaden sound. Compelled to believe
in a total removal, la Peyrade now supposed that in the rupture with
Brigitte, mentioned as probabl