Duke and Caroline
Schimmel."

Perpignan raised his eyebrows.

"Why did you put a man to watch her?" asked Tantaine.

"My reasons for doing so were most simple. I made every inquiry
regarding the Duke; learned that he was very wealthy, and lived a very
steady life. He is married, and loves his wife dearly. They had one son,
whom they lost a year ago, and have never recovered from the shock. I
imagine that this Duke, having lost his legitimate heir, wished me to
find his other son. Do you not think that I am right?"

"There is something in it; but, after all, you have not explained your
reasons for watching Caroline."

Perpignan was no match for Mascarin's right-hand man, but he was keen
enough to discern that Tantaine was putting a string of questions to him
which had been prepared in advance. This he, however, was powerless to
resent.

"As you may believe," said he, "I made every inquiry into the past as
well as the present of the Duke, and also tried to discover who was the
mother of the child, but in this I entirely failed."

"What! not with all your means?" cried Tantaine, with a sneer.

"Laugh at me as much as you like; but out of the thirty servants in the
Champdoce establishment, not one has been there more than ten years.
Nor could I anywhere lay my hands upon one who had been in the Duke's
service in his youth. Once, however, as I was in the wineshop in the Rue
de Varennes, I quite by chance heard allusion made to a woman who had
been in the service of the Duke twenty-five years ago, and who was
now in receipt of a small allowance from him. This woman was Caroline
Schimmel. I easily found out her address, and set a watch on her."

"And of what use will she be to you?"

"Very little, I fear. And yet the allowance looks as if she had at one
time done something out of the way for her employers. Can it be that she
has any knowledge of the birth of this natural child?"

"I don't think much of your idea," returned Tantaine carelessly.

"Since then," continued Perpignan, "the Duke has never put in an
appearance in my office."

"But how about Catenac?"

"I have seen him three times."

"Has he told you nothing more? Do you not even know in which hospital
the child was placed?"

"No; and on my last visit I plainly told him that I was getting sick of
all this mystery; and he said that he himself was tired, and was sorry
that he had ever meddled in the affair."

Tantaine was not surprised at hearing t