d out on the pavement. Just at that moment Modeste
appeared, brandishing the umbrella that she carried instead of a stick,
in a manner that meant something. It might be bad news, she would know in
a moment; anything was better than suspense. She sprang forward.

"What did they say, Modeste? Speak!--Why have you been such a time?"

"Because the servants had something else to do than to attend to me. I
wasn't the only person there--they were writing in a register. Get back
into the carriage, Mademoiselle, or somebody will see you--There are lots
of people there who know you--Monsieur and Madame d'Etaples--"

"What do I care?--The truth! Tell me the truth--"

"But didn't you understand my signals? He is going on well. It was only a
scratch--Ah! Madame that's only my way of talking. He will be laid up for
a fortnight. The doctor was there--he has some fever, but he is not in
any danger."

"Oh! what a blessing! Kiss me, Modeste. We have a fortnight in which we
may interfere--But how--Oh, how?--Ah! there is Giselle! We will go to
Giselle at once!"

And the 'fiacre' was ordered to go as fast as possible to the Rue
Barbet-de-Jouy. This time Jacqueline herself spoke to the concierge.

"Madame la Comtesse is out."

"But she never goes out at this hour. I wish to see her on important
business. I must see her."

And Jacqueline passed the concierge, only to encounter another refusal
from a footman, who insisted that Madame la Comtesse was at home to no
one.

"But me, she will see me. Go and tell her it is Mademoiselle de Nailles."

Moved by her persistence, the footman went in to inquire, and came back
immediately with the answer:

"Madame la Comtesse can not see Mademoiselle."

"Ah!" thought Jacqueline, "she, too, throws me off, and it is natural. I
have no friends left. No one will tell me anything!--I think it will
drive me mad?"

She was half-mad already. She stopped at a newsstand and bought all the
evening journals; then, up in her garret, in her poor little nest under
the roof-which, as she felt bitterly, was her only refuge, she began to
look over those printed papers in which she might possibly find out the
true cause of the duel. Nearly all related the event in almost the exact
terms used by the Figaro. Ah!--here was a different one! A reporter who
knew something more added, in Gil Blas: "We have stated the cause of the
dispute as it has been given to the public, but in affairs of this nature
more than in