Charlotte, was lingering in the garden playing with little Berthe, who
had climbed upon his knees, when he was surprised by the sudden approach
of Constance, who must have seen him from her windows. She invented a
pretext to draw him into the house, and kept him there nearly a quarter
of an hour before she could make up her mind to speak her thoughts.
Then, all at once, she began: "My dear Mathieu, you must forgive me for
mentioning a painful matter, but there are reasons why I should do so.
Nearly fifteen years ago, I know it for a fact, my husband had a child
by a girl who was employed at the works. And I also know that you acted
as his intermediary on that occasion, and made certain arrangements with
respect to that girl and her child--a boy, was it not?"

She paused for a reply. But Mathieu, stupefied at finding her so well
informed, and at a loss to understand why she spoke to him of that sorry
affair after the lapse of so many years, could only make a gesture by
which he betrayed both his surprise and his anxiety.

"Oh!" said she, "I do not address any reproach to you; I am convinced
that your motives were quite friendly, even affectionate, and that you
wished to hush up a scandal which might have been very unpleasant for
me. Moreover, I do not desire to indulge in recriminations after so long
a time. My desire is simply for information. For a long time I did not
care to investigate the statements whereby I was informed of the affair.
But the recollection of it comes back to me and haunts me persistently,
and it is natural that I should apply to you. I have never spoken a word
on the subject to my husband, and indeed it is best for our tranquillity
that I should not attempt to extort a detailed confession from him. One
circumstance which has induced me to speak to you is that on an occasion
when I accompanied Madame Angelin to a house in the Rue de Miromesnil,
I perceived you there with that girl, who had another child in her arms.
So you have not lost sight of her, and you must know what she is doing,
and whether her first child is alive, and in that case where he is, and
how he is situated."

Mathieu still refrained from replying, for Constance's increasing
feverishness put him on his guard, and impelled him to seek the motive
of such a strange application on the part of one who was as a rule so
proud and so discreet. What could be happening? Why did she strive to
provoke confidential revelations which might ha