's
actual address, Mathieu had to presume that he had secured it from La
Couteau, whom Celeste had acquainted with so many things. Indeed, he
learnt at Broquette's nurse-agency that a short, thickset young man
with pronounced jaw-bones had come there twice to speak to La Couteau.
Nevertheless, many points remained unexplained; the whole affair had
taken place amid the tragic, murky gloom of Parisian low life, whose
mire it is not healthy to stir. Mathieu ended by resting content with
a general notion of the business, for he himself felt frightened at
the charges already hanging over those two young bandits, who lived so
precariously, dragging their idleness and their vices over the pavement
of the great city. And thus all his researches had resulted in but one
consoling certainty, which was that even if Norine the mother was known,
the father's name and position were certainly not suspected by anybody.

When Mathieu saw Norine again on the subject he terrified her by the few
particulars which he was obliged to give her.

"Oh! I beg you, I beg you, do not let him come again," she pleaded.
"Find some means; prevent him from coming here. It upsets me too
dreadfully to see him."

Mathieu, of course, could do nothing in this respect. After mature
reflection he realized that the great object of his efforts must be to
prevent Alexandre from discovering Beauchene. What he had learnt of the
young man was so bad, so dreadful, that he wished to spare Constance the
pain and scandal of being blackmailed. He could see her blanching at the
thought of the ignominy of that lad whom she had so passionately
desired to find, and he felt ashamed for her sake, and deemed it more
compassionate and even necessary to bury the secret in the silence of
the grave. Still, it was only after a long fight with himself that he
came to this decision, for he felt that it was hard to have to abandon
the unhappy youth in the streets. Was it still possible to save him? He
doubted it. And besides, who would undertake the task, who would know
how to instil honest principles into that waif by teaching him to work?
It all meant yet another man cast overboard, forsaken amid the tempest,
and Mathieu's heart bled at the thought of condemning him, though he
could think of no reasonable means of salvation.

"My opinion," he said to Norine, "is that you should keep his father's
name from him for the present. Later on we will see. But just now I
should fear worry