The abbé with difficulty got away from the enthusiastic thanks of Caderousse, opened the door himself, got out and mounted his horse, once more saluted the innkeeper, who kept uttering his loud farewells, and then returned by the road he had travelled in coming.
When Caderousse turned around, he saw behind him La Carconte, paler and trembling more than ever.
“Is, then, all that I have heard really true?” she inquired.
“What? That he has given the diamond to us only?” inquired Caderousse, half bewildered with joy; “yes, nothing more true! See, here it is.”
The woman gazed at it a moment, and then said, in a gloomy voice, “Suppose it’s false?”
Caderousse started and turned pale.
“False!” he muttered. “False! Why should that man give me a false diamond?”
“To get your secret without paying for it, you blockhead!”
Caderousse remained for a moment aghast under the weight of such an idea.