“The porter detained me too, to hand me a letter, in which I found one for you. Here it is.”
“A letter!” exclaimed Vincent Favoral.
And, snatching it from her, he tore off the envelope. But he had scarcely looked over it, when he crushed it in his hand, exclaiming,
“It is monstrous! It is a mean, infamous treason!” He was interrupted by a violent ringing of the door-bell.
“Who can it be?” stammered Mme. Cadelle.
“I know who it is,” replied the former cashier. “Open, open quick.”
She obeyed; and almost at once a woman walked into the parlor, wearing a cheap, black woolen dress. With a sudden gesture, she threw off her veil; and M. de Tregars recognized the Baroness de Thaller.
“Leave us!” she said to Mme. Zelie, in a tone which one would hardly dare to assume towards a bar-maid.
The other felt indignant.
“What, what!” she began. “I am in my own house here.”