“What! you do not know! Did she not confide in you?”
“No. I suspected her secret. I alone——”
“You, alone! Then the child is dead, perhaps. Even if it is living, who can tell me where it is?”
“We shall undoubtedly find something that will give us a clew.”
“You are right,” faltered the wretched man. “When Marie-Anne knew that her life was in danger, she would not have forgotten her child. Those who cared for her in her last moments must have received some message for me. I wish to see those who watched over her. Who were they?”
The priest averted his face.
“I asked you who was with her when she died,” repeated Maurice, in a sort of frenzy.
And, as the abbe remained silent, a terrible light dawned on the mind of the stricken man. He understood the cause of Marie-Anne’s distorted features now.
“She perished the victim of a crime!” he exclaimed.
“Some monster has killed her. If she died such a death, our child is lost forever! And it was I who recommended, who commanded the greatest precautions! Ah! it is a curse upon me!”