“Yes, I do; for Blangin mentioned him to me; and the name struck me the day when M. de Boiscoran’s mother and I went to the jail, not knowing what was meant by ‘close confinement.’”
The clerk was disappointed.
“Ah!” he said, “now I understand M. Galpin’s great trouble. He has, no doubt, heard of your visit, and imagined that you wanted to rob him of his prisoner.”
He murmured some words, which Dionysia could not hear; and then, coming to some decision, apparently, he said,—
“Well, never mind! I’ll see what can be done. Write your letter, madam: here are pens and ink.”
The young girl made no reply, but sat down at Mechinet’s table; but, at the moment when she was putting pen to paper she asked,—
“Has M. de Boiscoran any books in his prison?”
“Yes, madam. At his request M. Galpin himself went and selected, in M. Daubigeon’s library, some books of travels and some of Cooper’s novels for him.”
Dionysia uttered a cry of delight.
“O Jacques!” she said, “how glad I am you counted upon me!” and, without noticing how utterly Mechinet seemed to be surprised, she wrote,—