“Who knows?” murmured Dionysia.
And, after a moment’s reflection, she added,—
“We can try, however.”
And, without vouchsafing any further explanation, she left the room, and hastened to her chamber to write the following letter:—
“I must speak to you. There is a little gate in our garden which opens upon Charity Lane, I will wait for you there. However late it may be when you get these lines, come!
“DIONYSIA.”
Then having put the note into an envelope, she called the old nurse, who had brought her up, and, with all the recommendations which extreme prudence could suggest, she said to her,—
“You must see to it that M. Mechinet the clerk gets this note to-night. Go! make haste!”
IX.
During the last twenty-four hours, Mechinet had changed so much, that his sisters recognized him no longer. Immediately after Dionysia’s departure, they had come to him, hoping to hear at last what was meant by that mysterious interview; but at the first word he had cried out with a tone of voice which frightened his sisters to death,—