“And I,” exclaimed the Marquis de Boiscoran,—“I declare that I answer for my son as for myself, and I mean to tell him so to-morrow.”
Then turning towards his wife, and speaking so low, that she alone could hear him, he added,—
“And I hope you will forgive me those suspicions which now fill me with horror.”
But the marchioness had no strength left: she fainted, and had to be removed, accompanied by Dionysia and the Misses Lavarande. As soon as they were out of the room, Dr. Seignebos locked the door, rested his elbow on the chimney, and, taking off his spectacles to wipe them, said to M. Folgat,—
“Now we can speak freely. What news do you bring us?”
XXII.
It had just struck eleven o’clock, when the jailer, Blangin, entered Jacques’s cell in great excitement, and said,—
“Sir, your father is down stairs.”
The prisoner jumped up, thunderstruck.
The night before he had received a note from M. de Chandore, informing him of the marquis’s arrival; and his whole time had since been spent in preparing himself for the interview. How would it be? He had nothing by which to judge. He had therefore determined to be quite reserved. And, whilst he was following Blangin along the dismal passage and down the interminable steps, he was busily composing respectful phrases, and trying to look self-possessed.