“I went to hand M. Gransiere the letter which you gave me for him”—
“What did he say?”
“I found him in consultation with the president, M. Domini. He took the letter, glanced at it rapidly, and told me in his most icy tone, ‘Very well!’ To tell the truth, I thought, that, in spite of his stiff and grand air, he was in reality furious.”
The magistrate looked utterly in despair.
“I can’t stand it,” he said sighing. “These men whose veins have no blood in them, but poison, never forgive.”
“Day before yesterday you thought very highly of him.”
“Day before yesterday he did not look upon me as the cause of a great misfortune for him.”
M. Mechinet went on quite eagerly,—
“After leaving M. Gransiere, I went to the court-house, and there I head the great piece of news which has set all the town agog. Count Claudieuse is dead.”
M. Daubigeon and M. Galpin looked at each other, and exclaimed in the same breath,—