She led her into her room, made her sit down on a couch there and ensconced herself close beside her: 'Come, you must breakfast with us,' she said. 'But first of all let us have a chat together. You must have so many things to tell me? I know that you have had no news of your brother. Poor Maurice! how I pity him, shut up in Paris like that, with no gas, no wood, and perhaps no bread! And that soldier, too, your brother's friend, whom you are nursing? You see that people have already been chattering to me. Is it on his account you've come?'

Greatly perturbed, Henriette did not at first answer her friend. After all, was it not really on Jean's account that she had come there, to make certain indeed that her dear patient would not be molested when her uncle had been set at liberty? To hear Gilberte speak of him, however, had filled her with confusion, and she no longer dared to reveal the true motive of her visit; her conscience pricked her—she recoiled from the thought of enlisting in Jean's behalf such an equivocal influence as that with which she credited Gilberte. 'And so,' repeated the latter, with a malicious air, 'it's for that soldier that you need our assistance?' Then as Henriette, brought to bay, at last began speaking of old Fouchard's arrest, she promptly interrupted her: 'Oh! yes—how foolish of me to have forgotten; why I was talking of the matter only this morning. You have done well to come, my dear; your uncle's case must be seen to at once, for the last information that I have had is not at all favourable. They wish to make an example.'

'Yes, I thought of you,' continued Henriette in a hesitating way. 'I thought that you might give me some good advice, perhaps be able to intercede——'

Gilberte burst out laughing: 'Why, you silly, I'll have your uncle set at liberty within three days! Haven't you heard that I have a Prussian captain quartered here who does whatever I ask? You hear, my dear, he can refuse me nothing!'

And thereupon, like a madcap enjoying the triumph of her coquetry, she laughed louder than ever, holding and patting the hands of her friend, who could not utter a word of thanks, so disturbed she was, so tormented by the fear that Gilberte's words might be intended as an avowal. And yet how serene and blithe the young woman appeared!

'Let me attend to it all,' added Gilberte. 'I'll send you home happy this evening.'

When they entered the dining-room Henriette was greatly struck by the delicate feminine beauty of Edmond, whom she had never previously seen. He enchanted her, as one is enchanted by the sight of a pretty object. Was it possible that this lad had really fought, and that the Germans had been so cruel as to break his arm? The legend of his great bravery rendered him all the more charming, and, whilst the servant was serving mutton chops and baked potatoes, Delaherche, who had given Henriette the cordial greeting of a man to whom the sight of a new face is a godsend, did not cease praising his secretary; Edmond, said he, had proved as industrious and well-behaved as he was handsome. And thus the repast in the warm spacious dining-room promptly took a turn of delightful intimacy.

'And so you came over with a view of enlisting our services in father Fouchard's case?' resumed the manufacturer. 'I'm sorry that I'm obliged to go away this evening. But my wife will settle the matter for you; she's irresistible; she has only to ask for a thing to get it.' He said this laughing, in all simplicity, as though flattered that Gilberte should possess such influence, which he was at times vain enough to ascribe to himself. Then, all at once, he asked: 'By the way, my dear, has Edmond told you of his discovery?'

'No; what discovery?' asked Gilberte gaily, turning her beautiful caressing eyes upon the young sergeant.