"Come back presently, Suzanne, I want to talk with you."
"Very well, monsieur; I have something I wish to speak to you about, too."
When he was left alone, Cloarek began to walk the room. As he passed the table, the Journal of the Empire attracted his attention. He picked it up and glanced over the article to which his daughter had alluded.
"How indiscreet in Verduron to make a strictly confidential letter public, and without warning me!" he exclaimed, evidently much annoyed. "I have always feared that man's stupidity and greed would cause me trouble sooner or later. Fortunately, I have concealed my place of abode from him. To think of this happening now, when my child's feelings and mental condition make dissimulation more imperative than ever. Poor child, such a discovery would kill her!"
At that very instant the housekeeper reëntered the room.
CHAPTER XII.
SUZANNE'S ENLIGHTENMENT.
"My dear Suzanne," said M. Cloarek, "first of all, I want to thank you for the excellent care you have taken of my daughter."
"Poor Mlle. Sabine, didn't I nurse her when she was a baby, and isn't she almost like my own child to me?"
"You have been a second mother to my child, I know. And it is on account of the tender affection you have always manifested toward her that I wish to talk with you on a very important matter."
"What is it, monsieur?"