"By your attentions to the countess, and the alleviation of suffering she secured through you. Why is it at all unlikely that she should have desired to compensate you as she did others?"
"I do not understand you, monsieur."
"The will of the countess contained several legacies. You seem to be the only person who was forgotten, in fact."
"I had no right to expect any bequest, M. le marquis. I was paid for my services."
"By Madame de Beaumesnil?"
"By Madame de Beaumesnil," answered Herminie, firmly.
"Yes, you said as much to Madame de la Rochaiguë on so nobly returning—"
"Money that did not belong to me, M. le marquis, that is all."
"No!" exclaimed M. de Maillefort, his former convictions suddenly regaining the ascendency. "No, I was not mistaken,—instinct, reason, conviction, all tell me that you are—"
"M. le marquis," said Herminie, interrupting the hunchback, for she was anxious to put an end to this painful scene, "one word more, and only one. You were Madame de Beaumesnil's most valued friend, for on her death-bed she entrusted her daughter to your care. Would she not also have told you in that supreme moment if she had another child?"