"Yes, there could be no doubt of it."
"Why do you say that?"
"For the simple reason that—"
"That what, monsieur?"
"Is it possible you don't suspect?"
"No, monsieur."
"That the two Ernestines are one and the same person."
The duchess was so far from suspecting the truth that she utterly failed to understand the import of the hunchback's reply at first, and repeated mechanically, gazing at him wonderingly all the while:
"The two Ernestines are one and the same person?"
Then seeing her friend gazing at her with an expression of ineffable joy and happiness, and with arms outstretched as if to embrace her, she exclaimed, overwhelmed with astonishment, and almost terror: