"M. le Marquis de Maillefort, Prince Duc de Haut-Martel, etc., etc., has the honour to inform you of the marriage of Mlle. Herminie de Haut-Martel, with M. le Duc de Senneterre."
Madame de Senneterre, surprised beyond expression, gazed wonderingly at the hunchback, who continued:
"The marriage contract stipulates that all male children that may be born of this marriage shall take the name of Senneterre-Haut-Martel, which I fancy will sound quite as well as Noailles-Noailles, Rohan-Rochefort, or Montmorency-Luxembourg, and as Mlle. Herminie Haut-Martel is an only child, and I am very frugal in my tastes, the young couple will have, up to the time of my death, one hundred and fifty thousand francs a year to sustain their exalted rank in a suitable manner."
"I really do not understand you at all, M. de Maillefort. You have never been married, and you have no daughter."
"No, but what is there to prevent me from adopting one, and thus giving her my name and fortune?"
"Nothing, of course. But who are the parents of this girl you contemplate adopting?"
"She is an orphan, and, as I told you before, she is a music teacher, and supports herself by giving lessons."
"What!" exclaimed Madame de Senneterre, "that same creature Gerald is crazy about?"
"Enough, madame," said the marquis, sternly. "I will not permit any one to speak in that way in my presence of a young lady whom I love and esteem sufficiently to give her my name."
"But what you say is so strange—"