"Do not hurry yourself in the least, monsieur. Take plenty of time to recover yourself, for I can very easily understand the mental agitation such a proposition must excite. I should add, however, that Mlle. de Beaumesnil knows perfectly well that you cannot accept her offer until after you have seen her and made her acquaintance. So, if you desire it, I will present you to my ward, and it is my earnest desire that you will both find in your mutual acquaintance a guaranty, hope, and certainty of future happiness."
After which peroration, the baron said to himself:
"Thank Heaven, that is over! Now, I shall discover the answer to this enigma which seems more and more incomprehensible every minute."
Up to this time, Mlle. de Beaumesnil, Herminie, and the hunchback had listened to the conversation in breathless silence. Herminie now understood for the first time the twofold object of the test to which M. de Maillefort had felt it necessary to subject Olivier; but Ernestine, in spite of her confidence in the nobility of the young officer's character, was in torture, as she awaited Olivier's reply to the baron's dazzling offer. The temptation, alas! was so great. How few persons would be able to resist it! Was there any living man who would not forget or ignore a promise made to an unattractive, penniless, and friendless girl, and eagerly embrace the opportunity to acquire colossal wealth?
"Mon Dieu! I tremble, in spite of myself," murmured Ernestine. "The renunciation we expect of M. Olivier is above human strength, perhaps. Alas! alas! why did I consent to this test?"
"Courage, my child," whispered the hunchback, "think only of the happiness and admiration you will feel if Olivier realises our expectations. But hush, he is going to reply."
With a half frenzied movement, Ernestine threw herself into Herminie's arms, and it was thus that the two girls, trembling with fear and hope, awaited Olivier's answer.
The young man could no longer doubt that this most remarkable offer had been made in all seriousness; but unable to explain it on the ground of personal merit,—for Olivier was an extremely modest man,—he attributed it to one of those caprices not uncommon in romantic young persons whose exorbitant wealth places them in an exceptional position,—caprices which in many cases amount to positive eccentricity.
"Monsieur," Olivier began, in a firm voice, after quite a long silence, "though the proposition you have just made to me is so strange, so entirely beyond the bounds of possibility, I might almost say, I give you my word of honour that, inexplicable as it seems to me, I believe in its sincerity."
"You can, monsieur, that is the important thing; that is all I ask of you."