"Well, marquis, may I know the object—"
"In five minutes you shall know all, my dear duchess," replied the hunchback.
Then he turned, apparently to give some final instructions to the notary.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCLUSION.
As the little party approached the table where the two contracts lay, Mlle. de Beaumesnil said to Herminie, in subdued tones, but evidently with no little anxiety:
"Alas! the decisive moment has come! What will M. Olivier think? What will he do? If I had committed some terrible crime and it was about to be made public, I could not feel more anxious."
"Courage, Ernestine. You can leave everything to M. de Maillefort without the slightest fear."
If Ernestine experienced dire misgivings in regard to Olivier's scruples, the hunchback was no less uneasy in regard to those of Herminie, who was still ignorant that she had figured in the marriage contract as the adopted daughter of the Marquis de Maillefort, Prince Duc de Haut-Martel.
So it was with considerable inward perturbation that the hunchback now approached the young girl and said:
"You are to sign first, my child."