"Do you know whether the d'Haumonts will be at Madame d'Erlande's?"
"Yes, they'll be there. I heard so from Mdlle. Violette, who saw Madame d'Haumont to-day."
A few words were exchanged in a whisper, and Nina Noha returned and requested M. de Saynthine to go into the next flat. He saw a man with a pallid face and feverish eyes lying on a sofa.
"Oh, Monsieur le Comte!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, it's I, come back to life again, or nearly so. I've had a narrow escape. That Captain d'Haumont shoots like a duffer, but we shall be even with him, don't you think, de Saynthine?"
"Yes, Monsieur le Comte."
"But who is the man? No d'Haumont has lived in France for the last fifty years. Here's a man who came back from away in Guiana with millions. It seems that he has a splendid business out there in the forest. All the same, you can't keep a business like that secret. I have had inquiries made. Who is d'Haumont? He is quite unknown in Guiana. Have you fellows in your wanderings through the country ever heard of d'Haumont's business?"
"No, certainly not. His business must be on the Upper Oyapok, and even farther away. It's a very uncivilized place. People never go there. But in those parts one stroke of luck is enough to make a man rich."
"It's very funny," interposed Nina Noha. "I saw Captain d'Haumont for the first time at the fête at Valrose, and I had a sort of feeling that his face was not unfamiliar to me."
"Oh, one often imagines such things," returned de Saynthine, shaking his head.