M. Prieur joining in enabled Chester to murmur: "May I ask you something?"
"You need not. You would ask if I knew you had discovered them--M. Castanado and the rest."
"And you would answer?"
"That I knew they had discovered you."
"Discovered, you mean, my spiritual substance?"
"Yes, your spiritual substance. That's a capital expression, Mr. Chester, your 'spiritual substance.' I must add that to my English."
"Your English is wonderfully correct. May I ask something else?"
"I can answer without. Yes, I know where you're going to-morrow and for what; to read that old manuscript. Mr. Chester, that other story--of my grand'mére, 'Maud'; how did you like that?"
"It left me in love with your grand'mére."
"Notwithstanding she became what they used to call--you know the word."