“Ah! Monsieur Baradier! I am delighted to meet you. We have had a great deal of trouble since last I saw you. I heard all about it on my return to call for my sister. I greatly regretted not being able to stay and tell you how sorry we felt for you. You were so kind and gracious to us in that quiet country place.”
He spoke without the slightest hesitation, and with a boldness which stupefied Marcel. As he looked at Agostini he wondered whether he were not dreaming—whether this calm, phlegmatic person speaking to him at this charity bazaar in the heart of Paris, without even thinking of escape, was indeed the man he suspected of having mystified him at Ars, of being, doubtless, the accomplice of murderers and incendiaries; at the very least in collusion with this enigmatical woman whose memory still filled his heart. He listened with astonishment, and replied—
“And your sister, Madame Vignola?”
“Ah! Poor Anetta!” interrupted Cesare. “She is at Venice, engaged in troublesome family affairs. But she will probably come to Paris this summer to assist at my marriage.”
“Ah! You are about to be married, Count?”
“Yes, M. Lichtenbach has given his consent at last.”
This news of the marriage of Agostini into the Lichtenbach family produced an electric effect. Marcel immediately regained full possession of his faculties.
Looking at the Italian from head to foot, he said ironically—
“Ah! you are about to enter the family of M. Lichtenbach. It was to be, and it would have been a pity could it not have taken place!”
“I do not understand very well,” replied Cesare.