“In whose service did you say he was last?”
“Monsieur,” said Lavenne, “I was in the service of Monsieur Le Roux, and to expedite matters, I have brought with me the testimonial that he gave me on my leaving him?”
“And why did you leave him?”
“Oh, monsieur,” said Lavenne, remembering Monsieur Brujon’s instinct for gossip, “it was not that he had any fault to find with me, or I with him; it was on account of madame.”
“Eh, madame! Had she a temper, then?”
“It was not her temper so much as other things, monsieur.”
Monsieur Brujon read the testimonial and expressed himself satisfied, told Jumeau that he might take his departure, and Lavenne that he might remain; then when the door was shut, he turned to the new-comer.
“Well,” said he, “what was the matter with madame?”
When Lavenne had finished his revelations, M. Brujon, chuckling and gloating, rose to conduct the new-comer round the house, so that he might have the lie of the premises. He took him through the basement, showed him the kitchen, the plate pantry, the room he was to occupy by the pantry, and the other offices. Then upstairs, that the new servant might see the dining-room, to which it was his duty to convey the plate. As they went on their way, Brujon conversed, and Lavenne, who had already taken the measure of his man, led the talk to Camus.
“I need not hide it from you,” said he, “that I look on it as a feather in my cap taking service, even for a short time, under your master. I have heard much about him; it is even said that his cleverness is so great that he knows Arabic and all the secrets of the East.”