'She married a rich politician, one of the damn—— pardon me, my dear sir, one of the bourgeoisie class, and as Louis Philippe was king, the bourgeoisie was everything, and Caroline's husband was a favourite and a great man. I think she married him out of duty to her mother, to save her declining days from poverty. When Louis Philippe was sent to the right-about, the mean bourgeois politician went to the right-about too, and his fortune with him. Poor Caroline had died in giving birth to daughters, twins. Luckily, their nurse, one of the people, had a heart; she kept a wine-shop at Choisy-le-Roi, and she took care of the two poor orphans: yes, they were orphans, for that shabby Orleans rascal, who skirted, was never a real living man, nor his master either. Damn—— pardon me, sir, but Louis Philippe was no king—he was a grocer, sir, a grocer.'
'At best he was a usurper, but a singularly mild one,' remarked O'Hara.
'We shall not talk of him, sir,' said the captain; 'but now let me complete an old man's confidences. I adopted one of those twins, she was so like her mother in manner; she is my housekeeper. If Berthe is my Song-bird, it is Caroline who keeps the nest tidy.'
'That superb brunette!'
'Ah! you think her superb,' cried the aged officer, pleased. 'Superb—that's right; she is the born image of her mother.'
'And the other,' pursued O'Hara eagerly, a dark suspicion taking hold of his imagination.
A shade passed over the old man's face. 'Ah! I know nothing of her. She was her father's daughter, not her mother's. She preferred the noisy wine-shop to my quiet home, and three years ago she disappeared from our sight altogether. But the night waxes late. I must be going. So you haven't seen your friend since?'
'No, and I have anxiously desired to see him, to clear off some obligations I am under to him.'
'Well, again good-night. I pray you don't be such a stranger as he; but sometimes call up to Victor Chauvin's humble quarters. It gladdens his spirit to converse with youth.'
O'Hara gave assurance that he would esteem it a happiness and an honour to visit one with whom he had so many kindred sympathies.