She continued:
“And then I must see Gilbert to-morrow. Prasville can think what he likes.”
“Of course. But he must first gain his cause at the Élysée.”
“There can’t be any difficulty, can there?”
“No. You saw that he gave way at once.”
Prasville continued his examination with the aid of a magnifying-glass and compared the sheet with the scrap of torn paper. Next, he took from the cash-box some other sheets of letter-paper and examined one of these by holding it up to the light:
“That’s done,” he said. “My mind is made up. Forgive me, dear friend: it was a very difficult piece of work.... I passed through various stages. When all is said, I had my suspicions . . . and not without cause....”
“What do you mean?” asked Clarisse.
“One second.... I must give an order first.”
He called his secretary: