Twice she rang at the great brass bell, but no one answered her. A lad, playing in the street before the solicitor’s door, told her there was no one in the house. She rang a third time, and knocked loudly and repeatedly. Slow to believe that fortune had played her this new trick, she lingered about the place, gazing up at gloomy blinds and the smokeless chimneys. Her great idea ebbed away while she waited. In a sudden rush of fear, she remembered that Brandon must settle with the woman to-night. And she must have money. His life was the price of defeat.
Again and again she repeated the truth, as quick steps carried her back to the Place Kleber and to her house. Child-like, she began to say that surely there was one man in Strasburg who would take pity upon her. The Abbé Colot, she knew, was her friend. She would go to him now, on the instant, and tell him her story. He would help her. He was a priest and would keep her secret. She remembered that his house was not a stone’s throw from that very church of St. Thomas whose roof she could see above the buildings. Thither she turned with new hope, but had gone but a little way upon her errand when a hand was laid lightly upon her shoulder, and, hesitating, she found herself face to face with the last man in all Strasburg she would have wished to meet. For Gatelet stood before her; and there was that on his face which betrayed a knowledge of her errand.
“Ah,” he said curtly, “you are surprised, Madame.”
“And why, Monsieur?”
“Because of many things. Maître Dolomot, for instance, has gone to Geneva.”
“Is not that my business?”
“Not at all. It is the business of those who safeguard the honour of the city, Madame. We must have a little talk, you and I. Let us sit at the café, here. There is too much noise in Strasburg to fear eavesdroppers. And I want to talk to you very much, little Beatrix—”
She turned on him, flushing at his unabashed familiarity.
“How dare you?” she said.
He ignored her anger, and stalked into the café, setting a chair for her at one of the little marble tables. A waiter came up and asked for orders.