"Oh! dear me, no! as long as you don't want her to know your good deeds."
"I am simply doing my duty. If only heaven will permit me to finish what I have undertaken! I was so happy to think that, in a few months more—— However, you'll go to-morrow, won't you, Bastringuette?—By the way, one word more: Madame Desroches will ask you, no doubt, why I haven't been to see her for so long a time, and why I have sent you with the money. You must tell her that I sent you because I had to leave Paris, to go on a short journey for the house in which I am employed. Don't forget that."
"No, I won't forget anything."
Paul slept more quietly, thinking that the person whose self-constituted protector he was would not have to suffer by reason of the misfortune that had befallen him. That night his sleep refreshed him, and when he woke he saw Elina's pretty face leaning over him, and, in the background, Bastringuette, whose eyes seemed to express a wish to speak to him.
"Oh! what joy!" cried Elina; "you have slept till much later to-day. It's almost eleven o'clock. Luckily, I had a dress to deliver, so I was able to come back."
"And I feel much better," said Paul.
Bastringuette seized the opportunity, when she was giving the invalid his draught, to whisper in his ear:
"Your errand is done. She has the hundred francs."
Paul could not reply, but his look expressed his satisfaction. From that day the fever abated, and the young man soon became convalescent.