“I fancy that he is too sensible to think of entering into possession of his property yet; but for all that, it is my duty to go to him and render an account of my administration of it, and to ask him if it is his intention that I should continue to handle it. Moreover, I have long desired to see the young marquis, and I do not propose to postpone that pleasure any longer. At what college is he?”
Jasmin opened his eyes in dismay and looked toward the door.
“Don’t you hear me?” continued the notary. “I ask you to what college I must go to find Monsieur Chérubin de Grandvilain?”
“The model valet seems to me as if he were deaf,” said Daréna, laughing at Jasmin’s expression; while Monsieur de Monfréville, who had been scrutinizing the old servant closely, walked toward him and fastening his eyes upon him, said in a half-serious, half-mocking tone:
“Do you mean that you don’t know what you have done with your young master?”
“Yes, yes!” replied Jasmin; “monsieur le marquis is at Gagny.”
“At Gagny! Is there a college there?” demanded the notary.
“Gagny, near Villemonble. Oh! I know that place,” said Daréna; “it’s a small village; there are some fine estates in the neighborhood, but not a restaurant in the whole region. I went there with two dancers from the Opéra, and we could not even obtain a rabbit stew, the inevitable dish in the country. But there never was a college at Gagny; I don’t even know of a boarding-school there.”
“Tell us, Monsieur Jasmin,” said the notary in a stern tone, “where is young Grandvilain staying at Gagny?”
The old servant made up his mind and replied with an almost proud air: