"Ah! you have returned at last, Joseph!" cried Valentine. "Have you had an accident, pray, that you have been away so long?—Come in, and speak."
"Oh! yes, madame!" the valet replied, entering the room. "That is to say, I have not actually had an accident; but there was such a crowd in the street, so many people had collected to see him pass—they crowded and pushed——"
"What was the reason of the crowd? what was there to see that was so interesting?"
"Oh! can it be that madame does not know?—He is arrested, he is caught at last! It was high time, too!"
"Who is arrested at last?"
"The famous Italian brigand—the dreaded Giovanni!"
"Giovanni is arrested, you say?" cried Miretta, who had suddenly turned deathly pale; and she seized the valet's arm and pressed it violently. "Giovanni taken! Are you sure of it?"
"Certainly, mademoiselle; for they were taking him to the Petit Châtelet, and everybody crowded to see him."
"Ah! unhappy wretch that I am!"
And the girl, with a loud shriek, darted from the room, entirely forgetting her mistress and everything about her. In two or three seconds she had rushed through the salons, the vestibule, and the courtyard, and was hurrying along the street, roughly pushing aside everybody who came in her way.