"No; I am inclined to think that he was strongly tempted to speak to me; he hovered about me in the wood, and he was on the point of speaking to me, I believe, when some people came up; they surrounded me, took me away, and I lost sight of him. He must have gone away, for I didn't see him again during the evening."
"And that is all?"
"Yes, all."
"Well, madame, I too have seen Brévanne, and not very long ago."
"Is it possible? Did you meet him?"
"No, he came to the house in which I was living, expressly to see me; he had learned my address by chance."
"He came to see you—for what purpose?"
"Why, for the same purpose that led him to seek me everywhere twenty years ago—to fight me."
"To fight you! nonsense! it's impossible!"
"Why impossible, I pray to know?"