What joy, what happiness, he felt when he heard, very feeble but quite unmistakable beatings of Elizabeth's heart!
"She lives!" What unspeakable relief Jérôme Fandor felt! What thankfulness!
The noise he had made breaking the door off its hinges brought the whole household running to the spot. As the manservant, followed by Madame Bourrat, followed in turn by Monsieur Barbey and Nanteuil, appeared in the doorway uttering cries of terror, Jérôme called out:
"No one is to come in!... It is an accident!"
Then lifting Elizabeth in his strong arms, he carried her out of the room.
"What she needs is air!"
He hurried downstairs and out into the garden with his precious burden, followed by the terrified witnesses of the scene.
"You have saved her life, monsieur!" cried Madame Bourrat in a tragic voice. She groaned. "Oh, what a scandal!"
"Yes, I have saved her," replied Fandor as, panting with his exertions, he laid Elizabeth Dollon flat on a garden seat.... "But from whom?... It is certainly not attempted suicide! There is some mystery behind this business: it's a regular theatrical performance arranged simply for effect, and to mislead us," declared Fandor. Then, turning to the bankers, he said courteously but with an air of command:
"Please lay information with the superintendent of police at once ... the nearest police station, you understand!"