"You are mistaken," she replied, looking at Monsieur Bonnet as if to know whether God would be angry at the lie.
The rector kept his eyes lowered.
"Well, then," said the lawyer, taking one note of five hundred francs and offering the other to the rector, "I will share it with the poor.
Now, Denise, change this one, which is really mine," he went on, giving her the note, "for your velvet ribbon and your gold cross. I will hang the cross above my mantel to remind me of the best and purest young girl's heart I have ever known in my whole experience as a lawyer."
"I will give it to you without selling it," cried Denise, taking off her /jeannette/ and offering it to him.
"Monsieur," said the rector, "I accept the five hundred francs to pay for the exhumation of the poor lad's body and its transportation to Montegnac. God has no doubt pardoned him, and Jean will rise with my flock on that last day when the righteous and the repentant will be called together to the right hand of the Father."
"So be it," replied the lawyer.
He took Denise by the hand and drew her toward him to kiss her forehead; but the action had another motive.
"My child," he whispered, "no one in Montegnac has five-hundred-franc notes; they are rare even at Limoges, where they are only taken at a discount. This money has been given to you; you will not tell me by whom, and I don't ask you; but listen to me: if you have anything more to do in this town relating to your poor brother, take care! You and Monsieur Bonnet and your brother Louis will be followed by police- spies. Your family is known to have left Montegnac, and as soon as you are seen here you will be watched and surrounded before you are aware of it."
"Alas!" she said. "I have nothing more to do here."
"She is cautious," thought the lawyer, as he parted from her.
"However, she is warned; and I hope she will get safely off."
*****
During this last week in September, when the weather was as warm as in summer, the bishop gave a dinner to the authorities of the place.
Among the guests were the /procureur-du-roi/ and the attorney-general.
Some lively discussions prolonged the party till a late hour. The company played whist and backgammon, a favorite game with the clergy.
Toward eleven o'clock the /procureur-du-roi/ walked out upon the upper terrace. From the spot where he stood he saw a light on that island to which, on a certain evening, the attention of the bishop and the Abbe Gabriel had been drawn,--Veronique's "Ile de France,"--and the gleam recalled to the /procureur's/ mind the unexplained mysteries of the Tascheron crime. Then, reflecting that there could be no legitimate reason for a fire on that lonely island in the river at that time of night, an idea, which had already struck the bishop and the secretary, darted into his mind with the suddenness and brilliancy of the flame itself which was shining in the distance.
"We have all been fools!" he cried; "but this will give us the accomplices."
He returned to the salon, sought out Monsieur de Grandville, said a few words in his ear, after which they both took leave. But the Abbe de Rastignac accompanied them politely to the door; he watched them as they departed, saw them go to the terrace, noticed the fire on the island, and thought to himself, "She is lost!"
