“You see, madam, I shall have to ask you to trust me blindly.”
“I will trust you blindly.”
“It is of the utmost importance that you should escape out of reach of
M. de Brevan; he must lose every trace of you. You will, consequently,
have to leave this house.”
“I will leave it.”
“And in the way I say.”
“I will obey you in every point.”
The last shadow of trouble which had still overclouded the old dealer’s
brow vanished as if by magic.
“Then all will go well,” he said, rubbing his hands as if he were taking
off the skin; “and I guarantee the rest. Let us make haste to understand
each other; for I have been here a long time, and the woman Chevassat
must be on needles. Still, it is important she should not suspect that
we are acting in concert.”
As if afraid that an indiscreet ear might be listening at the door, he
drew his chair quite close to Henrietta’s bed, and whispered in a voice
but just audible to her,--
“As soon as I have turned my back that woman will come up, burning with
curiosity to know what has happened between us. You must pretend to be
very angry with me. Give her to understand that you think me a wicked
old man, who wants you to pay the price of infamy for the services I
wish to render to you.”