corridor; but finding that he was
pursued by the Duchess’ people
“Oh, get along!”
“But,” said Madame de la Baudraye, “some important events have taken
place between your waste sheet and this page.”
“This complete sheet, madame, this precious made-up sheet. But does the
waste sheet in which the Duchess forgets her gloves in the arbor belong
to the fourth volume? Well, deuce take it--to proceed.
Rinaldo saw no safer refuge than to
make forthwith for the cellar where
the treasures of the Bracciano fam-
ily no doubt lay hid. As light of
foot as Camilla sung by the Latin
poet, he flew to the entrance to the
Baths of Vespasian. The torchlight
already flickered on the walls when
Rinaldo, with the readiness be-
stowed on him by nature, discovered
the door concealed in the stone-
work, and suddenly vanished. A
hideous thought then flashed on
Rinaldo’s brain like lightning rend-
ing a cloud: He was imprisoned!
He felt the wall with uneasy haste
“Yes, this made-up sheet follows the waste sheet. The last page of the
damaged sheet was 212, and this is 217. In fact, since Rinaldo, who
in the earlier fragment stole the key of the Duchess’ treasure by
exchanging it for another very much like it, is now--on the made-up
sheet--in the palace of the Dukes of Bracciano, the story seems to me to
be advancing to a conclusion of some kind. I hope it is as clear to you
as it is to me.--I understand that the festivities are over, the lovers
have returned to the Bracciano Palace; it is night--one o’clock in the
morning. Rinaldo will have a good time.”
“And Adolphe too!” said President Boirouge, who was considered rather
free in his speech.
“And the style!” said Bianchon.--“Rinaldo, who saw _no better refuge
than to make for the cellar_.”
“It is quite clear that neither Maradan, nor Treuttel and Wurtz,
nor Doguereau, were the printers,” said Lousteau, “for they employed
correctors who revised the proofs, a luxury in which our publishers
might very well indulge, and the writers of the present day, would
benefit greatly. Some scrubby pamphlet printer on the Quay--”
“What quay?” a lady asked of her neighbor. “They spoke of baths--”
“Pray go on,” said Madame de la Baudraye.
“At any rate, it is not by a councillor,” said Bianchon.
“It may be by Madame Hadot,” replied Lousteau.
“What has Madame Hadot of La Charite to do with it?” the Presidente
asked of her son.
“This Madame Hadot, my dear friend,” the hostess answered, “was an
authoress, who lived at the time of the Consulate.”
“What, did women write in the Emperor’s time?” asked Madame
Popinot-Chandier.
“What of Madame de Genlis and Madame de Stael?” cried the Public
Prosecutor, piqued on Dinah’s account by this remark.
“To be sure!”
“I beg you to go on,” said Madame de la Baudraye to Lousteau.
Lousteau went on saying: “Page 218.