‘He is my solace, my joy.’ ‘Madame!’ ‘He is my cat.’ ‘Proceed, I pray.’ ‘If we, that is, Gabriel, Gabrielle and I go to Paris, I cannot be sure that I shall be able to protect the girl. Here, in the country, servants are not what they are in Paris. There they are creatures of the beast!’ ‘Of whom, madame?’ ‘Of the beast--of my husband. What am I to do then? They will do what Berthier orders them; they will separate her from me; they will lock me up. They have done so before; they will even tear my angel from my shoulder.’ ‘Your angel, madame?’ ‘My Gabriel, my cat. I have great battles to keep him near me, how can I assure myself of being able to retain her?’ ‘What is to be done, then?’ ‘She cannot go home to her blue father; she cannot stay with yellow Gabriel. I ask you what is to be done.’ Lindet paused before he replied. The lady puzzled him, her way of speaking was so strange. He looked intently at her veil, as though he desired to penetrate it with his eyes. Madame Berthier saw the direction of his eyes, and drew the veil closer. ‘Why do you stare?’ she asked; ‘my face is not beautiful: it is terrible. The beast calls me Madame Plomb, and I hate him for it; but,’ she drew close to the priest and whispered into his ear, ‘I know now how to make him blue, like me,--how to turn M. Berthier into M. Plomb. We shall see, we shall see one of these days!’ ‘Madame, what is your meaning?’ ‘Ah, ha! I tell no one that secret, but you shall discover my meaning some day. Now, go back to what we were saying about Gabrielle. What is to be done with her?’ ‘When you go to Paris?’ ‘Yes, I cannot protect her there. I am not safe there myself. Here I can do what I like, but not there.’ ‘I cannot tell you, madame, but I will make enquiries, and find out where she may be taken in and screened against pursuit.’ ‘You promise me that,’ she said. ‘Yes, madame, I will do my best. If you will communicate with me again in a day or two, I shall be more in a position to satisfy you.’ ‘Then I may trust in you as Gabrielle’s protector when I am unable myself to execute that office?’ ‘Certainly. I will be her protector.’ Madame Plomb rose from her seat, and departed.