"Take a cab by the hour; here is Monsieur de la Beriniere's address; go there, and find out from the concierge if anything has happened to him; if he is ill, ask to see him, and tell him how deeply interested I am in his health. Go quickly, so that I may know what to think." Justine went off in her cab. The pretty widow counted the minutes and kept looking at the clock. At last her servant returned. Her breathless, dismayed air made it evident enough that she had something to tell; and as she entered the room, she cried out, wringing her hands: "Ah! madame, indeed there is something new. Oh! the poor count! what a calamity!" "Heavens! Justine, is he dead?" "No, madame; he isn't dead yet, but very near it!" "What accident has happened to him, then?" "No accident, madame; but a fight with swords--a duel, in fact!" "The count has been fighting a duel?" "Yes, madame; and yesterday morning they brought him home wounded. A bad sword-wound in the side, which might have been mortal! But it seems he's going to get well; the doctor hopes he will, but doctors are mistaken so often!" "Oh! mon Dieu! Why, this is horrible! With whom did he fight?" "His valet doesn't know, madame. The count didn't take him with him." "Well, I will find out, I will find out. A duel! Who besides Gustave could have had the idea of fighting with Monsieur de la Beriniere? That fellow was born to be the bane of my life.--So you didn't see the count?" "No, madame; the doctor said that nobody must see him to-day; but to-morrow, perhaps, that order will be changed." "The poor count! if only he doesn't die! Just think, Justine, what an awful nuisance for me!" "So it is. But if madame were a countess, it wouldn't be but half bad." "You say the doctor promises that he will recover?" "So the valet told me." "Well, I will go myself to-morrow; but I must see my sister first." "I thought that madame did not go to her father's now?" "Oh! because in an outburst of anger he told me not to come again. As if he remembered that! Besides, it isn't my father that I want to see, but Adolphine." The next morning, at eleven o'clock, Madame Monleard was ushered into the presence of her sister, who uttered a cry of surprise when she saw her. "What! is it you, Fanny?" "To be sure; Madeleine told me that father had just gone out; I am glad of that." "Oh! never fear; his anger has passed away. It never lasts long with him, you know." "But I am the one who is angry now." "You! with whom?" "With everybody. You pretend to be surprised; but you must know what has happened?" "No. What can have happened to irritate you so?" "I have good reason for it. Monsieur de la Beriniere fought a duel the day before yesterday, and was badly wounded; a little more and they'd have killed him for me!" "Mon Dieu! with whom did he fight, in heaven's name?" "Do you ask me that? You know well enough; indeed, it's easy enough to guess." "I certainly cannot guess."