But the orphan, noting the bitter and cynical smile that played about the lips of the marquis as he spoke of the saintliness of the abbe's disciple, ventured to say: "You have a poor opinion of M. de Macreuse, perhaps, marquis?" "Perhaps? No, my opinion on that subject is very decided." "I admit that I, too, distrusted M. de Macreuse," began Mlle. de Beaumesnil. "So much the better," interrupted the marquis, hastily. "The wretch caused me far more anxiety than any of the others. I was so afraid that you would be duped by his pretended melancholy and his hypocrisy, but fortunately such persons not unfrequently excite the instinctive distrust of the honest and ingenuous." "But you need feel no such apprehensions, I assure you," resumed Ernestine, triumphantly. "I must undeceive you on that point." "Undeceive me?" "In regard to M. de Macreuse? Yes." "And why, pray?" "Because there are no real grounds for any distrust. M. de Macreuse is a sincere and honourable man, plain-spoken almost to rudeness, in fact." "My child, you frighten me," exclaimed M. de Maillefort, in such accents of alarm that Mlle. de Beaumesnil was thunderstruck. "Do not conceal anything from me, I beseech you," continued the hunchback. "You can have no conception of the diabolical cunning of a man like that. I have seen such hypocrites deceive the shrewdest people,--and you, my poor innocent child!" Mlle. de Beaumesnil, impressed by M. de Maillefort's evident anxiety, and having perfect confidence in him now, proceeded to give him the gist of her recent conversation with the pious young man. "He mistrusted your motive, my child," said the hunchback, after a moment's reflection, "and, seeing that he had been caught in a trap, audaciously resolved to turn the tables on you by pretending that he had been putting you to a similar test. I tell you that such men positively appall me." "Good Heavens! is it possible, monsieur?" exclaimed the terrified girl. "Oh, no, he cannot be so utterly base! Besides, I am sure you would think very differently if you had seen him. Why, the tears positively came to his eyes when he spoke of the bitter grief the loss of his mother had caused him." "The loss of his mother!" repeated the marquis. "Ah, you little know--" Then suddenly checking himself, he added: "There he is now! Ah, it was certainly Heaven that sent him here just at this moment. Listen and judge for yourself, my poor dear child. Ah, your innocent heart little suspects the depths of degradation to which avarice reduces such souls as his." Then elevating his voice loud enough to make himself distinctly heard by those around him, he called out to Macreuse, who was just then crossing the ballroom in order to steal another glance at Mlle. de Beaumesnil: "M. de Macreuse, one word, if you please."