"Yes, Ernestine, but it was to the little embroideress that this offer was made." "Ah, well, why should M. Olivier's generosity seem less great and less noble now, my dear Herminie? Why should not the guarantee of happiness to come be just as certain?" "I do not know how to answer you, Ernestine. I feel that you are right, and yet I am conscious of a vague uneasiness in spite of myself. But you must have no secrets from M. de Maillefort. You must tell him all." "I will, and I am sure that M. de Maillefort will approve my decision." The marquis had been listening silently but thoughtfully. "Is this M. Olivier the young man who invited you to dance out of charity, and to whom frequent allusion is made in your journal?" "Yes, M. de Maillefort." "And it was M. Olivier's uncle that Ernestine saved from almost certain death the other day," added Herminie. "His uncle?" exclaimed the hunchback, quickly. Then, after a moment's reflection, he added: "I understand. Gratitude, combined with another and more tender sentiment which had its birth at her first meeting with this young man at Madame Herbaut's house, led him to propose to Ernestine when he believed her to be poor and unprotected." "And a brilliant match it seemed for one of my supposed position," remarked Mlle. de Beaumesnil, "for M. Olivier had just been made an officer, so it was an enviable social position as well as comparative affluence that he offered a penniless and obscure girl who laboured for her daily bread." "Is his name Olivier Raymond?" exclaimed the hunchback, as if a new idea had suddenly occurred to him. "That is his name. Do you know him, monsieur?" asked Ernestine. "Olivier Raymond, formerly a non-commissioned officer of hussars, decorated in Africa, is it not?" continued the marquis. "The same." "Then it was for him, though not at his request, nor even with his knowledge, that I requested his promotion the other day in company with my dear young friend, Gerald de Senneterre, who loves the young man like a brother," added the hunchback, thoughtfully. Then, turning to Ernestine, he continued: "My child, it is your mother's devoted friend, almost a father, that speaks. All this seems very serious to me, and I tremble lest the natural generosity of your character should cause you to go too far. Have you engaged yourself to Olivier Raymond?" "Yes, monsieur." "And do you love him?" "As profoundly as I esteem him, my dear M. de Maillefort." "I can very well understand, my dear child, why, after the shocking revelations at the ball, night before last, you should have felt the need of sincere and disinterested affection more than ever. I can understand, too, why you should find a wonderful charm, and even see a certain guarantee of future happiness, in M. Olivier Raymond's generous offer, but this should not have prevented you from exercising more prudence. Remember how short your acquaintance with M. Olivier has been!"