Once more Miretta obeyed her mistress's orders; and after passing a large part of the day on Place Royale, she was about to return to the Hôtel de Santoval, when she happened to meet Ambroisine, to whose house she had not been for a very long time, but for whom she still cherished profound gratitude. The two girls greeted each other with a smile, and the bath keeper's daughter said to Miretta: "What has become of you, pray? I never see you!" "I am still in the service of Mademoiselle Valentine, who is now Marquise de Santoval; and you?" "I come almost every day to see my friend Bathilde, who is now Comtesse de Marvejols." "Ah, yes! I remember; I have heard of that marriage." "It is a most extraordinary story. But I have no time to talk at this moment. If you knew--last evening, the Sire de Jarnonville and I found Monsieur le Comte Léodgard lying on the ground yonder, under the arcade, bathed in his own blood; I ran to the house--which is close by--and they took the wounded man there.--He is very ill; however, there is still some hope perhaps.--Adieu! adieu! I must go back to Bathilde!" Miretta had learned all that she wished to know, and she hastened to make her report to her mistress. On learning that Léodgard was in the house occupied by his wife, Valentine had almost a paroxysm of rage; at last she fell exhausted on a chair, saying: "With his wife! he is with her now! And this is what all my projects of revenge have resulted in--uniting him to this Bathilde! bringing about a reconciliation between them, perhaps! Oh, no! no! I will poison that woman's happiness.--Ah! I should regret it less now if Léodgard should die of his wound!" But the marchioness's hopes were not gratified; we know that the count did not die of the sword thrust administered by the Marquis de Santoval. When Valentine was once informed of the place where Léodgard was, she easily succeeded in obtaining news of him; and almost every day she sent Miretta to inquire in the neighborhood of the Hôtel de Marvejols concerning his condition. The servants, as they went in and out, never failed to give their neighbors news of their master, whom they believed to have been attacked on the street by brigands. So that Valentine knew that he was convalescent, and that he would soon be able to go out. She awaited that moment with impatience. But the days passed, and Léodgard did not leave the Hôtel de Marvejols. "He must be well content to be with his wife!" thought Valentine, far from suspecting that it was a child who detained Léodgard under the same roof with Bathilde. "I will wait no longer! for if I do, it will perhaps be too late to tear the count away from this new life." The marchioness summoned Miretta and said to her: