"You're liberal, sir;" and he stared at me as though he were trying to look into my pocket and see how much money was there. I was glad that his glance was not so penetrating. "But I can't help you. Stay, though. The old lady has ordered coffee for two in the sitting-room, and bids me rouse the duke when it is ready: so perhaps the young lady will be left alone for a time. If you could steal up--" I was not in the mood to stand on a punctilio. My brain was kindled by Marie's words, "Where is he?" Already I was searching for their meaning and finding what I wished. If I could see her, and learn the longed-for truth from her, I should go in good heart to my conflict with the duke. "Go to your room," said Bontet, whom my prospective _largesse_ had persuaded to civility and almost to eagerness, "and wait. If madame and the duke go there, I'll let you know. But you must risk meeting them." "I don't mind about that," said I; and, in truth, nothing could make my relations with the pair more hostile than they were already. My business with Bontet was finished; but I indulged my curiosity for a moment. "You have a good stable over there, I see," I remarked. "How many horses have you there?" The fellow turned very red: all signs of good humor vanished from his face; my bribe evidently gave me no right to question him on that subject. "There are no horses there," he grunted. "The horses are in the new stable facing the road. This one is disused." "Oh, I saw you come out from there, and I thought--" "I keep some stores there," he said sullenly. "And that's why it's kept locked?" I asked at a venture. "Precisely, sir," he replied. But his uneasy air confirmed my suspicions as to the stable. It hid some secret, I was sure. Nay, I began to be sure that my eyes had not played me false, and that I had indeed seen the face I seemed to see. If that were so, friend Bontet was playing a double game and probably enjoying more than one paymaster. However, I had no leisure to follow that track, nor was I much concerned to attempt the task. The next day would be time--if I were alive the next day: and I cared little if the secret were never revealed. It was nothing to me--for it never crossed my mind that fresh designs might be hatched in the stable. Dismissing the matter, I did as Bontet advised, and walked upstairs to my room; and as luck would have it, I met Mme. Delhasse plump on the landing, she being on her way to the sitting room. I bowed low. Madame gave me a look of hatred and passed by me. As she displayed no surprise, it was evident that the duke had carried or sent word of my arrival. I was not minded to let her go without a word or two.