I replied not; for I began again to be upon my guard, fancying that all this might be but a prelude to questions which I might not think fit to answer. By my silence and the casting down of my eyes, he seemed at once to enter into my thoughts:--"Be not afraid, my son," he said, laying his hand upon my shoulder, with a smile; "I seek no information that you can give me. Indeed, what need I, knowing much more than you can know. Suffice it, that what I have heard of your conduct--making allowance for faults of education and habit--leads me to give you my esteem: and I trust that, even yet, with your good aid, I may be able to eradicate from the bosom of my noble friend the root of bitterness that poisons all the current of his days: and although a shadow from the past is, I am afraid, cast over his future for ever, yet we must try to soften it by the light of hope, which springs from repentance." I doubted not that the priest alluded to the death of the Count de Mesnil; but it was neither my business to take it for granted that Monsieur de Villardin had confided that secret to him, nor did I see that the strong terms he used were very applicable to that event; for I could not get my mind to comprehend that the fact of killing an adversary in fair fight, though it might be a matter of personal regret, was at all a subject for religious repentance. I replied, therefore, generally, that, of course, he was the best judge of what his penitent had to atone for; but that, for my part, as both duty and affection prompted me, I was willing to strain every nerve to relieve the mind of Monsieur de Villardin, and to restore him to a happier state of feeling. "I doubt you not, my son," replied he, seeing that there was still some holding back in my conversation with him; "I doubt you not, and trust that the time will soon come when you will not doubt me. In the meanwhile, to speak of another part of our subject, good old Laborde tells me that the page, Gaspard de Belleville, seems lately to have taken your place in the Duke's confidence. Your place in his esteem and affection he has not taken, as I positively know; and I would fain be sure of the fact that Jerome Laborde tells me before I speak with Monsieur de Villardin about it. Have you yourself remarked any difference?" "So much so," I replied, "that many a painful feeling have I experienced on the subject. Indeed, I attribute the great increase of that evil which we all deplore, to the fact of Monsieur de Villardin's now confiding entirely in persons who are likely to foster all his suspicions, and strengthen every wild idea that jealousy may suggest." "And do you think that this Gaspard de Belleville is a person to do so?" demanded the priest.