Samuel laughed heartily, and added:--

"Yes; Jacob has concealed this intrigue well; but some day I'll tease him about it. That will be great fun."

"I can hardly believe it yet," said Henri.

"There is no doubt whatever, I a.s.sure you. Jacob supports a pretty girl, and she lacks nothing. If you think it is for love of humanity and chast.i.ty, explain his motive."

"He is, then, a Don Juan disguised as an anchorite. It is a side of his character that I have never suspected. I never dreamed of it."

"Do you wish to be convinced with your own eyes? Here is the address, go and see for yourself; you are one of the family, and you might take a little trouble about it. The thing ought to be cleared up. You will not fail, with a little pains, to surprise the gay Lothario _in flagrante delicti_. After that he will not talk so much about the saints and holy writ. At heart he is no better than the rest of us."

"Alas, poor Jacob, where is your character now! Do you know how this original romance commenced?"

"It is a secret that you will discover, no doubt. I can only say one thing, that it is a secret no longer."

"But it is such a short time since he returned, that the connection must have begun abroad. Who knows where? Perhaps at the baths."

Henri Segel, seemingly absorbed in thought, went in the early evening to see Muse. This was for him the privileged hour for a charming interview, when no one ventured to disturb them, not even Sofronof. She had so well arranged her time that her favourites never ran the risk of meeting each other. The early part of the evening was given to Henri, who could then at his ease chat and joke with the siren and kiss her lovely hands. Segel was so preoccupied that the young lady noticed it.

"What has come over you?" asked she. "Why are you so quiet? Have you lost at the Bourse, or has your dancer left you for the epaulets?"

"How cruel you are, dear mademoiselle, to think that such selfish preoccupations should cloud my brow."

"I think that you are a sensible and practical man, that is all."

"Well, this time you deceive yourself. That which troubles me is the downfall of a man whom"--

"The fall of a man? That is curious."

"Very curious."

"Do I know the man?"

"Very well. He is one of your friends."

"Speak, then! Why distil your story drop by drop?"

"It is Jacob."

"A fall! His mother's visit, then?"

"No; better than that."

"What, then?"

"An original adventure, a strange story. Jacob, our saint, our immaculate Jacob, has a mistress by whom he has a child."

"Pure calumny!" said Muse.

"At first I thought so too; but, alas! it is a fact; there is good proof."

"This will destroy his character."

"Simple truth that all men are fallible," said Henri.

"I am dying to know the details!" cried Muse. "Is she young, pretty, blond or brunette, poor or rich, well educated?"

"She is only a little Jewess, daughter of a merchant, but young and very pretty."

"When did this intrigue commence?"

"I am ignorant of the circ.u.mstances. It was my father-in-law, whom nothing escapes, who discovered it. At first I did not believe it, but he soon convinced me. The girl lived in the _rue des Jardins_ for a while, now in Saint George's street."

"And this offspring of which you spoke?"

"Did you not understand me?"

Muse smiled and did not repeat her question, she only added:--

"He played so well the role of chaste Joseph that no one would have suspected him of this."

"Humbug! His character now appears to me in a new light. I must commence to study him again; until now I was all astray."

"I," replied Muse, "was convinced that he was ice toward women. At last I see that he is vulnerable." She was so impatient to repeat this scandal to her mother that she dismissed Henri.

"At present," said she, after finishing her story, "this man seems to me more inexplicable than ever. A common girl succeeds where I have failed."

"He loves; that explains all," said her mother.

"He loves! That is no reason; it is no excuse. I am furious, now that I see that his coldness was only a.s.sumed so as not to marry me."

Colonel Sofronof paid dear for Muse's vexation. She deprived him of little bits of news that she had been in the habit of giving him, and in order to irritate him displayed some patriotic songs. However, he did not get angry, but only smiled, and said:--

"You are not feeling well to-night."

The calumny spread rapidly. Henri arrived home in good humour. Not finding visitors, he resigned himself to tea with his wife. After tea the Englishwoman read in one corner, Mathilde in another; finally Segel broke the prolonged silence.

"Have you seen Jacob lately?" asked he.

"No; he has not been here for some time."

"Without doubt his mother's society"--

"Yes, he told me of her arrival," said Mathilde.

"Has he ever spoken of any one else?"

"Of whom, then?"