"What is it?" inquired Mademoiselle Marguerite.
Laying a package of letters, addressed to M. de Chalusse, on the
desk, the housekeeper replied: "These have just come by the post
for the poor count. Heaven rest his soul!" And then handing a
newspaper to Mademoiselle Marguerite, she added, in an unctuous
tone: "And some one left this paper for mademoiselle at the same
time."
"This paper--for me? You must be mistaken."
"Not at all. I was in the concierge's lodge when the messenger
brought it; and he said it was for Mademoiselle Marguerite, from
one of her friends." And with these words she made one of her very
best courtesies, and withdrew.
The girl had taken the newspaper, and now, with an air of
astonishment and apprehension, she slowly unfolded it. What first
attracted her attention was a paragraph on the first page marked
round with red chalk. The paper had evidently been sent in order
that she might read this particular passage, and accordingly she
began to peruse it. "There was a great sensation and a terrible
scandal last evening at the residence of Madame d'A----, a well
known star of the first magnitude----"
It was the shameful article which described the events that had
robbed Pascal of his honor. And to make assurance doubly sure, to
prevent the least mistake concerning the printed initials, the
coward who sent the paper had appended the names of the persons
mixed up in the affair, at full length, in pencil.
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