When the count and Madame Bertha reappeared, they were scarcely to
be recognized, so much had both changed. Monsieur Hector seemed
to have grown twenty years older. Would they keep the oath made at
the death-bed of Sauvresy, of which everyone was apprised? This
was asked with all the more curiosity, because their profound
sorrow for a man who well merited it, was admired."

The judge of instruction stopped M. Plantat with a motion of his
hand.

"Do you know," asked he, "whether the rendezvous at the Hotel Belle
Image had ceased?"

"I suppose so, sir; I think so."

"I am almost sure of it," said Dr. Gendron. "I have often heard
it said--they know everything at Corbeil--that there was a heated
explanation between M. de Tremorel and the pretty Parisian lady.
After this quarrel, they were no longer seen at the Belle Image."

The old justice of the peace smiled.

"Melun is not at the end of the world," said he, "and there are
hotels at Melun. With a good horse, one is soon at Fontainebleau,
at Versailles, even at Paris. Madame de Tremorel might have been
jealous; her husband had some first-rate trotters in his stables."

Did M. Plantat give an absolutely disinterested opinion, or did he
make an insinuation? The judge of instruction looked at him
attentively, to reassure himself, but his visage expressed nothing