"I said nothing.

"I slept in my old room, and all night long I thought of this frightful
stableman, saying to myself: 'Supposing it is my own son? Could I have
caused that girl's death and procreated this being? It was quite
possible!'

"I resolved to speak to this man and to find out the exact date of his
birth. A variation of two months would set my doubts at rest.

"I sent for him the next day. But he could not speak French. He looked as
if he could not understand anything, being absolutely ignorant of his
age, which I had inquired of him through one of the maids. He stood
before me like an idiot, twirling his hat in 'his knotted, disgusting
hands, laughing stupidly, with something of his mother's laugh in the
corners of his mouth and of his eyes.

"The landlord, appearing on the scene, went to look for the birth
certificate of this wretched being. He was born eight months and
twenty-six days after my stay at Pont Labbe, for I recollect perfectly
that we reached Lorient on the fifteenth of August. The certificate
contained this description: 'Father unknown.' The mother called herself
Jeanne Kerradec.

"Then my heart began to beat rapidly. I could not utter a word, for I
felt as if I were choking. I looked at this animal whose long yellow hair
reminded me of a straw heap, and the beggar, embarrassed by my gaze,
stopped laughing, turned his head aside, and wanted to get away.