“And so,” said madame, with irony, “you are now, no doubt, willing to return to your husband.”

“I have been considering it, madame,” replied Julie, with astounding simplicity, “ever since I saw him here the other evening, and learned that he still cared for me.  One must have a harbour in one’s old age.”

I glanced at Rogers and was astonished to see that he was regarding the woman with affectionate admiration.  Evidently the harbour was waiting, should Julie choose to anchor there.

“I have hesitated,” she added, “only because of madame.  Where would madame get another maid such as I?  No one but I can arrange her hair —­no one but I can prepare her bath....”

“We will discuss it,” said the veiled lady, “when we are alone.  And now, perhaps, you will be so good as to tell us of your previous visit here.”

“Very well, madame,” and Julie settled into a more comfortable posture.  “It was one day on the boat as I was looking down at the passengers of the third class that I perceived Georges—­M.  Drouet —­strolling about.  I was bouleversee—­what you call upset with amazement, and then he looked up and our eyes met, and he came beneath me and commanded that I meet him that evening.  It was then that I learned his plan.  It was to secure those letters for himself and to dispose of them.”

“To whom?” asked Godfrey.

“To the person that would pay the greatest price for them, most certainly,” answered Julie, surprised that it should have been thought necessary to ask such a question.  “They were to be offered first to madame at ten thousand francs each; should she refuse, they were then to be offered to M. le Duc—­he would surely desire to possess them!”

The veiled lady shivered a little, and her hand instinctively sought her bosom to assure herself that the precious packet was safe.

“That night,” continued Julie, “in my cabin, I tossed and tossed, trying to discover a way to prevent this; for I had seen long since that M. Drouet no longer cared for me—­I knew that it was upon some other woman that money would be spent.  I decided that, at the first moment, I would hasten to this house; I would explain the matter to M. Vantine, I would persuade him to restore to me the letters, with which I would fly to madame.  I knew, also, that I could rely upon her gratitude,” added the girl.  “After all, one must provide for oneself.”

She paused and glanced around the room, smiling at the interest in our faces.

“You have at least one virtue—­that of frankness,” said the veiled lady.  “Continue.”

“It was not until evening that I found an opportunity to leave madame,” Julie went on.  “I hastened here; I rang the bell; but I confess I should have failed, I should not have secured an entrance, if it had not been that it was my husband who opened the door to me.  Even after I was inside the door, he refused to permit me to see his master; but as we were debating together, M. Vantine himself came into the hall, and I ran to him and begged that he hear me.  It was then that he invited me to enter this room.”