In the first place he prepared everything, set the catch to prevent the trap from being sent up again in his absence, and also assured himself that the balustrade door opened and closed easily.  He came and went with a light, aerial step, as if carried off his feet, with his eyes ever on the alert, anxious as he was to be neither seen nor heard.  At last he extinguished the three electric lamps and plunged the gallery into darkness.  From below, through the gaping cavity the stir of the working factory, the rumbling of the machinery ever ascended.  And it was only then, everything being ready, that Morange turned into the passage to betake himself to the little drawing room of the mansion.

Constance was there waiting for him with Alexandre.  She had given instructions for the latter to call half-an-hour earlier, for she wished to confess him while as yet telling him nothing of the real position which she meant him to take in the house.  She was not disposed to place herself all at once at his mercy, and had therefore simply expressed her willingness to give him employment in accordance with the recommendation of her relative, the Baroness de Lowicz.  Nevertheless, she studied him with restrained ardor, and was well pleased to find that he was strong, sturdy, and resolute, with a hard face lighted by terrible eyes, which promised her an avenger.  She would finish polishing him up, and then he would suit her perfectly.  For his part, without plainly understanding the truth, he scented something, divined that his fortune was at hand, and was quite ready to wait awhile for the certain feast, like a young wolf who consents to be domesticated in order that he may, later on, devour the whole flock at his ease.

When Morange went in only one thing struck him, Alexandre’s resemblance to Beauchene, that extraordinary resemblance which had already upset Constance, and which now sent an icy chill through the old accountant as if in purposing to carry out his idea he had condemned his old master.

“I was waiting for you, my friend; you are late, you who are so punctual as a rule,” said Constance.

“Yes, there was a little work which I wished to finish.”

But she had merely been jesting, she felt so happy.  And she immediately settled everything:  “Well, here is the gentleman whom I spoke about,” she said.  “You will begin by taking him with you and making him acquainted with the business, even if in the first instance you can merely send him about on commissions for you.  It is understood, is it not?”

“Quite so, dear madame, I will take him with me; you may rely on me.”

Then, as she gave Alexandre his dismissal, saying that he might come on the morrow, Morange offered to show him out by way of his office and the workshops, which were still open.

“In that way he will form an acquaintance with the works, and can come straight to me to-morrow.”

Constance laughed again, so fully did the accountant’s obligingness reassure her.