The notary stared at Gustave without replying.

“You seem disconcerted by my demand,” said Gustave, somewhat anxiously.

“Not exactly,” returned the notary; “but I do not altogether understand your emotion, although I fear the news I must impart will affect you painfully.  If my anticipations are correct I have cause to be sorry for you, sir!”

“Explain yourself,” cried Gustave, alarmed; “explain yourself, sir!  Has death been at Grinselhof?  Is my last hope destroyed?”

“No, no,” replied the notary, quickly; “don’t tremble so; they both live, but they have been stricken by a great misfortune.”

“Well? well?” exclaimed Gustave, with questioning eagerness, rising from his chair.

“Be calm, be calm, sir,” said the notary, soothingly; “sit down and listen; it is not so terrible as you may perhaps think, since fortune enables you to soften their misery.”

“Oh, God be thanked!” cried Gustave.  “But let me beg you to hasten your disclosures, for your slowness racks me!”

“Know, then,” continued the notary, “that during your absence the bond in question fell due.  For many months De Vlierbeck made unavailing efforts to find money to honor it at maturity; but all his property was mortgaged, and no one would assist him.  In order to escape the mortification of a forced sale, De Vlierbeck offered every thing at public auction, even down to his furniture and clothes!  The sale produced about enough to pay his debts, and everybody was satisfied by the honorable conduct of De Vlierbeck, who plunged himself into absolute beggary to save his name.”

“And so he lives in the chateau of his family only as a tenant?”

“No; he has left it.”

“And where does he reside, then?  I want to see him instantly.”

“I do not know.”

“How?—­you do not know?”

“Nobody knows where he dwells:  he left the province without informing any one of his designs.”

“Alas!” cried Gustave, with profound emotion, “and is it so?  Shall I be forced to live longer without them?—­without knowing what has become of them?  Can you give me no hint or clue to their residence?  Does nobody, nobody know where they are?”

“Nobody,” replied the notary.  “The evening after their sale De Vlierbeck left Grinselhof on foot and crossed the moor by some unknown road:  I made efforts to discover his retreat, but always without success.”

As this sad news was imparted to Gustave he grew deadly pale, trembled violently, and covered his forehead with his clasped hands, as if striving to conceal the big tears that ran from his eyes.  What the notary first told him of De Vlierbeck’s misfortunes had wounded his sensibility, though he was less struck by that recital, because he had already become partially aware of the poor gentleman’s embarrassment; but the certainty that he could not immediately discover his beloved Lenora and snatch her from want overwhelmed him with the bitterest anguish.