“So! so!” rejoined D’Effernay, with a little sneer.  “Some love affair; some girl or another who pursues him, that he wants to get rid of.”

“Nothing of the kind, I can assure you,” replied the captain drily.  “It could scarcely be more innocent.  He wishes, in fact, to visit his friend’s grave.”

The listener’s expression was one of scorn and anger.  “It is worth the trouble certainly,” he exclaimed, with a mocking laugh.  “A charming sentimental pilgrimage, truly; and pray who is this beloved friend, over whose resting-place he must shed a tear and plant a forget-me-not?  He told me he had never been in the neighborhood before.”

“No more he had; neither did he know where poor Hallberg was buried until I told him.”

“Hallberg!” echoed the other in a tone that startled the captain, and caused him to turn and look fixedly in the speaker’s face.  It was deadly pale, and the captain observed the effort which D’Effernay made to recover his composure.

“Hallberg!” he repeated again, in a calmer tone, “and was Wensleben a friend of his?”

“His bosom friend from childhood.  They were brought up together at the academy.  Hallberg left it a year earlier than his friend.”

“Indeed!” said D’Effernay, scowling as he spoke, and working himself up into a passion.  “And this lieutenant came here on this account, then, and the purchase of the estates was a mere excuse.”

“I beg your pardon,” observed the captain, in a decided tone of voice; “I have already told you that it was I who informed him of the place where his friend lies buried.”

“That may be, but it was owing to his friendship, to the wish to learn something further of his fate, that we are indebted for the visit of this romantic knight-errant.”

“That does not appear likely,” replied the captain, who thought it better to avert, if possible, the rising storm of his companion’s fury.  “Why should he seek for news of Hallberg here, when he comes from the place where he was quartered for a long time, and where all his comrades now are.”

“Well, I don’t know,” cried D’Effernay, whose passion was increasing every moment.  “Perhaps you have heard what was once gossiped about the neighborhood, that Hallberg was an admirer of my wife before she married.”

“Oh yes, I have heard that report, but never believed it.  Hallberg was a prudent, steady man, and every one knew that Mademoiselle Varnier’s hand had been promised for some time.”

“Yes! yes! but you do not know to what lengths passion and avarice may lead:  for Emily was rich.  We must not forget that, when we discuss the matter; an elopement with the rich heiress would have been a fine thing for a poor, beggarly lieutenant.”

“Shame! shame!  M. D’Effernay.  How can you slander the character of that upright young man?  If Hallberg were so unhappy as to love Mademoiselle Varnier—­”

“That he did! you may believe me so far, I had reason to know it, and I did know it.”