Enough then—­for the telling of it; but enough in the passing of it there was not nor could be.  Yet at last, because needs must when the devil—­or a son—­aye, or an elderly daughter of his—­drives, I found myself outside the door of Mme. Delhasse’s room.  With the turning of the lock Marie whispered a last word to me, and full of hope I turned to descend the stairs.  For I had upon me the feeling which, oftener perhaps than we think, gave to the righteous cause a victory against odds when ordeal of battle held sway.  Now, such a feeling is, I take it, of small use in a court of law.

But Fortune lost no time in checking my presumption by an accident which at first gave me great concern.  For, even as I turned away from the door of the room, there was Mme. Delhasse coming up the stairs.  I was fairly caught, there was no doubt about it; and for Marie’s sake I was deeply grieved, for I feared that my discovery would mean another stormy scene for her.  Nevertheless, to make the best of it, I assumed a jaunty air as I said to Mlle. Delhasse: 

“The duke will be witness that you were not in your room, madame.  You will not be compromised.”

I fully expected that an outburst of anger would follow on this pleasantry of mine—­which was, I confess, rather in the taste best suited to Mme. Delhasse than in the best as judged by an abstract standard—­but to my surprise the old creature did nothing worse than bestow on me a sour grin.  Apparently, if I were well-pleased with the last half-hour, she had found time pass no less pleasantly.  All traces of her exasperation and ill humor had gone, and she looked as pleased and contented as though she had been an exemplary mother, rewarded (as such deserve to be) by complete love and peace in her family circle.

“You’ve been slinking in behind my back, have you?” she asked, but still with a grin.

“It would have been rude to force an entrance to your face,” I observed.

“And I suppose you’ve been making love to the girl?”

“At the proper time, madame,” said I, with much courtesy, “I shall no doubt ask you for an interview with regard to that matter.  I shall omit no respect that you deserve.”

As I spoke, I stood on one side to let her pass.  I cannot make up my mind whether her recent fury or her present good humor repelled me more.

“You’d have a fine fool for a wife,” said she, with a jerk of her thumb toward the room where the daughter was.

“I should be compensated by a very clever mother-in-law,” said I.

The old woman paused for an instant at the top of the stairs, and looked me up and down.

“Aye,” said she, “you men think yourselves mighty clever, but a woman gets the better of you all now and then.”

I was utterly puzzled by her evident exultation.  The duke could not have consented to accept her society in place of her daughter’s; but I risked the impropriety and hazarded the suggestion to Mme. Delhasse.  Her face curled in cunning wrinkles.  She seemed to be about to speak, but then she shut her lips with a snap, and suspicion betrayed itself again in her eyes.  She had a secret—­a fresh secret—­I could have sworn, and in her triumph she had come near to saying something that might have cast light on it.