“Good heaven, sir!” said Adrienne, “what formidable association?  Until now I never heard of it.”

“I believe you; and yet your ignorance on this subject greatly astonishes me, my dear young lady.”

“And why should it astonish you?”

“Because you lived some time with your aunt, and must have often seen the Abbe d’Aigrigny.”

“I lived at the princess’s, but not with her; for a thousand reasons she had inspired me with warrantable aversion.”

“In truth, my dear young lady, my remark was ill-judged.  It was there, above all, and particularly in your presence, that they would keep silence with regard to this association—­and yet to it alone did the Princess de Saint-Dizier owe her formidable influence in the world, during the last reign.  Well, then; know this—­it is the aid of that association which renders the Abbe d’Aigrigny so dangerous a man.

“By it he was enabled to follow and to reach divers members of your family, some in Siberia, some in India, others on the heights of the American mountains; but, as I have told you, it was only the day before yesterday, and by chance, that, examining the papers of Abbe d’Aigrigny, I found the trace of his connection with this Company, of which he is the most active and able chief.”

“But the name, sir, the name of this Company?” said Adrienne.

“Well! it is—­” but Rodin stopped short.

“It is,” repeated Adrienne, who was now as much interested as Dagobert and the sempstress; “it is—­”

Rodin looked round him, beckoned all the actors in this scene to draw nearer, and said in a whisper, laying great stress upon the words:  “It is—­the Society of Jesus!” and he again shuddered.

“The Jesuits!” cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, unable to restrain a burst of laughter, which was the more buoyant, as, from the mysterious precautions of Rodin, she had expected some very different revelation.  “The Jesuits!” she resumed, still laughing.  “They have no existence, except in books; they are frightful historical personages, certainly; but why should you put forward Madame de Saint-Dizier and M. d’Aigrigny in that character?  Such as they are, they have done quite enough to justify my aversion and disdain.”

After listening in silence to Mdlle. de Cardoville Rodin continued, with a grave and agitated air:  “Your blindness frightens me, my dear, young lady; the past should have given you some anxiety for the future, since, more than any one, you have already suffered from the fatal influence of this Company, whose existence you regard as a dream!”

“I, sir?” said Adrienne, with a smile, although a little surprised.

“You.”

“Under what circumstances?”

“You ask me this question! my dear young lady! you ask me this question!—­and yet you have been confined here as a mad person!  Is it not enough to tell you that the master of this house is one of the most devoted lay members of the Company, and therefore the blind instrument of the Abbe d’Aigrigny?”