It was a delirium of joy, before which he felt embarrassed.  How should he break the hope of this unhappy mother?

What he had said to Phillis and to Nougarede he repeated to her.

“But it is possible, also, for paralytics to enjoy all their faculties!” Madame Cormier said, with a decision that was not in accordance with her habit or with her character.

“Assuredly.”

“Am I not an example?”

“Without doubt.”

“Then Florentin will be saved.”

“This is what we hope.  I only caution you against an excess of joy by an excess of prudence.  Nevertheless, it is probable Mademoiselle Phillis will settle this for us when she returns.”

“Perhaps it would have been better if you had gone to the Rue Sainte-Anne.  You would have found her.”

There was, then, a universal mania to send him to the Rue Sainte-Anne!

They waited, but the conversation was difficult and slow between them.  It was neither of Phillis nor of Florentin that Saniel thought; it was of himself and of his own fears; while Madame Cormier’s thoughts ran to Phillis.  Then there were long silences that Madame Cormier interrupted by going to the kitchen to look after her dinner, that had been ready since two o’clock.

Not knowing what to say or do in the presence of Saniel’s sombre face and preoccupation, which she could not explain, she asked him if he had dined.

“Not yet.”

“If you will accept a plate of soup, I have some of yesterday’s bouillon, that Phillis did not find bad.”

But he did not accept, which hurt Madame Cormier.  For a long time Saniel had been a sort of god to her, and since he had shown so much zeal regarding Florentin, the ‘culte’ was become more fervent.

At last Phillis’s step was heard.

“What!  You came to tell mamma!” she exclaimed, on seeing Saniel.

Ordinarily her mother listened to her respectfully, but now she interrupted her.

“And Madame Dammauville?” she asked.

“Madame Dammauville has excellent eyes.  She is a woman of intellect, who, without the assistance of any business man, manages her fortune.”

Overcome, Madame Cormier fell into a chair.

“Oh, the poor child!” she murmured.

Exclamations of joy escaped her which contained but little sense.

“It is as I thought,” Saniel said; “but it would be imprudent to abandon ourselves to hopes to-day that to-morrow may destroy.”

While he spoke he escaped, at least, from the embarrassment of his position and from the examination of Phillis.

“What did Monsieur Nougarde say?” she asked.

“I will explain to you presently.  Begin by telling us what you learned from Madame Dammauville.  It is her condition that will decide our course, at least that which Nougarde counsels us to adopt.”