But he interrupted her, saying,—­

“Oh, my dear sister! don’t you think I suffered when I thought of your impatience?  But it was absolutely necessary I should show myself in Water Street.”

“You have seen Mrs. Chevassat?”

“I come from her just now.  She is quite at her ease.  I am sure she has not the slightest doubt that Miss Ville-Handry has killed herself; and she goes religiously every morning to the Morgue.”

Henrietta shuddered.

“And M. de Brevan?” she asked.

Papa Ravinet looked troubled.

“Ah, I don’t feel so safe there,” he replied.  “The man I had left in charge of him has foolishly lost sight of him.”

Then noticing the trunks, he said,—­

“But I am talking, and time flies.  You are ready, I see.  Let us go.  I have a carriage at the door.  We can talk on the way.”

When he noticed some reluctance in Henrietta’s face, he added with a kindly smile,—­

“You need not fear anything, Miss Henrietta; we are not going away from M. Champcey, very far from it.  Here, you see, he could not have come twice without betraying the secret of your existence.”

“But where are we going?” asked Mrs. Bertolle.

“To the Hotel du Louvre, dear sister, where you will take rooms for Mrs. and Miss Bertolle.  Be calm; my plans are laid.”

Thereupon, he ran out on the staircase to call the concierge to help him in taking down the trunks.

Although the manoeuvres required by Papa Ravinet’s appearance on board “The Saint Louis” had taken but little time, the delay had been long enough to prevent the ship from going through all the formalities that same evening.  She had, therefore, to drop anchor at some distance from the harbor, to the great disgust of the crew, who saw Marseilles all ablaze before them, and who could count the wineshops, and hear the songs of the half-drunken people as they walked down the wharves in merry bands.

The least unhappy of them all was, for once, Daniel.  The terrible excitement he had undergone had given way to utter prostration.  His nerves, strained to the utmost, relaxed; and he felt the delight of a man who can at last throw down a heavy burden which he has long borne on his shoulders.  Papa Ravinet had given him no details; but he did not regret it, he hardly noticed it.  He knew positively that his Henrietta was alive; that she was in safety; and that she still loved him.  That was enough.

“Well, lieutenant,” said Lefloch, delighted at his master’s joy, “did I not tell you?  Good wind during the passage always brings good news upon landing.”