“What does monsieur want of Mme. Dauvray?” she asked.  And the question was her answer.

Wethermill stood silent.  Then he said abruptly: 

“Nothing, of course; nothing.”  And he walked away.

But the smile remained on Helene Vauquier’s face.  What did they all want of Mme. Dauvray?  She knew very well.  It was what she herself wanted—­with other things.  It was money—­always money.  Wethermill was not the first to seek the good graces of Mme. Dauvray through her pretty companion.  Helene Vauquier went home.  She was not discontented with her conversation.  Wethermill had paused long enough before he denied the suggestion of her words.  She approached him a few days later a second time and more openly.  She was shopping in, the Rue du Casino when he passed her.  He stopped of his own accord and spoke to her.  Helene Vauquier kept a grave and respectful face.  But there was a pulse of joy at her heart.  He was coming to her hand.

“Monsieur,” she said, “you do not go the right way.”  And again her strange smile illuminated her face.  “Mlle. Celie sets a guard about Mme. Dauvray.  She will not give to people the opportunity to find madame generous.”

“Oh,” said Wethermill slowly.  “Is that so?” And he turned and walked by Helene Vauquier’s side.

“Never speak of Mme. Dauvray’s wealth, monsieur, if you would keep the favour of Mlle. Celie.  She is young, but she knows her world.”

“I have not spoken of money to her,” replied Wethermill; and then he burst out laughing.  “But why should you think that I—­I, of all men—­want money?” he asked.

And Helene answered him again enigmatically.

“If I am wrong, monsieur, I am sorry, but you can help me too,” she said, in her submissive voice.  And she passed on, leaving Wethermill rooted to the ground.

It was a bargain she proposed—­the impertinence of it!  It was a bargain she proposed—­the value of it!  In that shape ran Harry Wethermill’s thoughts.  He was in desperate straits, though to the world’s eye he was a man of wealth.  A gambler, with no inexpensive tastes, he had been always in need of money.  The rights in his patent he had mortgaged long ago.  He was not an idler; he was no sham foisted as a great man on an ignorant public.  He had really some touch of genius, and he cultivated it assiduously.  But the harder he worked, the greater was his need of gaiety and extravagance.  Gifted with good looks and a charm of manner, he was popular alike in the great world and the world of Bohemia.  He kept and wanted to keep a foot in each.  That he was in desperate straits now, probably Helene Vauquier alone in Aix had recognised.  She had drawn her inference from one simple fact.  Wethermill asked her at a later time when they were better acquainted how she had guessed his need.

“Monsieur,” she replied, “you were in Aix without a valet, and it seemed to me that you were of that class of men who would never move without a valet so long as there was money to pay his wages.  That was my first thought.  Then when I saw you pursue your friendship with Mlle. Celie—­you, who so clearly to my eyes did not love her—­I felt sure.”