Once more, I tell you that I am sure of
success. Courage!"
"Well!" said the spurious dressmaker, when she saw that Marguerite
had finished reading the letter. "What answer shall I take my
brother-in-law?"
"Tell him that he shall certainly have the information he requires
to-morrow. To-day, I can only give him the name of the carriage
builder, from whom M. de Fondege has purchased his new carriages."
"Give it to me in writing, it is much the safest way."
Mademoiselle Marguerite did so, and her visitor who, as a woman,
was delighted to find herself mixed up in an intrigue, then went
off repeating the old magistrate's advice: "Courage!"
But it was no longer necessary to encourage Mademoiselle
Marguerite. The assurance of being so effectually helped, had
already increased her courage an hundredfold. The future that had
seemed so gloomy only a moment before, had now suddenly
brightened. By means of the negative in the keeping of the
photographer, Carjat, she had the Marquis de Valorsay in her
power, and the magistrate, thanks to the numbers of the bank-
notes, could soon prove the guilt of the Fondeges. The protection
of Providence was made evident in an unmistakable manner. Thus it
was with a placid and almost smiling face that she successively
greeted Madame Leon, who returned home quite played out, then
Madame de Fondege, who made her appearance attended by two shop-
boys overladen with packages, and finally the General, who brought
his son, Lieutenant Gustave, with him to dinner.
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