But Chupin had left the hotel without giving her his address.
The gloomy apprehension expressed by Martial increased the fears of the young marquise. The mere sound of the name Lacheneur made her shrink with terror. She could not rid herself of the idea that Jean Lacheneur suspected her guilt, and that he was watching her.
Her wish to find Marie-Anne"s infant was stronger than ever.
It seemed to her that the child might be a protection to her some day.
But where could she find an agent in whom she could confide?
At last she remembered that she had heard her father speak of a detective by the name of Chelteux, an exceedingly shrewd fellow, capable of anything, even honesty if he were well paid.
The man was really a miserable wretch, one of Fouche"s vilest instruments, who had served and betrayed all parties, and who, at last, had been convicted of perjury, but had somehow managed to escape punishment.
After his dismissal from the police-force, Chelteux founded a bureau of private information.
After several inquiries, Mme. Blanche discovered that he lived in the Place Dauphine; and she determined to take advantage of her husband"s absence to pay the detective a visit.
One morning she donned her simplest dress, and, accompanied by Aunt Medea, repaired to the house of Chelteux.
He was then, about thirty-four years of age, a man of medium height, of inoffensive mien, and who affected an unvarying good-humor.
He invited his clients into a nicely furnished drawing-room, and Mme.
Blanche at once began telling him that she was married, and living in the Rue Saint-Denis, that one of her sisters, who had lately died, had been guilty of an indiscretion, and that she was ready to make any sacrifice to find this sister"s child, etc., etc. A long story, which she had prepared in advance, and which sounded very plausible.
Chelteux did not believe a word of it, however; for, as soon as it was ended, he tapped her familiarly on the shoulder, and said:
"In short, my dear, we have had our little escapades before our marriage."
She shrank back as if from some venomous reptile.
To be treated thus! she--a Courtornieu--d.u.c.h.esse de Sairmeuse!
"I think you are laboring under a wrong impression," she said, haughtily.
He made haste to apologize; but while listening to further details given him by the young lady, he thought:
"What an eye! what a voice!--they are not suited to a denizen of the Saint-Denis!"
His suspicions were confirmed by the reward of twenty thousand francs, which Mme. Blanche imprudently promised him in case of success, and by the five hundred francs which she paid in advance.
"And where shall I have the honor of addressing my communications to you, Madame?" he inquired.
"Nowhere," replied the young lady. "I shall be pa.s.sing here from time to time, and I will call."
When they left the house, Chelteux followed them.
"For once," he thought, "I believe that fortune smiles upon me."
To discover the name and rank of his new clients was but child"s play to Fouche"s former pupil.
His task was all the easier since they had no suspicion whatever of his designs. Mme. Blanche, who had heard his powers of discernment so highly praised, was confident of success.
All the way back to the hotel she was congratulating herself upon the step she had taken.
"In less than a month," she said to Aunt Medea, "we shall have the child; and it will be a protection to us."
But the following week she realized the extent of her imprudence. On visiting Chelteux again, she was received with such marks of respect that she saw at once she was known.
She made an attempt to deceive him, but the detective checked her.
"First of all," he said, with a good-humored smile, "I ascertain the ident.i.ty of the persons who honor me with their confidence. It is a proof of my ability, which I give, gratis. But Madame need have no fears. I am discreet by nature and by profession. Many ladies of the highest ranks are in the position of Madame la d.u.c.h.esse!"
So Chelteux still believed that the d.u.c.h.esse de Sairmeuse was searching for her own child.
She did not try to convince him to the contrary. It was better that he should believe this than suspect the truth.
The condition of Mme. Blanche was now truly pitiable. She found herself entangled in a net, and each movement far from freeing her, tightened the meshes around her.
Three persons knew the secret that threatened her life and honor. Under these circ.u.mstances, how could she hope to keep that secret inviolate?
She was, moreover, at the mercy of three unscrupulous masters; and before a word, or a gesture, or a look from them, her haughty spirit was compelled to bow in meek subservience.
And her time was no longer at her own disposal. Martial had returned; and they had taken up their abode at the Hotel de Sairmeuse.
The young d.u.c.h.ess was now compelled to live under the scrutiny of fifty servants--of fifty enemies, more or less, interested in watching her, in criticising her every act, and in discovering her inmost thoughts.
Aunt Medea, it is true, was of great a.s.sistance to her. Blanche purchased a dress for her, whenever she purchased one for herself, took her about with her on all occasions, and the humble relative expressed her satisfaction in the most enthusiastic terms, and declared her willingness to do anything for her benefactress.
Nor did Chelteux give Mme. Blanche much more annoyance. Every three months he presented a memorandum of the expenses of investigations, which usually amounted to about ten thousand francs; and so long as she paid him it was plain that he would be silent.
He had given her to understand, however, that he should expect an annuity of twenty-four thousand francs; and once, when Mme. Blanche remarked that he must abandon the search, if nothing had been discovered at the end of two years:
"Never," he replied: "I shall continue the search as long as I live."
But Chupin, unfortunately, remained; and he was a constant terror.
She had been compelled to give him twenty thousand francs, to begin with.
He declared that his younger brother had come to Paris in pursuit of him, accusing him of having stolen their father"s h.o.a.rd, and demanding his share with his dagger in his hand.
There had been a battle, and it was with a head bound up in a blood-stained linen, that Chupin made his appearance before Mme.
Blanche.
"Give me the sum that the old man buried, and I will allow my brother to think that I had stolen it. It is not very pleasant to be regarded as a thief, when one is an honest man, but I will bear it for your sake. If you refuse, I shall be compelled to tell him where I have obtained my money and how."
If he possessed all the vices, depravity, and coldblooded perversity of his father, this wretch had inherited neither his intelligence nor his _finesse_.
Instead of taking the precautions which his interest required, he seemed to find a brutal pleasure in compromising the d.u.c.h.ess.
He was a constant visitor at the Hotel de Sairmeuse. He came and went at all hours, morning, noon, and night, without troubling himself in the least about Martial.