He passed the back of his hand over his brow and said, with a sigh: "Poor little thing!"
"She is even more to be pitied than you think. You have not seen her,
I believe, since last week."
"Yes—she came. She has kept up, thank God, some of her religious duties."
"For all that, she has played a leading part in a recent scandal."
The Abbe sprang up from his chair.
"A duel has taken place because of her, and her name is in all men's mouths—whispered, of course—but the quarrel took place at the Club. You know what it is to be talked of at the Club."
"The poison of asps," growled the Abbe; "oh! those clubs—think of all the evil reports concocted in them, of which women are the victims!"
"In the present case the evil report was pure calumny. It was taken up by some one whom you also know—Frederic d'Argy."
"I have had profound respect these many years for his excellent and pious mother."
"I thought so. In that case, Monsieur l'Abbe, you would not object to going to Madame d'Argy's house and asking how her son is."