"You have news?" I asked, as I took her hand.
"I have the kind of news I expected," she answered, a smile tempering the
gravity of her face; "Auguste is, as usual, in need of money."
"Then you have found them," I answered, my voice betraying my admiration
for the feat.
Madame la Vicomtesse shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"I did nothing," she said. "From what you told me, I suspected that as
soon as Auguste reached Louisiana he would have a strong desire to go
away again. This is undoubtedly what has happened. In any event, I knew
that he would want money, and that he would apply to a source which has
hitherto never failed him."
"Mademoiselle Antoinette!" I said.
"Precisely," answered Madame la Vicomtesse. "When I reached home last
night I questioned Antoinette, and I discovered that by a singular chance
a message from Auguste had already reached her."
"Where is he?" I demanded.
"I do not know," she replied. "But he will be behind the hedge of the
garden at Les Iles at eleven o'clock--unless he has lost before then his
love of money."
"Which is to say--"
"He will be there unless he is dead. That is why I sent for you,
Monsieur." She glanced at me. "Sometimes it is convenient to have a
man."
I was astounded. Then I smiled, the affair was so ridiculously simple.
"And Monsieur de St.
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