"It is all for the best, my old Dumay," said the count, who had been
making certain inquiries of Mongenod respecting Canalis and La Briere.
"We are going to have two actors for one part!" he cried gaily.
Nevertheless, he requested his old comrade to be absolutely silent
about the comedy which was now to be played at the Chalet,--a comedy
it might be, but also a gentle punishment, or, if you prefer it, a
lesson given by the father to the daughter.
The two friends kept up a long conversation all the way from Paris to
Havre, which put the colonel in possession of the facts relating to
his family during the past four years, and informing Dumay that
Desplein, the great surgeon, was coming to Havre at the end of the
present month to examine the cataract on Madame Mignon's eyes, and
decide if it were possible to restore her sight.
A few moments before the breakfast-hour at the Chalet, the clacking of
a postilion's whip apprised the family that the two soldiers were
arriving; only a father's joy at returning after long absence could be
heralded with such clatter, and it brought all the women to the garden
gate.
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