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Updated: June 22, 2025
Here, in the midst of these peasants, who were listening to him with pale cheeks and set teeth, Father Chupin preserved the subdued mien appropriate to a messenger of misfortune. But if one had observed him carefully, one would have detected an ironical smile upon his lips and a gleam of malicious joy in his eyes. He was, in fact, inwardly jubilant.
"Yes," promptly replied the youth, who had heard nothing of the kind. Martial was silent, ashamed, perhaps, of allowing himself to listen to the gossip, but glad to have been informed of such an important circumstance. If Chupin was not telling a falsehood and what reason could he have for doing so it became evident that M. Lacheneur's conduct concealed some great mystery.
"He'll hate me." "The man who wants his dog to love him, beats it; and, besides, when the wine is drawn, one must drink it." This singular logic seemed to decide her. She handed the letter to Chupin, and drawing a franc from her pocket she offered it to him. "This is for your trouble," she said.
Blanche decided to break the silence. "What do you wish?" she demanded. With many circumlocutions Chupin explained that he had been obliged to leave Sairmeuse on account of the numerous enemies he had there, that he had been unable to find his father's hidden treasure, and that he was consequently without resources. "Enough!" interrupted Mme. Blanche.
At the door someone was crying: "Open in the name of the law!" Martial might have fled; but if he fled, the duchess might be captured, for he would certainly be pursued. He saw the peril at a glance, and his decision was made. He shook the Widow Chupin violently by the arm, and said, in an imperious voice: "If you know how to hold your tongue you shall have one hundred thousand francs."
This duty being accomplished, Palot joined the crowd; but he was too late, for Andre had been taken away to the hospital. He looked around to see if there was any one from whom he could gain information, and suddenly perceived on a bench some one whom he had often followed. It was Toto Chupin, no longer clad in the squalid rags of a day or two back.
Blanche shuddered. "Why do you wish to know?" she asked. "Because I suffered agony during the three hours that I spent in waiting for you. What was the meaning of those despairing cries that I heard? Why did you call for aid? I heard a death-rattle that made my hair stand on end with terror. Why was it necessary for Chupin to bring you out in his arms?"
He rose but at that very instant the door was flung open and a man entered, panting and breathless. This man was Chupin, the former poacher, whom M. de Sairmeuse had elevated to the position of head gamekeeper. It was evident that something extraordinary had happened. "What is it?" inquired the duke. "They are coming!" cried Chupin; "they are already on the way!" "Who? who?"
The duke had just received this note when, with a triumphant air, he abruptly entered the room where Marie-Anne and his son were negotiating for the release of Baron d'Escorval. It was because he believed in the truth of the rather hazardous assertion made by his spy that he exclaimed, upon the threshold: "Upon my word! it must be confessed that this Chupin is an incomparable huntsman!
So he followed him to the theatre, and thence to Brebant's, where he was sitting feeling terribly bored, when M. Wilkie conceived the unfortunate idea of inviting Victor Chupin to come up and take some refreshment. The scene which followed greatly alarmed the viscount. Who could this young man be?
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