He took the latter by the arm, and said to him aloud: "I should like to have your opinion on a small portrait I have noticed in the other room, my dear Chapron." Then, when they were before the canvas which had served as a pretext for the aside, he continued, in a low voice: "I heard very strange news this morning.

Do you know Boleslas Gorka is in Rome unknown to his wife ?" "That is indeed strange," replied Maitland's brother-in-law, adding simply, after a silence: "Are you certain of it ?" "As certain as that we are here," said Dorsenne.

"One of my friends, Marquis de Montfanon, met him this morning." A fresh silence ensued between the two, during which Julien felt that the arm upon which he rested trembled.

Then they joined the party, while Florent said aloud: "It is an excellent piece of painting, which has, unfortunately, been revarnished too much." "May I have done right!" thought Julien.

"He understood me.".