Should
he tell him all? It would only increase his grief. On the other hand,
silence would oblige him to play a difficult part. The old man advised
him to say nothing; he could explain all later on.
"What a fine fellow Noel is!" murmured old Tabaret, as he regained
his apartments as quietly as possible. He had been absent from home
twenty-four hours; and he fully expected a formidable scene with his
housekeeper. Mannette was decidedly out of temper, and declared once
for all, that she would certainly seek a new place if her master did not
change his conduct.
She had remained up all night, in a terrible fright, listening to the
least sound on the stairs, expecting every moment to see her master
brought home on a litter, assassinated. There had been great commotion
in the house. M. Gerdy had gone down a short time after her master, and
she had seen him return two hours later. After that, they had sent for
the doctor. Such goings on would be the death of her, without counting
that her constitution was too weak to allow her to sit up so late. But
Mannette forgot that she did not sit up on her master's account nor on
Noel's but was expecting one of her old friends, one of those handsome
Gardes de Paris who had promised to marry her, and for whom she had
waited in vain, the rascal!
She burst forth in reproaches, while she prepared her master's bed,
too sincere, she declared, to keep anything on her mind, or to keep her
mouth closed, when it was a question of his health and reputation.
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