either of the three men offering to escort her, as they always had done.
Mme. Roland did the honours eagerly to their visitor.
"A cup of coffee, monsieur?"
"No, thank you. I have just had dinner."
"A cup of tea, then?"
"Thank you, I will accept one later. First we must attend to business."
The deep silence which succeeded this remark was broken only by the regular ticking of the clock, and below stairs the clatter of saucepans which the girl was cleaning—too stupid even to listen at the door.
The lawyer went on:
"Did you, in Paris, know a certain M. Maréchal—Léon Maréchal?"
M. and Mme. Roland both exclaimed at once: "I should think so!"
"He was a friend of yours?"
Roland replied: "Our best friend, monsieur, but a fanatic for Paris; never to be got away from the boulevard. He was a head clerk in the exchequer office. I have never seen him since I left the capital, and latterly we had ceased writing to each other. When people are far apart you know"
27
