— 1 — THE APARTMENTS
OF MLLE. DE FONTANGESDesgrez did not attempt to disguise from his wife the importance and difficulty of the work upon which he was engaged, or the near escape from death he had had in the attack made on him in the Impasse des Fleurs; nor did she disturb him by fears or lamentations. Since she had married him and come to Paris she had known the nature of his work and what she was likely to have to face; she permitted herself only one sigh: “I wish I had not helped you to enter into this unhappy business!”
Then, with her head resting on his shoulder and his arm round her waist, she asked him one favour; it was much the same as the favour that he had asked M. de La Reynie.
“Will you, Charles, if there is ever a chance, allow me to help you?”
Desgrez looked earnestly a
