"Chapeloud was right," he said; "he is a monster!"
"Who?" she asked.
"Chapeloud. He has taken all."
"You mean Poirel?"
"No, Troubert."
At last they reached the Alouette, where the priest's friends gave him
such tender care that towards evening he grew calmer and was able to
give them an account of what had happened during the morning.
The phlegmatic old fox asked to see the deed which, on thinking the
matter over, seemed to him to contain the solution of the enigma.
Birotteau drew the fatal stamped paper from his pocket and gave it to
Monsieur de Bourbonne, who read it rapidly and soon came upon the
following clause:--
"Whereas a difference exists of eight hundred francs yearly between
the price of board paid by the late Abbe Chapeloud and that at which
the said Sophie Gamard agrees to take into her house, on the
above-named stipulated condition, the said Francois Birotteau; and
whereas it is understood that the undersigned Francois Birotteau is
not able for some years to pay the full price charged to the other
boarders of Mademoiselle Gamard, more especially the Abbe Troubert;
the said Birotteau does hereby engage, in consideration of certain
sums of money advanced by the undersigned Sophie Gamard, to leave her,
as indemnity, all the household property of which he may die possessed,
or to transfer the same to her should he, for any reason whatever or
at any time, voluntarily give up the apartment now leased to him, and
thus derive no further profit from the above-named engagements made by
Mademoiselle Gamard for his benefit--"
"Confound her! what an agreement!" cried the old gentleman.
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