"And what ought I to do now?" she asked after a pause.
"To repair your wrong-doing, you must ascertain its extent," said the
Abbe.
"Well, I will write to the only man who can know anything of Albert's
fate, Monsieur Leopold Hannequin, a notary in Paris, his friend since
childhood."
"Write no more, unless to do honor to truth," said the Vicar-General.
"Place the real and the false letters in my hands, confess everything
in detail as though I were the keeper of your conscience, asking me
how you may expiate your sins, and doing as I bid you. I shall see
--for, above all things, restore this unfortunate man to his innocence
in the eyes of the woman he had made his divinity on earth. Though he
has lost his happiness, Albert must still hope for justification."
Rosalie promised to obey the Abbe, hoping that the steps he might take
would perhaps end in bringing Albert back to her.
Not long after Mademoiselle de Watteville's confession a clerk came to
Besancon from Monsieur Leopold Hannequin, armed with a power of
attorney from Albert; he called first on Monsieur Girardet, begging
his assistance in selling the house belonging to Monsieur Savaron. The
attorney undertook to do this out of friendship for Albert. The clerk
from Paris sold the furniture, and with the proceeds could repay some
money owed by Savaron to Girardet, who on the occasion of his
inexplicable departure had lent him five thousand francs while
undertaking to collect his assets.
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