Had he
done so, Angelique would herself have given secret information to
the Governor to order the search of Beaumanoir, and thus got her
rival out of the way without trouble, risk, or crime.
But it was not to be. The little word that would have set her
active spirit on fire to aid in the search for Caroline was not
spoken, and her thoughts remained immovably fixed upon her death.
But if Angelique had been misled by Varin as to what had passed at
the Council, Mere Malheur, through her intercourse with a servant of
Varin, had learned the truth. An eavesdropping groom had overheard
his master and the Intendant conversing on the letters of the Baron
and La Pompadour. The man told his sweetheart, who, coming with
some stolen sweetmeats to Mere Malheur, told her, who in turn was
not long in imparting what she had heard to La Corriveau.
La Corriveau did not fail to see that, should Angelique discover
that her rival was to be searched for, and taken to France if found,
she would at once change her mind, and Caroline would be got rid of
without need of her interference.
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