He appeared both surprised and pleased at her visit to his little sanctum.
He even showed an emotion Josephine was at a loss to account for.

But that wore off during the conversation, and, indeed, gave place to a sort of coldness.
"Dear friend," said she, "I come to consult you about Rose and Edouard." She then told him what had happened, and hinted at Edouard's one fault.
The doctor smiled.

"It is curious.

You have come to draw my attention to a point on which it has been fixed for some days past.

I am preparing a cure for the two young fools; a severe remedy, but in their case a sure one." He then showed her a deed, wherein he had settled sixty thousand francs on Rose and her children.