Élie D’Anjou—La Grébiche

The relationship between Élie D’Anjou and La Grébiche joins an ordinary household connection to an unresolved family secret: La Grébiche had worked in the D’Anjou home and, shortly before Élie’s death, was alone with him in his room. The visit was witnessed, but its purpose and what passed between them remain unknown, allowing later suspicion and village legend to grow around her possible knowledge of the cameo.

Household Service and the Deathbed Visit

La Grébiche had worked for a time as a hired servant in Élie D’Anjou’s household. That employment placed her within the family’s domestic world, but the narrative gives no account of what duties she performed or how close she was to Élie before his final illness.

Alexandre later insists that he saw her visit Élie on his deathbed. Concealed beneath a large shawl, she was brought into the room by Joseph, who then left her alone with Élie. The witness can establish that the private meeting happened, but not who wanted it: when asked whether Élie had summoned La Grébiche or she had sought him out, Alexandre says he does not know. Joseph is no longer alive to clarify the circumstances.

The Cameo and the Suspicion of Hidden Knowledge

The visit becomes significant because the family is wondering what La Grébiche might know about the cameo. Guillaume reasons that her inquisitiveness and her former place in the household could have given her access to information, and asks why she spends her time proclaiming the stone cursed. His suspicion is suggestive rather than conclusive: the scene never establishes that Élie told her about the cameo, or that she learned any secret from him.

Alexandre dismisses her as eccentric, attributing her claims to her belief that she alone saved the village during the flood. That explanation offers a competing account of her public warnings, but it does not resolve whether the deathbed encounter had a private purpose. The gap between the witnessed meeting and the unknown conversation is central to the relationship’s lasting ambiguity.

From Private Encounter to Village Legend

The meeting is retold in the village as a story of intimacy and secret knowledge. At the Blanchette restaurant, Moïse Dubois tells listeners that La Grébiche had ensnared the Founder on his deathbed and probably wrested secrets from him, which she later used to boast or claim power. His version turns an unexplained visit into a deliberate exchange, but the narration describes Moïse as prone to enlarging what he no longer remembers precisely. His account therefore documents the legend’s growth, not proof of what Élie disclosed.

Moïse also repeats the story that La Grébiche danced with the Devil. Noé Bolduc, who was present at the inn, contradicts that part of the tale: she had danced with a well-known American hunter, struck an oil lamp during the quadrille, and burned her face. Her years away from the village and the scar she returned with then acquired further layers of rumor. The contrast shows how a real but poorly understood episode could be absorbed into increasingly dramatic stories—and why the supposed secrets exchanged between Élie and La Grébiche remain uncertain.