The apartment was exactly as described by Mme. Cadelle. In thedark and narrow ante-chamber, three doors opened, - on the left,that of the dining-room; in the centre, that of a parlor andbedroom which communicated; on the right, that of the closet. M.

de Tregars slipped in noiselessly through the latter, and at oncerecognized that Mme. Zelie had not deceived him, and that he wouldsee and hear every thing that went on in the parlor. He saw theyoung woman walk into it. She laid her provisions down upon thetable, and called,"Vincent!"The former cashier of the Mutual Credit appeared at once, comingout of the bedroom.

He was so changed, that his wife and children would have hesitatedin recognizing him. He had cut off his beard, pulled out almostthe whole of his thick eye-brows, and covered his rough andstraight hair under a brown curly wig, He wore patent-leather boots,wide pantaloons, and one of those short jackets of rough material,and with broad sleeves which French elegance has borrowed fromEnglish stable-boys. He tried to appear calm, careless, and playful;but the contraction of his lips betrayed a horrible anguish, andhis look had the strange mobility of the wild beasts' eye, when,almost at bay, they stop for a moment, listening to the barking ofthe hounds.

"I was beginning to fear that you would disappoint me," he said toMme. Zelie.

"It took me some time to buy your breakfast.""And is that all that kept you?""The porter detained me too, to hand me a letter, in which I foundone for you. Here it is.""A letter!" exclaimed Vincent Favoral.

And, snatching it from her, he tore off the envelope. But he hadscarcely looked over it, when he crushed it in his hand, exclaiming,"It is monstrous! It is a mean, infamous treason!" He wasinterrupted by a violent ringing of the door-bell.

"Who can it be?" stammered Mme. Cadelle.

"I know who it is," replied the former cashier. "Open, open quick."She obeyed; and almost at once a woman walked into the parlor,wearing a cheap, black woolen dress. With a sudden gesture, shethrew off her veil; and M. de Tregars recognized the Baroness deThaller.

"Leave us!" she said to Mme. Zelie, in a tone which one would hardlydare to assume towards a bar-maid.

The other felt indignant.

"What, what!" she began. " I am in my own house here.""Leave us!" repeated M. Favoral with a threatening gesture.

"Go, go!"She went out but only to take refuge by the side of M. de Tregars.

"You hear how they treat me," she said in a hoarse voice.

He made no answer. All his attention was centred upon the parlor.

The Baroness de Thaller and the former cashier were standingopposite each other, like two adversaries about to fight a duel.

"I have just read your letter," began Vincent Favoral.

Coldly the baroness said, "Ah!""It is a joke, I suppose.""Not at all.""You refuse to go with me?""Positively.""And yet it was all agreed upon. I have acted wholly under yoururgent, pressing advice. How many times have you repeated to methat to live with your husband had become an intolerable tormentto you! How many times have you sworn to me that you wished to bemine alone, begging me to procure a large sum of money, and to flywith you!""I was in earnest at the time. I have discovered, at the lastmoment, that it would be impossible for me thus to abandon mycountry, my daughter, my friends.""We can take Cesarine with us.""Do not insist."He was looking at her with a stupid, gloomy gaze.

"Then," he stammered, "those tears, those prayers, those oaths!""I have reflected.""It is not possible! If you spoke the truth, you would not be here.""I am here to make you understand that we must give up projectswhich cannot be realized. There are some social conventionalitieswhich cannot be torn up. As if he scarcely understood what shesaid, he repeated,"Social conventionalities!"And suddenly falling at Mme. de Thaller's feet, his head thrownback, and his hands clasped together,"You lie!" he said. "Confess that you lie, and that it is a finaltrial which you are imposing upon me. Or else have you, then,never loved me? That's impossible! I would not believe you if youwere to say so. A woman who does not love a man cannot be to himwhat you have been to me: she does not give herself up thus sojoyously and so completely. Have you, then, forgotten every thing?

Is it possible that you do not remember those divine evenings in theRue de Cirque? - those nights, the mere thought of which fires mybrain, and consumes my blood."He was horrible to look at, horrible and ridiculous at the sametime. As he wished to take Mme. de Thaller's hands, she steppedback, and he followed her, dragging himself on his knees.

"Where could you find," he continued, "a man to worship you like me,with an ardent, absolute, blind, mad passion? With what can youreproach me? Have I not sacrificed to you without a murmur everything that a man can sacrifice here below, - fortune, family, honor,- to supply your extravagance, to anticipate your slightest fancies,to give you gold to scatter by the handful. Did I not leave my ownfamily struggling with poverty. I would have snatched bread frommy children's mouths in order to purchase roses to scatter underyour footsteps. And for years did ever a word from me betray thesecret of our love? What have I not endured? You deceived me. Iknew it, and I said nothing. Upon a word from you I stepped asidebefore him whom your caprice made happy for a day. You told me,'Steal!' and I stole. You told me, 'Kill!' and I tried to kill.""Fly. A man who has twelve hundred thousand francs in gold,bank-notes, and good securities, can always get along.""And my wife and children?""Maxence is old enough to help his mother. Gilberte will find ahusband: depend upon it. Besides, what's to prevent you fromsending them money?""They would refuse it.""You will always be a fool, my dear!"To Vincent Favoral's first stupor and miserable weakness nowsucceeded a terrible passion. All the blood had left his face:

his eyes was flashing.

Then," he resumed, "all is really over?""Of course.""Then I have been duped like the rest, - like that poor Marquis deTregars, whom you had made mad also. But he, at least saved hishonor; whereas I - And I have no excuse; for I should have known.

I knew that you were but the bait which the Baron de Thaller heldout to his victims."He waited for an answer; but she maintained a contemptuous silence.

"Then you think," he said with a threatening laugh, "that it willall end that way?""What can you do?""There is such a thing as justice, I imagine, and judges too. I cangive myself up, and reveal every thing."She shrugged her shoulders.

"That would be throwing yourself into the wolf's mouth for nothing,"she said. "You know better than any one else that my precautionsare well enough taken to defy any thing you can do or say. I havenothing to fear.""Are you quite sure of that?""Trust to me," she said with a smile of perfect security.

The former cashier of the Mutual Credit made a terrible gesture; but,checking himself at once, he seized one of the baroness's hands.

She withdrew it quickly, however, and, in an accent of insurmountabledisgust,"Enough, enough!" she said.

In the adjoining closet Marius de Tregars could feel Mme. ZelieCadelle shuddering by his side.

"What a wretch that woman is!" she murmured; "and he - what a basecoward!"The former cashier remained prostrated striking the floor with hishead.

"And you would forsake me," he groaned, "when we are united by apast such as ours! How could you replace me? Where would you finda slave so devoted to your every wish?"The baroness was getting impatient.

"Stop!" she interrupted, - "stop these demonstrations as uselessas ridiculous."This time he did start up, as if lashed with a whip and, doublelocking the door which communicated with the ante-chamber, he putthe key in his pocket; and, with a step as stiff and mechanical asthat of an automaton, he disappeared in the sleeping-room.

"He is going for a weapon," whispered Mme. Cadelle.

It was also what Marius thought.

"Run down quick," he said to Mme. Zelie. "In a cab standingopposite No.25, you will find Mlle. Gilberte Favoral waiting. Lether come at once."And, rushing into the parlor,"Fly!" he said to Mme. Thaller.

But she was as petrified by this apparition.

"M. de Tregars!""Yes, yes, me. But hurry and go!"And he pushed her into the closet.

It was but time. Vincent Favoral reappeared upon the threshold ofthe bedroom. But, if it was a weapon he had gone for, it was notfor the one which Marius and Mme. Cadelle supposed. It was a bundleof papers which he held in his hand. Seeing M. de Tregars there,instead of Mme. de Thaller, an exclamation of terror and surpriserose to his lips. He understood vaguely what must have taken place;that the man who stood there must have been concealed in the glasscloset, and that he had assisted the baroness to escape.

"Ah the miserable wretch!" he stammered with a tongue made thickby passion, "the infamous wretch! She has betrayed me; she has............