Two o'clock struck as Mlle. Lucienne and Maxence left the officeof the commissary of police, she pensive and agitated, he gloomy andirritated. They reached the Hotel des Folies without exchanging aword. Mme. Fortin was again at the door, speechifying in the midstof a group with indefatigable volubility. Indeed, it was a perfectgodsend for her, the fact of lodging the son of that cashier whohad stolen twelve millions, and had thus suddenly become a celebrity.

Seeing Maxence and Mlle. Lucienne coming, she stepped toward them,and, with her most obsequious smile,"Back already?" she said.

But they made no answer; and, entering the narrow corridor, theyhurried to their fourth story. As he entered his room, Maxencethrew his hat upon his bed with a gesture of impatience; and, afterwalking up and down for a moment, he returned to plant himself infront of Mlle. Lucienne.

"Well," he said, "are you satisfied now?"She looked at him with an air of profound commiseration, knowinghis weakness too well to be angry at his injustice.

"Of what should I be satisfied?" she asked gently.

"I have done what you wished me to.""You did what reason dictated, my friend.""Very well: we won't quarrel about words. I have seen your friendthe commissary. Am I any better off?"She shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly.

"What did you expect of him, then?" she asked. "Did you think thathe could undo what is done? Did you suppose, that, by the solepower of his will, he would make up the deficit in the MutualCredit's cash, and rehabilitate your father?""No, I am not quite mad yet.""Well, then, could he do more than promise you his most ardent anddevoted co-operation?"But he did not allow her to proceed.

"And how do I know," he exclaimed, "that he is not trifling with me?

If he was sincere, why his reticence and his enigmas? He pretendsthat I may rely on him, because to serve me is to serve you. Whatdoes that mean? What connection is there between your situation andmine, between your enemies and those of my father? And I - I repliedto all his questions like a simpleton. Poor fool! But the man whodrowns catches at straws; and I am drowning, I am sinking, I amfoundering."He sank upon a chair, and, hiding his face in his hands,"Ah, how I do suffer!" he groaned.

Mlle. Lucienne approached him, and in a severe tone, despite heremotion,"Are you, then, such a coward?" she uttered. "What! at the firstmisfortune that strikes you, - and this is the first real misfortuneof your life, Maxence, - you despair. An obstacle rises, and,instead of gathering all your energy to overcome it, you sit downand weep like a woman. Who, then, is to inspire courage in yourmother and in your sister, if you give up so?"At the sound of these words, uttered by that voice which wasall-powerful over his soul, Maxence looked up.

"I thank you, my friend," he said. "I thank you for reminding meof what I owe to my mother and sister. Poor women! They arewondering, doubtless, what has become of me.""You must return to them," interrupted the girl.

He got up resolutely.

"I will," he replied. "I should be unworthy of you if I could notraise my own energy to the level of yours."And, having pressed her hand, he left. But it was not by the usualroute that he reached the Rue St. Gilles. He made a long detour, soas not to meet any of his acquaintances.

"Here you are at last," said the servant as she opened the door.

"Madame was getting very uneasy, I can tell you. She is in theparlor, with Mlle. Gilberte and M. Chapelain."It was so. After his fruitless attempt to reach M. de Thaller, M.

Chapelain had breakfasted there, and had remained, wishing, he said,to see Maxence. And so, as soon as the young man appeared, availinghimself of the privileges of his age and his old intimacy,"How," said he, "dare you leave your mother and sister alone in ahouse where some brutal creditor may come in at any moment?""I was wrong," said Maxence, who preferred to plead guilty ratherthan attempt an explanation.

"Don't do it again then," resumed M. Chapelain. "I was waiting foryou to say that I was unable to see M. de Thaller, and that I do notcare to face once more the impudence of his valets. You will,therefore, have to take back the fifteen thousand francs he hadbrought to your father. Place them in his own hands; and don'tgive them up without a receipt."After some further recommendations, he went off, leaving Mme. Favoralalone at last with her children. She was about to call Maxence toaccount for his absence, when Mlle. Gilberte interrupted her.

"I have to speak to you, mother," she said with a singularprecipitation, "and to you also, brother."And at once she began telling them of M. Costeclar's strange visit,his inconceivable audacity, and his offensive declarations.

Maxence was fairly stamping with rage.

"And I was not here," he exclaimed, "to put him out of the house!"But another was there; and this was just what Mlle. Gilberte wishedto come to. But the avowal was difficult, painful even; and it wasnot without some degree of confusion that she resumed at last,"You have suspected for a long time, mother, that I was hidingsomething from you. When you questioned me, I lied; not that I hadany thing to blush for, but because I feared for you my father'sanger."Her mother and her brother were gazing at her with a look of blankamazement.

"Yes, I had a secret," she continued. "Boldly, without consultingany one, trusting the sole inspirations of my heart, I had engagedmy life to a stranger: I had selected the man whose wife I wishedto be."Mme. Favoral raised her hands to heaven.

"But this is sheer madness!" she said.

"Unfortunately," went on the girl, "between that man, my affiancedhusband before God, and myself, rose a terrible obstacle. He waspoor: he thought my father very rich; and he had asked me a delayof three years to conquer a fortune which might enable him to aspireto my hand."She stopped: all the blood in her veins was rushing to her face.

"This morning," she said, "at the news of our disaster, he came...

"Here?" interrupted Maxence.

"Yes, brother, here. He arrived at the very moment, when, baselyinsulted by M. Costeclar, I commanded him to withdraw, and, insteadof going, he was walking towards me with outstretched arms.""He dared to penetrate here!" murmured Mme. Favoral.

"Yes, mother: he came in just in time to seize M. Costeclar by hiscoat-collar, and to throw him at my feet, livid with fear, andbegging for mercy. He came, notwithstanding the terrible calamitythat has befallen us. Notwithstanding ruin, and notwithstandingshame, he came to offer me his name, and to tell me, that, in thecourse of the day, he would send a friend of his family to appriseyou of his intentions."Here she was interrupted by the servant, who, throwing open theparlor-door, announced,"The Count de Villegre."If it had occurred to the mind of Mme. Favoral or Maxence that Mlle.

Gilberte might have been the victim of some base intrigue, the mereappearance of the man who now walked in must have been enough todisabuse them.

He was of a rather formidable aspect, with his military bearing, hisbluff manners, his huge white mustache, and the deep scar acrosshis forehead.

But in order to be re-assured, and to feel confident, it was enoughto look at his broad face, at once energetic and debonair, his cleareye, in which shone the loyalty of his soul, and his thick red lips,which had never opened to utter an untruth.

At this moment, however, he was hardly in possession of all hisfaculties.

That valiant man, that old soldier, was timid; and he would havefelt much more at ease under the fire of a battery than in thathumble parlor in the Rue St. Gilles, under the uneasy glance ofMaxence and Mme. Favoral.

Having bowed, having made a little friendly sign to Mlle. Gilberte,he had stopped short, two steps from the door, his hat in his hand.

Eloquence was not his forte. He had prepared himself well inadvance; but though he kept coughing: hum! broum! though he keptrunning his finger around his shirt-collar to facilitate hisdelivery, the beginning of his speech stuck in his throat.

Seeing how urgent it was to come to his assistance,"I was expecting you, sir," said Mlle. Gilberte. With thisencouragement, he advanced towards Mme. Favoral, and, bowing low,"I see that my presence surprises you, madame," he began; "and Imust confess that - hum! - it does not surprise me less than it doesyou. But extraordinary circumstances require exceptional action.

On any other occasion, I would not fall upon you like a bombshell.

But we had no time to waste in ceremonious formalities. I will,therefore, ask your leave to introduce myself: I am General Countde Villegre."Maxence had brought him a chair.

"I am ready to hear you, sir," said Mme. Favoral. He sat down, and,with a further effort,"I suppose, madame," he resumed, " that your daughter has explainedto you our singular situation, which, as I had the honor of tellingyou - hum! - is not strictly in accordance with social usage."Mlle. Gilberte interrupted him.

"When you came in, general, I was only just beginning to explainthe facts to my mother and brother."The old soldier made a gesture, and a face which showed plainly thathe did not much relish the prospect of a somewhat difficultexplanation - broum! Nevertheless, making up his mind bravely,"It is very simple," he said: "I come in behalf of M. de Tregars."Maxence fairly bounced upon his chair. That was the very name whichhe had just heard mentioned by the commissary of police.

"Tregars!" he repeated in a tone of immense surprise.

"Yes," said M. de Villegre. "Do you know him, by chance?"No, sir, no!""Marius de Tregars is the son of the most honest man I ever knew, ofthe best friend I ever had, - of the Marquis de Tregars, in a word,who died of grief a few years ago, after - hum! - some quiteinexplicable - broum! - reverses of fortune. Marius could not bedearer to me, if he were my own son. He has lost his parents: Ihave no relatives; and I have transferred to him all the feelingsof affection which still remained at the bottom of my old hea............