advanced in turn, signed his or her name, or made
a cross, and then retired. Madame Leon read in the judge's face that she
also was expected to withdraw; and she was reluctantly leaving the room,
when Mademoiselle Marguerite detained her to ask: "Are you quite sure
that nothing has come for me to-day?"

"Nothing, mademoiselle; I went in person to inquire of the concierge."

"Did you post my letter last night?"

"Oh! my dear young lady, can you doubt it?"

The young girl stifled a sigh, and then, with a gesture of dismissal,
she remarked, "M. de Fondege must be sent for."

"The General?"

"Yes."

"I will send for him at once," replied the housekeeper; and thereupon
she left the room, closing the door behind her with a vicious slam.

VIII.

The justice of the peace and Mademoiselle Marguerite were at last alone
in M. de Chalusse's study. This room, which the count had preferred
above all others, was a spacious, magnificent, but rather gloomy
apartment, with lofty walls and dark, richly carved furniture. Its
present aspect was more than ever solemn and lugubrious, for it gave
one a chill to see the bands of white tape affixed to the locks of the
cabinets and bookcases. When the magistrate had installed himself in the
count's arm-chair, and the girl had taken a seat near him, they remained
looking at each other in silence for a few moments. The magistrate
was asking himself how he should begin. Having fathomed Mademoiselle
Marguerite's extreme sensitiveness and reserve, he said to himself that
if he offended or alarmed her, she would refuse him her confidence, in
which case he would be powerless to serve her as he wished to do. He
had, in fact, an almost passionate desire to be of service to her,
feeling himself drawn toward her by an inexplicable feeling of sympathy,
in which esteem, respect, and admiration alike were blended, though he
had only known her for a few hours. Still, he must make a beginning.
"Mademoiselle," he said, at last, "I abstained from questioning you
before the servants--and if I take the liberty of doing so now, it
is not, believe me, out of any idle curiosity; moreover, you are not
compelled to answer me. But you are young--and I am an old man; and it
is my duty--even if my heart did not urge me to do so--to offer you the
aid of my experience----"

"Speak, monsieur," interrupted Marguerite. "I will answer your questions
frankly, or else not answer them at all."

"To resume, the