informed."

"I hope, sir," said Dr. Baleinier, recovering his coolness, "that you
will at least communicate the declaration that has been made to you."

"It has been declared to me, sir," said the magistrate, in a stern voice,
"that Mdlle. de Cardoville was brought here by stratagem."

"By stratagem?"

"Yes, sir."

"It is true. The lady was brought here by stratagem," answered the Jesuit
of the short robe, after a moment's silence.

"You confess it, then?" said M. de Gernande.

"Certainly I do, sir. I admit that I had recourse to means which we are
unfortunately too often obliged to employ, when persons who most need our
assistance are unconscious of their own sad state."

"But, sir," replied the magistrate, "it has also been declared to me,
that Mdlle. de Cardoville never required such aid."

"That, sir, is a question of medical jurisprudence, which has to be
examined and discussed," said M. Baleinier, recovering his assurance.

"It will, indeed, sir, be seriously discussed; for you are accused of
confining Mdlle. De Cardoville, while in the full possession of all her
faculties."

"And may I ask you for what purpose?" said M. de Baleinier, with a slight
shrug of the shoulders, and in a tone of irony. "What interest had I to
commit such a crime, even admitting that my reputation did not place me
above so odious and absurd a charge?"

"You are said to have acted, sir, in furtherance of a family plot,
devised against Mdlle. de Cardoville for a pecuniary motive."

"And who has dared, sir, to make so calumnious a charge?" cried Dr.
Baleinier, with indignant warmth. "Who has had the audacity to accuse a
respectable, and I dare to say, respected man, of having been the
accomplice in such infamy?"

"I," said Rodin, coldly.

"You!" cried Dr. Baleinier, falling back two steps, as if thunderstruck.

"Yes, I accuse you," repeated Rodin, in a clear sharp voice.

"Yes, it was this gentleman who came to me this morning, with ample
proofs, to demand my interference in favor of Mdlle. de Cardoville," said
the magistrate, drawing back a little, to give Adrienne the opportunity
of seeing her defender.

Throughout this scene, Rodin's name had not hitherto been mentioned.
Mdlle. de Cardoville had often heard speak of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's
secretary in no very favorable terms; but, never having seen him, she did
not know that her liberator was this very Jesuit. She therefore looked
towards him, with a glance in which w