nor, looking at De Chemerant with
profound astonishment.

"This letter was written by De Crussol a short time previous to his
death?"

"Yes, sir."

"This letter relates to the inhabitant of Devil's Cliff; is this not
true, baron?"

"Yes, sir," said the governor, more and more surprised to find De
Chemerant so well informed.

"Monsieur de Crussol assured you in this letter, upon his honor, that
this woman called Blue Beard was innocent of the crimes imputed to her?"

"Yes, sir, but how can you know?"

Monsieur de Chemerant interrupted the governor and said, "Allow me to
say, sir, that the king ordered me to make inquiries of you, and not
replies. I have the honor to ask of you if, in this letter, the
deceased, De Crussol, did not vouch for the entire innocence of the
widow surnamed Blue Beard?"

"Yes, sir."

"He affirmed to you, on the faith of a Christian, and at the moment when
he was about to appear before his God, also on his word as a gentleman,
that you could, without prejudice to the service of the king, leave this
woman at liberty and in peace?"

"Yes, sir."

"And that, finally, the Reverend Father Griffen, a man of well-known
piety and the most honorable character, would be further surety for
this woman, if you demanded it of him?"

"Yes, sir, and, in truth, in a confidential interview, very special and
very secret----"

"Which you had with Father Griffen, baron, this religious man confirmed
to you what De Crussol had stated in his last letter, and you made him,
in form, a promise not to disturb the aforesaid widow?"

The governor, unable to fathom his being so well informed, gazed at De
Chemerant in bewilderment. The kind of emotion which this examination,
joined to the oppressiveness of the air, occasioned, was choking the
baron. After a short pause he said resolutely to De Chemerant, "Faith,
sir, one must accommodate oneself to one's situation. I must ask
permission to take off my coat. This trimming of gold and silver weighs
a hundred pounds, I believe."

"Take it off, take it off, baron; the coat does not make the governor,"
he said gravely, with a bow; then he continued: "Thanks to the advice of
De Crussol and the Reverend Father Griffen, the dweller at Devil's Cliff
has not been disturbed, baron? You have not visited the place, in spite
of the strange stories about it?"

"No, sir, I assure you, the recommendation of the persons so respectable
as Father Griffen and the deceased De Cr