As Lucien took his place in the caleche beside the so-called Spanish
diplomatist, Eve rose to give her child a draught of milk, found the
fatal letter in the cradle, and read it. A sudden cold chilled the damps
of morning slumber, dizziness came over her, she could not see. She
called aloud to Marion and Kolb.

"Has my brother gone out?" she asked, and Kolb answered at once with,
"Yes, Montame, pefore tay."

"Keep this that I am going to tell you a profound secret," said Eve. "My
brother has gone no doubt to make away with himself. Hurry, both of you,
make inquiries cautiously, and look along the river."

Eve was left alone in a dull stupor, dreadful to see. Her trouble was
at its height when Petit-Claud came in at seven o'clock to talk over
the steps to be taken in David's case. At such a time, any voice in the
world may speak, and we let them speak.

"Our poor, dear David is in prison, madame," so began Petit-Claud. "I
foresaw all along that it would end in this. I advised him at the time
to go into partnership with his competitors the Cointets; for while
your husband has simply the idea, they have the means of putting it into
practical shape. So as soon as I heard of his arrest yesterday evening,
what did I do but hurry away to find the Cointets and try to obtain such
concessions as might satisfy you. If you try to keep the discovery to
yourselves, you will continue to live a life of shifts and chicanery.
You must give in, or else when you are exhausted and at the last gasp,
you will end by making a bargain with some capitalist or other, and
perhaps to your own detriment, whereas to-day I hope to see you make
a good one with MM. Cointet. In this way you will save yourselves the
hardships and the misery of the inventor's duel with the greed of the
capitalist and the indifference of the public. Let us see! If the MM.
Cointet should pay your debts--if, over and above your debts, they
should pay you a further sum of money down, whether or no the invention
succeeds; while at the same time it is thoroughly understood that if it
succeeds a certain proportion of the profits of working the patent shall
be yours, would you not be doing very well?--You yourself, madame, would
then be the proprietor of the plant in the printing-office. You would
sell the business, no doubt; it is quite worth twenty thousand francs. I
will undertake to find you a buyer at that price.

"Now if you draw up a deed of partnership with the MM.