closed and directed it; then, tearing the
original into pieces, he flung it under the table; then calling the
waiter, he said, 'Here are twenty francs; take this letter to the
address on the envelope. Bring the answer to my house; here is my card.'
The man ran out of the room, and the nobleman, only waiting to pay his
bill, followed almost immediately. The morsels of white paper beneath
the table had a strange fascination for me; I longed to gather them up,
to put them together, and to learn the secret of the strange drama that
had been acted before me. But, as I have told you, then I was honest and
virtuous, and the meanness of such an act revolted all my instincts; and
I should have overcome this temptation, had it not been for one of those
trifling incidents which too often form the turning-point of a life.
A draught from a suddenly opened door caught one of these morsels of
paper, and wafted it to my feet. I stooped and picked it up, and read
on it the ominous words, 'blow out my brains!' I had not been mistaken,
then, and was face to face with some coming tragedy. Having once
yielded, I made no further efforts at self-control. The waiters were
running about; no one paid any attention to me; and creeping to the
place that the unknown had occupied, I obtained possession of two more
scraps of paper. Upon one I read, 'shame and horror!' upon the other,
'one hundred thousand francs by to-night.' The meaning of these few
words were as clear as daylight to me; but for all that, I managed to
collect every atom of the torn paper, and piecing them together, read
this:--

"'CHARLES,--'I must have one hundred thousand francs to-night, and
you are the only one to whom I can apply. The shame and horror of my
position are too much for me. Can you send it me in two hours? As you
act, so I regulate my conduct. I am either saved, or I blow out my
brains.'

"You are probably surprised, Marquis, at the accuracy of my memory, and
even now I can see this scrawl as distinctly as if it were before me. At
the end of this scrawl was a signature, one of the best known commercial
names, which, in common with other financial houses, was struggling
against a panic on the Bourse. My discovery disturbed me very much. I
forgot all my miseries, and thought only of his. Were not our positions
entirely similar? But by degrees a hideous temptation began to creep
into my heart, and, as the minutes passed by, assume more vivid color
and more tangible