my honor as a husband. Wait for
me here. I will come back."

He darted toward the narrow staircase; and Claire, relying upon his
word, remained with Planus during one of those supreme moments of
uncertainty which seem interminable because of all the conjectures with
which they are thronged.

A few moments later the sound of hurried steps, the rustling of silk
filled the dark and narrow staircase. Sidonie appeared first, in ball
costume, gorgeously arrayed and so pale that the jewels that glistened
everywhere on her dead-white flesh seemed more alive than she, as if
they were scattered over the cold marble of a statue. The breathlessness
due to dancing, the trembling of intense excitement and her rapid
descent, caused her to shake from head to foot, and her floating
ribbons, her ruffles, her flowers, her rich and fashionable attire
drooped tragically about her. Risler followed her, laden with
jewel-cases, caskets, and papers. Upon reaching his apartments he
had pounced upon his wife's desk, seized everything valuable that it
contained, jewels, certificates, title-deeds of the house at Asnieres;
then, standing in the doorway, he had shouted into the ballroom:

"Madame Risler!"

She had run quickly to him, and that brief scene had in no wise
disturbed the guests, then at the height of the evening's enjoyment.
When she saw her husband standing in front of the desk, the drawers
broken open and overturned on the carpet with the multitude of trifles
they contained, she realized that something terrible was taking place.

"Come at once," said Risler; "I know all."

She tried to assume an innocent, dignified attitude; but he seized her
by the arm with such force that Frantz's words came to her mind: "It
will kill him perhaps, but he will kill you first." As she was afraid
of death, she allowed herself to be led away without resistance, and had
not even the strength to lie.

"Where are we going?" she asked, in a low voice.

Risler did not answer. She had only time to throw over her shoulders,
with the care for herself that never failed her, a light tulle veil,
and he dragged her, pushed her, rather, down the stairs leading to the
counting-room, which he descended at the same time, his steps close upon
hers, fearing that his prey would escape.

"There!" he said, as he entered the room. "We have stolen, we make
restitution. Look, Planus, you can raise money with all this stuff." And
he placed on the cashier's desk all th