usehold articles. Then, lifting a
heavy pile, she showed Jack a casket. "Guess what is in this," Zenaide
said, with a laugh; "it contains my dowry, my dear little dowry, that
in a fortnight will belong to M. Maugin. Ah, when I think of it, I could
sing and dance with joy!"

And the girl held out her skirts with each hand, and executed an
elephantine gambol, shaking the casket she still held in her hand.
Suddenly she stopped; some one had rapped on the wall.

"Let the boy go to bed," said her stepmother in an irritated tone; "you
know he must be up early."

A little ashamed, the future Madame Maugin shut her wardrobe, and said
good night to Jack, who ascended his ladder; and five minutes later the
little house, wrapped in snow and rocked by the wind, slept like its
neighbors in the silence of the night.

There is no light in the parlor of the Rondic mansion save that which
comes from the fitful gleam of the dying fire in the chimney. A woman
sat there, and at her feet knelt a man in vehement supplication.

"I entreat you," he whispered, "if you love me--"

If she loved him! Had she not at his command left the door open that he
might enter? Had she not adorned herself in the dress and ornaments that
he liked, to make herself beautiful in his eyes? What could it be that
he was asking her now to grant to him? How was it that she, usually so
weak, was now so strong in her denials? Let us listen for a moment.

"No, no," she answered, indignantly, "it is impossible."

"But I only ask it for two days, Clarisse. With these six thousand
francs I will pay the five thousand I have lost, and with the other
thousand I will conquer fortune."

She looked at him with an expression of absolute terror.

"No, no," she repeated, "it cannot be. You must find some other way."

"But there is none."

"Listen. I have a rich friend; I will write to her and ask her to lend
me the money."

"But I must have it to-morrow."

"Well, then, find the Director; tell him the truth."

"And he will dismiss me instantly. No; my plan is much the best. In two
days I will restore the money."

"You only say that."

"I swear it." And, seeing that his words did not convince her, he added,
"I had better have said nothing to you, but have gone at once to the
wardrobe and taken what I needed."

But she answered, trembling, for she feared that he would yet do this,
"Do you not know that Zenaide counts her money every day? This very
night she showe