r me against this woman, do you?"

"Oh, no, no, never. But I must know first how bad it must be, when it is
worth three hundred dollars, which you call such great money?"

"Well," said I, all out of patience, "if you know of any occasion when
this woman has been with any man as his wife, or his mistress, and can
give names, dates, and places, and under what circumstances, and this
information on examination proves so reliable that we can get other
witnesses besides yourself--persons of credibility and reputation--to
testify to it, I will pay you three hundred dollars. Isn't that plain
enough?"

"Will you put it to paper?"

"No, sir, you have my word for it, that's all."

Le Compte tapped the floor with his delicate foot a moment, and I saw
the impostor was in real misery. He had a sort of affection for the
woman, which she had more than reciprocated. He could lean on the
strong, daring nature she possessed, and go to her with all his troubles
and disappointments and get help. She had promised him that, as soon as
she had mulcted Lyon of the hundred thousand dollars, he should share it
with her in his own beautiful Paris. All his self-interest laid in and
with the woman; but need for money was pressing, and there were a
million other women as impressible to his charms as she had been. Here
was an opportunity to make a few hundred dollars by betraying her; but
in doing so he still might not get the money, and she might at once
discover from what source the information had come, and he knew enough
about Mrs. Winslow to be sure that she dared any mode of revenge that
best suited her fancy, and he had a wholesome fear of her. I could see
that all these things were flitting through his mind, as plainly as the
reader can see them upon this printed page, and to some extent pitied
his weakness and indecision.

"Or," said I encouragingly, "as you undoubtedly know Mrs. Winslow
intimately, and are very much in her company, if you know of any
occasion when she had, while here in Rochester or in the vicinity, say
Batavia, Syracuse, or Port Charlotte, for instance, gone with some one
of her many favorites, and under an assumed name--Brown, Jones, or
anything of the kind--to a hotel where they had been assigned a room,
and had occupied it together for several hours, and you could put us on
track of persons of reliability who would be willing to come into court
and swear to such facts--I presume there are many persons who could an