it as you would guard your precious eyes.
And now let me see it."

CHAPTER VII.

GENTILISKA DUBARRY.

"And Iska,
And Iska,
And Iska's a lady."

The girl went to a little trunk, unlocked it, and brought out the small
silver casket. She touched a spring and the top flew open revealing a
packet of papers, from which she selected one brown with age, and worn
almost into squares by folding. She laid it before Sybil, who carefully
unfolded it, and scrutinized it.

"There, you see!" said the lady at length, speaking in triumph. "There
is the name of Philip Dubarry, as plain as a proctor's clerk could write
it. Not Dewberry, mind you, but Dubarry. See for yourself."

"So it is!" exclaimed the girl in amazement. "Now do you know I never
examined it so closely as to see the difference in the spelling of the
name before? We were always called Dewberry; and Dewberry I thought we
were."

"No; you were and are Dubarry, and in all human probability the sole
heiress of this great manor."

"Stop a bit; oh, my eye! I mean, oh, my nose!"

"What's the matter?"

"I smell a mice!"

"What do you mean?"

"Satan knows I am a princess in disguise, and that's the very reason why
he wants to marry me."

"Please be clear, if you can't be brilliant."

"Why, I'm as clear as mud. Satan has found out that I am the rightful
heiress of the Dubarry manor, and he wishes to make me his wife in order
to become master of the estate," the girl explained.

Sybil raised her eyes in surprise, then dropped them again upon the
license, and repeated:

"So Satan wishes to wed you."

"You bet. And I never could imagine why a gentleman of his cultivated
tastes should want me for a wife."

"Did he ever happen to see that marriage license?"

"Oh, yes, he has seen it and studied it. He told me it was an important
document, and advised me to take good care of it."

"Then that is probably the way in which he discovered your right to the
Dubarry estate."

"To be sure it was; for from the time he first saw that paper, he began
to treat me with more respect and attention. And I do believe that was
also the reason why he came down to this place."

While the girl spoke, Sybil was thinking hard and fast. Was the
gentleman brigand the husband of Rosa Blondelle? Had he deliberately
murdered his wife that he might marry this young gipsy heiress of the
great Dubarry manor? But the girl would not let the lady reflect in
peace fo