e young adventurer at the
Hotel Terminus at Lyons one day in November, and that three days later
Ralph and Jean were married at the Mairie. Then while the old
_restaurateur_ returned to London, the happy pair went South to Nice for
their honeymoon.

While there Adolphe Carlier called one day at their hotel--a modest one
near the station--and was introduced to Jean.

From the first moment they met, Adolphe's heart went forth to her in
pity and sympathy. Though a thief bred and born, and the son of a man
who had spent the greater part of his life in prison, Carlier was ever
chivalrous, even considerate, towards a woman. He was coarser, and
outwardly more brutal than Ralph Ansell, whose veneer of polish she, in
her ignorance of life, found so attractive, yet at heart, though an
expert burglar, and utterly unscrupulous towards his fellows, he was,
nevertheless, always honourable towards a woman.

When their hands clasped and their eyes met upon their introduction,
she instantly lowered hers, for, with a woman's intuition, she knew that
in this companion of her husband's she had a true friend. And he, on his
part, became filled with admiration of her great beauty, her wonderful
eyes, and her soft, musical voice.

And he turned away, affecting unconcern, although in secret he sighed
for her and for her future. She was far too good to be the wife of such
a man as Ralph Ansell.

Months went on, and to Jean the mystery surrounding Ralph became more
and more obscure.

At first they had lived quietly near Bordeaux, now and then receiving
visits from Adolphe. On such occasions the two men would be closeted
together for hours, talking confidentially in undertones. Then, two
months after their marriage, came a telegram one day, stating that her
father had died suddenly. Both went at once to London, only to find that
poor old Libert had died deeply in debt. Indeed, there remained
insufficient money to pay for the funeral.

Therefore, having seen her father buried at Highgate, Jean returned with
Ralph to Paris, where they first took a small, cosy apartment of five
rooms in the Austerlitz quarter; but as funds decreased, they were
forced to economise and sink lower in the social scale--to the
Montmartre.

To Jean, who had believed Ralph to be possessed of ample means, all this
came as a gradual disillusionment. Her husband began quickly to neglect
her, to spend his days in the _cafes_, often in Adolphe's company, while
the me