ain, and started back in increased
alarm.

"Madame!" cried the newcomer, "it is me! Don't you know me?"

She stood rooted to the spot.

"Adolphe!" she gasped, staring at him.

"Yes, madame. I came here, not knowing that this was your _chateau_,"
he explained, in a low whisper. "I found the window open just before
that man arrived. I came in and took your pearls. Here they are!"

And he drew them from the pocket of his shabby jacket and handed them
back to her.

"Where--where did you come from? You have saved my life," she faltered
in blank amazement.

"I came out of prison nine months ago," was his reply. "They brought me
to Paris, but I could find no work, so I tramped to Havre, hoping to get
a job at the docks, or to work my passage to New York. But all to no
avail, so I--I had, alas! to return to my old profession. And the first
house I enter I find, to my dismay, is yours!"

"You heard us talking?" she asked quickly.

"I heard everything--and I understood everything," was the quick reply.
"That man," he went on, "robbed me and gave me deliberately into the
hands of the police. I swore to be avenged, and I have killed him--as he
deserves. He was an assassin, and I am his executioner!"

"But the servants will be alarmed by the shot!" she gasped suddenly.
"There is no time to lose. You must want money. I shall send you some to
the _Poste Restante_ in Havre--to-morrow. Now go--or you may be
discovered."

"But how will you explain?" he asked hurriedly. "Ah, madame, through
those long, dreary years at Devil's Island I have thought of you, and
wondered--and wondered what had become of you. I am so glad to know
that you are rich and happy, as you assuredly deserve."

She sighed, for a flood of memories came over her.

"Yes, Adolphe, I am greatly indebted to you. Twice you have saved me
from that man's violence. Ah, I shall not forget."

"But, madame, think of yourself! If he comes--if the servants come--how
can you explain his body in your room? Let me think!"

Already Jean fancied she heard sounds of someone moving in the house,
and of subdued and frightened voices.

Yes, the servants had been alarmed, and were searching from room to
room! Not an instant was to be lost.

"I have an idea!" exclaimed "The Eel." "Here, take this, madame," and he
held out his revolver to her with both hands.

But she shrank back.

"Take it--take it, I beg of you," he implored.

She obeyed, moving like one in a dream.