gnized the features of Jacques Rollet.

From the circumstance of his wife preceding him, the figure was
not observed by De Chaulieu till he was lifting his foot to place
it on the top stair: the sudden shock caused him to miss the step,
and without uttering a sound, he fell back, and never stopped until
he reached the stones at the bottom.

The screams of Natalie brought the _concierge_ from below and the
maids from above, and an attempt was made to raise the unfortunate
man from the ground; but with cries of anguish he besought them
to desist.

"Let me," he said, "die here. O God! what a dreadful vengeance
is thine! Natalie, Natalie," he exclaimed to his wife, who was
kneeling beside him, "to win fame, and fortune, and yourself, I
committed a dreadful crime. With lying words I argued away the
life of a fellow-creature, whom, whilst I uttered them, I half
believed to be innocent; and now, when I have attained all I desired
and reached the summit of my hopes, the Almighty has sent him back
upon the earth to blast me with the sight. Three times this day--three
times this day! Again! Again! Again!" And as he spoke, his wild
and dilated eyes fixed themselves on one of the individuals that
surrounded him.

"He is delirious," said they.

"No," said the stranger, "what he says is true enough, at least in
part." And, bending over the expiring man, he added, "May Heaven
forgive you, Antoine de Chaulieu! I am no apparition, but the veritable
Jacques Rollet, who was saved by one who well knew my innocence. I
may name him, for he is beyond the reach of the law now: it was
Claperon, the jailer, who, in a fit of jealousy, had himself killed
Alphonse de Bellefonds."

"But--but there were three," gasped Antoine.

"Yes, a miserable idiot, who had been so long in confinement for
a murder that he was forgotten by the authorities, was substituted
for me. At length I obtained, through the assistance of my sister,
the position of _concierge_ in the Hotel Marboeuf, in the Rue Grange
Bateliere. I entered on my new place yesterday evening, and was
desired to awaken the gentleman on the third floor at seven o'clock.
When I entered the room to do so, you were asleep; but before I
had time to speak, you awoke, and I recognized your features in
the glass. Knowing that I could not vindicate my innocence if you
chose to seize me, I fled, and seeing an omnibus starting for St.
Denis, I got on it with a vague idea of getting on to Calais and