cover it?" And as if he felt the need of convincing himself that
he was not deceived, he continued, speaking to himself rather than to
his mother: "The hand-writing is not unlike Marguerite's, it's true; but
it's only a clever counterfeit. And who doesn't know that all writings
in pencil resemble each other more or less? Besides, it's certain that
Marguerite, who is simplicity itself, would not have made use of such
pretentious melodramatic phrases. How could I have been so stupid as to
believe that she ever thought or wrote this: 'One cannot break a promise
made to the dying; I shall keep mine even though my heart break.' And
again: 'Forget, therefore, the girl who has loved you so much: she is
now the betrothed of another, and honor requires she should forget even
your name!'" He read these passages with an extravagant emphasis, which
heightened their absurdity. "And what shall I say of these mistakes in
spelling?" he resumed. "You noticed them, of course, mother?--command
is written with a single 'm,' and supplicate with one 'p.' These are
certainly not mistakes that we can attribute to haste! Ignorance is
proved since the blunder is always the same. The forger is evidently in
the habit of omitting one of the double letters."

Madame Ferailleur listened with an impassive face. "And these mistakes
are all the more inexcusable since this letter is only a copy," she
observed, quietly.

"What?"

"Yes; a verbatim copy. Yesterday evening, while I was examining it for
the twentieth time, it occurred to me that I had read some portions of
it before. Where, and under what circumstances? It was a puzzle which
kept me awake most of the night. But this morning I suddenly remembered
a book which I had seen in the hands of the workmen at the factory,
and which I had often laughed over. So, while I was out this morning I
entered a book-shop, and purchased the volume. That's it, there on the
corner of the mantel-shelf. Take it and see."

Pascal obeyed, and noticed with surprise that the work was entitled,
"The Indispensable and Complete Letter-writer, for Both Sexes, in Every
Condition of Life."

"Now turn to the page I have marked," said Madame Ferailleur.

He did so, and read: "(Model 198). Letter from a young lady who has
promised her dying father to renounce the man she loves, and to bestow
her hand upon another." Doubt was no longer possible. Line for line and
word for word, the mistakes in spelling excepted, the note was