m my heart had instinctively
chosen, and that it was my duty to follow him and share his destiny. And
thus I fled with him, although I thought I left a corpse behind me--the
corpse of my only brother."

M. Wilkie was actually so much interested that he forgot his anxiety
concerning his attitude, and no longer thought of M. de Coralth and the
Marquis de Valorsay. He even sprang up, and exclaimed: "Amazing!"

But Madame d'Argeles had already resumed: "Such was my great,
inexcusable, irreparable fault. I have told you the whole truth, without
trying either to conceal or justify anything. Listen to my chastisement!
On our arrival at Le Havre the next day, Arthur confessed that he was
greatly embarrassed financially. Owing to our precipitate flight, he had
not had time to realize the property he possessed--at least so he told
me--a banker, on whom he had depended, had moreover failed him, and he
had not sufficient money to pay our passage to New York. This amazed
me. My education had been absurd, like that of most young girls in
my station. I knew nothing of real life, of its requirements and
difficulties. I knew, of course, that there were rich people and poor
people, that money was a necessity, and that those who did not possess
it would stoop to any meanness to obtain it. But all this was not very
clear in my mind, and I never suspected that a few francs more or
less would be a matter of vital importance. So I was not in the least
prepared for the request to which this confession served as preface, and
Arthur Gordon was obliged to ask me point-blank if I did not happen to
have some money about me, or some jewelry which could be converted into
money. I gave him all I had, my purse containing a few louis, a ring and
a necklace, with a handsome diamond cross attached to it. However,
the total value was comparatively small, and such was Arthur's
disappointment that he made a remark which frightened me even then,
though I did not fully understand its shameful meaning until afterward:
'A woman who repairs to a rendezvous should always have all the
valuables she possesses about her. One never knows what may happen.'

"Want of money was keeping us prisoners at Le Havre, when Arthur Gordon
chanced to meet an old acquaintance, who was the captain of an American
sailing vessel. He confided his embarrassment to his friend, and the
latter, whose vessel was to sail at the end of the same week, kindly
offered us a free passage. The vo