stabbed, the crowbar
with which the door had been forced, and the five notes of a thousand
francs each, which the Chourineur had fetched out of the next apartment.

The negro doctor was seated at one side of the table, the Chourineur on
the other. The Schoolmaster, tightly bound with cords, and unable to
move a limb, was placed in a large armchair on casters, in the middle of
the salon. The people who had brought in this man had withdrawn, and
Rodolph, the doctor, the Chourineur, and the assassin were left alone.
Rodolph was no longer out of temper, but calm, sad, and collected; he
was about to discharge a solemn, self-imposed, and important duty. The
doctor was lost in meditation. The Chourineur felt an indescribable
fear; he could not take his eyes off Rodolph. The Schoolmaster's
countenance was ghastly; he was in an agony of fear. The most profound
silence reigned within; nothing was heard but the splash, splash of the
rain without, as it fell from the roof on to the pavement. Rodolph
addressed the Schoolmaster:

"Anselm Duresnel, you have escaped from the Bagne at Rochefort, where
you were condemned for life for forgery, robbery, and murder!"

"It's false!" said the Schoolmaster, in a hollow voice, and looking
about him with his restless and glaring glance.

"You are Anselm Duresnel, and you murdered and robbed a cattle-dealer on
the road to Poissy--"

"It's a lie!"

"You shall confess it presently."

The scoundrel looked at Rodolph with an air of astonishment.

"This very night you came here to rob, and you have stabbed the master
of this house--"

"It was you who suggested this robbery!" assuming an air of assurance.
"I was attacked, and I defended myself."

"The man you stabbed did not attack you,--he was unarmed. True, I did
suggest this robbery to you,--I'll tell you why. Last night only, after
having robbed a man and woman in the Cite, you offered to kill me for a
thousand francs--"

"I heard him," said the Chourineur.

The Schoolmaster darted at him a glance of deadliest hate.

Rodolph continued:

"You see there was no occasion to tempt you to do mischief."

"You are not my judge, and I will not answer you another question."

[Illustration: "_Rodolph Addressed the Schoolmaster_"
Etching by Mercier, after the drawing by Frank T. Merrill]

"I'll tell you why I proposed this robbery to you. I knew you were a
runaway convict,--you know the parents of the unfortunate girl, all
whose misfortu