there is a thing not clear. If the Syndic
knows what is in the letters, why does he not seize them and Basterga
with them--the traitor with the proof of his treason?"

"Because he is afraid of the Grand Duke," Louis cried. "If he seize
Basterga and miss the proof of his treason, what then?"

"Then he is not sure that the letters are there?" Anne replied keenly.

"He is not sure that they would be there when he came to seize them,"
Louis answered. "Basterga might have a dozen confederates in the house
ready at a sign to destroy the letters."

She nodded.

"And that is what they will make us out to be," he continued, his voice
sinking as his fears returned upon him. "The Syndic threatened as much;
and such things have happened a hundred times. I tell you, if we do not
do something, we shall suffer with him. But do it, and he is in your
power! And if he has any hold on you, it is gone!"

The blood surged to her face. Hold upon her? Ah! Rage--or was it
hope?--lightened in her eyes and transformed her face. She was thinking,
he guessed, of the hundred insults she had undergone at Basterga's
hands, of the shame-compelling taunts to which she had been forced to
listen, of the loathed touch she had been forced to bear. If there was
aught in her mind beyond this, any motive deeper or more divine, he did
not perceive it; enough, that he saw that she wavered, and he pressed
her.

"You will be free," he cried passionately. "Freed from him! Freed from
fear of him! Say you will do it! Say that you will do it," he continued
fervently, and he made as if he would kneel before her. "Do it, and I
swear that never shall a word to displease you pass my lips."

With a glance of scorn that pierced even his selfishness, "Swear only,"
she said, "that you have told me the truth! I ask no more."

"I swear it on my salvation!"

She drew a deep breath.

"I will do it," she said. "The steel box which is chained to the wall?"

"Yes, yes," he panted, "you cannot mistake it. The key----"

"I know where he keeps it."

She said no more, but turned, and regarding his thanks as little as if
they had been the wind passing by her, she opened the door, crossed the
living-room, and vanished up the staircase. He followed her as far as
the foot of the stairs, and there stood listening and shifting his feet
and biting his nails in an agony of suspense. She had not deigned to bid
him watch for Basterga's coming, but he did so; his eyes on the outer