s he did.

Some five days afterwards, when the Duchess de Champdoce had been
pronounced out of immediate danger, one of the doctors took him
mysteriously aside. He said that he wanted to inform the Duke of a
startling, but he hoped a welcome piece of intelligence--that the
Duchess de Champdoce was in the way to present the Duke with an heir to
his title and estates.

It was the knowledge of this that had decided her not to leave her
husband's roof, and had steeled her heart against George's entreaties.
She had hesitated, and had almost yielded to the feelings of her heart,
when this thought troubled her.

Unfortunately for herself, she had not disclosed her condition to her
husband, and, at the news, all Norbert's former suspicions revived, and
his wrath rose once more to an extraordinary height. His lips grew pale,
and his eyes blazed with fury.

"Thank you, doctor!" exclaimed he. "Of course, the news is very welcome.
Good-by. I must go to the Duchess at once."

Instead of going to his wife, Norbert went and locked himself up in his
own private apartment. He had need to be alone, in order to look this
fresh complication more fully in the face, and the more he reflected,
the more convinced was he that he had been the dupe of a guilty woman.
He had begun by doubting, and he ended by being convinced that the child
was not his. Was he to accept this degraded position, and rear up as his
own the child of George de Croisenois? The child would grow up under his
own roof-tree, bear his name, and finally inherit his title and gigantic
fortune. "Never," muttered he. "No, never; for sooner than that, I will
crush the life out of it with my own hands!"

The more he thought how he should have to deceive the world by feigning
love and lavishing caresses upon this interloping child, the more he
felt that it would be impossible to perform his task. He had, however,
much to do at present. The sudden and mysterious disappearance of George
de Croisenois had created much stir and excitement in Paris, and the
letter which had been posed by the agent dispatched by Jean, instead
of explaining matters, had only deepened the mystery and caused fresh
grounds of surprise to arise in the minds of the friends of the Marquis
and the police authorities. But the disappearance of the Marquis was
only a nine days' wonder after all. Some other strange event excited the
attention of the fickle public, and George de Croisenois' name was no
longer i