smile upon her face as she defied him.

And at the door was the pale face of Philippe Lacroix.

Leroux turned on me and kicked me savagely, and dragged the table to
the far end of the room, and struck me repeatedly, while I struggled
like a madman. The oaths and execrations that streamed from my lips
seemed to be uttered by another man, for I heard them indifferently, or
rather something that was I, deep in the maze of my personality, heard
them--not that pitiful, puny, goaded thing that fought in its bonds
until it ceased, panting and exhausted.

There followed a long silence, while Leroux strode furiously about the
room. At last he stopped; he seemed to have made up his mind.

"I understand now," he said, nodding his head. "So you are the man who
took this woman to the Merrimac. And then to your home, and Louis
d'Epernay followed you there, and, naturally, you killed him. Well, it
is intelligible. You were not acting for Carson after all, but were
infatuated with this woman. Well--but----" He wheeled and turned to
Jacqueline. "I will marry you still!"

She did not deign to answer him nor to wipe away the blood that
trickled down her chin.

"Do you know why?" he bawled.

She raised her eyes indifferently to his. I saw that, though her
spirit was unbroken, she was weary to death.

"Because you become part heir of the seigniory by your husband's
death!" he shouted; and then he took Charles Duchaine by the arm and
began shaking him violently.

"Listen, you old fool!" he cried. "Your son-in-law is dead--Louis
d'Epernay!"

Charles Duchaine looked at Leroux in his mild way. He had put one arm
round his daughter, and he seemed to understand that Simon was
maltreating her, and to wish to defend her; but his wits were still
wandering, and I saw that he understood only a little of what was
passing.

"Louis d'Epernay is dead!" cried Simon, shaking the old man again.

"Well, well!" answered Duchaine, stroking his long beard with his free
hand. "So Louis is dead! Did you kill him, Simon?"

"No, I didn't kill him," Simon sneered. "Wake up a little more,
Duchaine. Do you know what happens now he is dead?"

"I expect you to get some more money, Simon," answered the old man with
an ingenuousness that made the reply more stinging than any intended
irony.

Leroux burst into a mirthless laugh.

"You are quite right, Duchaine," he answered. "And I am not going to
mince matters. I have a hold over you,