res."

"How so? The fortune is not her gift, but is inherited from my
relations."

"Certainly; and that is why M. and Madame de Saint-Meran have died; that
is why M. Noirtier was sentenced the day he made you his heir; that
is why you, in your turn, are to die--it is because your father would
inherit your property, and your brother, his only son, succeed to his."

"Edward? Poor child! Are all these crimes committed on his account?"

"Ah, then you at length understand?"

"Heaven grant that this may not be visited upon him!"

"Valentine, you are an angel!"

"But why is my grandfather allowed to live?"

"It was considered, that you dead, the fortune would naturally revert
to your brother, unless he were disinherited; and besides, the crime
appearing useless, it would be folly to commit it."

"And is it possible that this frightful combination of crimes has been
invented by a woman?"

"Do you recollect in the arbor of the Hotel des Postes, at Perugia,
seeing a man in a brown cloak, whom your stepmother was questioning
upon aqua tofana? Well, ever since then, the infernal project has been
ripening in her brain."

"Ah, then, indeed, sir," said the sweet girl, bathed in tears, "I see
that I am condemned to die!"

"No, Valentine, for I have foreseen all their plots; no, your enemy is
conquered since we know her, and you will live, Valentine--live to
be happy yourself, and to confer happiness upon a noble heart; but to
insure this you must rely on me."

"Command me, sir--what am I to do?"

"You must blindly take what I give you."

"Alas, were it only for my own sake, I should prefer to die!"

"You must not confide in any one--not even in your father."

"My father is not engaged in this fearful plot, is he, sir?" asked
Valentine, clasping her hands.

"No; and yet your father, a man accustomed to judicial accusations,
ought to have known that all these deaths have not happened naturally;
it is he who should have watched over you--he should have occupied my
place--he should have emptied that glass--he should have risen against
the assassin. Spectre against spectre!" he murmured in a low voice, as
he concluded his sentence.

"Sir," said Valentine, "I will do all I can to live, for there are
two beings whose existence depends upon mine--my grandfather and
Maximilian."

"I will watch over them as I have over you."

"Well, sir, do as you will with me;" and then she added, in a low voice,
"oh, heavens, what w