e a shadow through the lodge, and
ran up-stairs without a sound escaping under the touch of her light
foot. No one ever asked her where she was going. Her face, therefore,
like that of the gentleman, was perfectly unknown to the two concierges,
who were perhaps unequalled throughout the capital for discretion.
We need not say she stopped at the second floor. Then she tapped in a
peculiar manner at a door, which after being opened to admit her was
again fastened, and curiosity penetrated no farther. They used the same
precautions in leaving as in entering the house. The lady always left
first, and as soon as she had stepped into her carriage, it drove away,
sometimes towards the right hand, sometimes to the left; then about
twenty minutes afterwards the gentleman would also leave, buried in his
cravat or concealed by his handkerchief.

The day after Monte Cristo had called upon Danglars, the mysterious
lodger entered at ten o'clock in the morning instead of four in the
afternoon. Almost directly afterwards, without the usual interval of
time, a cab arrived, and the veiled lady ran hastily up-stairs. The
door opened, but before it could be closed, the lady exclaimed: "Oh,
Lucien--oh, my friend!" The concierge therefore heard for the first time
that the lodger's name was Lucien; still, as he was the very perfection
of a door-keeper, he made up his mind not to tell his wife. "Well,
what is the matter, my dear?" asked the gentleman whose name the lady's
agitation revealed; "tell me what is the matter."

"Oh, Lucien, can I confide in you?"

"Of course, you know you can do so. But what can be the matter?
Your note of this morning has completely bewildered me. This
precipitation--this unusual appointment. Come, ease me of my anxiety, or
else frighten me at once."

"Lucien, a great event has happened!" said the lady, glancing
inquiringly at Lucien,--"M. Danglars left last night!"

"Left?--M. Danglars left? Where has he gone?"

"I do not know."

"What do you mean? Has he gone intending not to return?"

"Undoubtedly;--at ten o'clock at night his horses took him to the
barrier of Charenton; there a post-chaise was waiting for him--he
entered it with his valet de chambre, saying that he was going to
Fontainebleau."

"Then what did you mean"--

"Stay--he left a letter for me."

"A letter?"

"Yes; read it." And the baroness took from her pocket a letter which she
gave to Debray. Debray paused a moment before reading, a