r for the interior, once a friend of mine."

"How once?" stammered Debray; "what do you mean?"

"I say so, M. Debray, because I have no friends now, and I ought not
to have any. I thank you for having recognized me, sir." Debray stepped
forward, and cordially pressed the hand of his interlocutor. "Believe
me, dear Albert," he said, with all the emotion he was capable of
feeling,--"believe me, I feel deeply for your misfortunes, and if in any
way I can serve you, I am yours."

"Thank you, sir," said Albert, smiling. "In the midst of our
misfortunes, we are still rich enough not to require assistance from any
one. We are leaving Paris, and when our journey is paid, we shall have
5,000 francs left." The blood mounted to the temples of Debray, who held
a million in his pocket-book, and unimaginative as he was he could not
help reflecting that the same house had contained two women, one of
whom, justly dishonored, had left it poor with 1,500,000. francs under
her cloak, while the other, unjustly stricken, but sublime in her
misfortune, was yet rich with a few deniers. This parallel disturbed his
usual politeness, the philosophy he witnessed appalled him, he muttered
a few words of general civility and ran down-stairs.

That day the minister's clerks and the subordinates had a great deal to
put up with from his ill-humor. But that same night, he found himself
the possessor of a fine house, situated on the Boulevard de la
Madeleine, and an income of 50,000 livres. The next day, just as Debray
was signing the deed, that is about five o'clock in the afternoon,
Madame de Morcerf, after having affectionately embraced her son, entered
the coupe of the diligence, which closed upon her. A man was hidden in
Lafitte's banking-house, behind one of the little arched windows which
are placed above each desk; he saw Mercedes enter the diligence, and he
also saw Albert withdraw. Then he passed his hand across his forehead,
which was clouded with doubt. "Alas," he exclaimed, "how can I restore
the happiness I have taken away from these poor innocent creatures? God
help me!"

Chapter 107. The Lions' Den.

One division of La Force, in which the most dangerous and desperate
prisoners are confined, is called the court of Saint-Bernard. The
prisoners, in their expressive language, have named it the "Lions' Den,"
probably because the captives possess teeth which frequently gnaw the
bars, and sometimes the keepers also. It is a prison wit