, it is all one to me! It is your own affair! But"--his voice
rose suddenly in uncontrollable passion--"but, _sacre nom de Dieu_,
there is something that is my affair! That cloak! That hat! Where
did you get them?" He was clutching with one hand at the garment,
pulling at it with vicious twitches to emphasise his words.

She drew back from him, the blood hot and burning in her cheeks. A
night or a thousand with Jean! He thought--he thought--_that_! And he
talked of her hat and cloak! What did they matter, what did anything
matter, except that--that shameful thought of his that stabbed at her,
and, with its sudden pain, brought a horrible giddiness and a horrible
ringing in her ears?

"Answer me!" he cried fiercely. "Why are you wearing those things now?
Where did you get them? Why were you masquerading last night in that
hat and cloak, that belong to Mademoiselle Bliss, when I saw you enter
here?"

"Mademoiselle Bliss!"--she could only repeat the words numbly. "It is
her hat and coat?" The room seemed to swim around her. She put her
hands to her eyes. A new terror was creeping upon her. The hat and
cloak belonged to Mademoiselle Bliss! Vaguely, dimly, understanding
began to come. He had thought that she was Mademoiselle Bliss, and
because of that--no, no! The _bon Dieu_ would not let her suffer that
too! It was so terrible--everything was so terrible this night--there
could not be anything more, for it was already beyond what she could
bear. She stretched out her hands to him imploringly. "It--it is not
because you thought that I was Mademoiselle Bliss"--she was pleading
piteously for a denial--"that--that you--that it is because of me you
fought with Jean, and that Jean is--is--"

"Are you trying to play with me?" he rasped out savagely. "What else
but that? You were here all night last night. Yes, I thought you were
Mademoiselle Bliss! Yes, it was because of that I would have killed
Monsieur Laparde! Is that plain enough, mademoiselle? And now will
you answer me? Where did you get those things, and for what hellish
reason were you wearing them? Answer me, I tell you!" He caught her,
and shook her violently. "Answer me!" he fumed.

"Yes, answer him!" came a mocking voice suddenly from the archway of
the salon.

With a cry, Marie-Louise tore herself away--and, swaying, stared wildly
across the room. It was mademoiselle! It was Mademoiselle Bliss
standing there between the portie