say that I was unable to see M. de Thaller, and that I do not
care to face once more the impudence of his valets. You will,
therefore, have to take back the fifteen thousand francs he had
brought to your father. Place them in his own hands; and don't
give them up without a receipt."

After some further recommendations, he went off, leaving Mme. Favoral
alone at last with her children. She was about to call Maxence to
account for his absence, when Mlle. Gilberte interrupted her.

"I have to speak to you, mother," she said with a singular
precipitation, "and to you also, brother."

And at once she began telling them of M. Costeclar's strange visit,
his inconceivable audacity, and his offensive declarations.

Maxence was fairly stamping with rage.

"And I was not here," he exclaimed, "to put him out of the house!"

But another was there; and this was just what Mlle. Gilberte wished
to come to. But the avowal was difficult, painful even; and it was
not without some degree of confusion that she resumed at last,

"You have suspected for a long time, mother, that I was hiding
something from you. When you questioned me, I lied; not that I had
any thing to blush for, but because I feared for you my father's
anger."

Her mother and her brother were gazing at her with a look of blank
amazement.

"Yes, I had a secret," she continued. "Boldly, without consulting
any one, trusting the sole inspirations of my heart, I had engaged
my life to a stranger: I had selected the man whose wife I wished
to be."

Mme. Favoral raised her hands to heaven.

"But this is sheer madness!" she said.

"Unfortunately," went on the girl, "between that man, my affianced
husband before God, and myself, rose a terrible obstacle. He was
poor: he thought my father very rich; and he had asked me a delay
of three years to conquer a fortune which might enable him to aspire
to my hand."

She stopped: all the blood in her veins was rushing to her face.

"This morning," she said, "at the news of our disaster, he came . . ."

"Here?" interrupted Maxence.

"Yes, brother, here. He arrived at the very moment, when, basely
insulted by M. Costeclar, I commanded him to withdraw, and, instead
of going, he was walking towards me with outstretched arms."

"He dared to penetrate here!" murmured Mme. Favoral.

"Yes, mother: he came in just in time to seize M. Costeclar by his
coat-collar, and to throw him at my feet, livid with fear, and
begging