We have some old friends whom I ought to consult."

But Maxence, who had got over his stupor, interrupted her.

"Friends, mother!" he exclaimed. "And who are they? People in our
position have no friends. What! when we are perishing, a man of
heart holds out his hand to us, and you ask to reflect? To my
sister, who bears a name henceforth disgraced, the Marquis de
Tregars offers his name, and you think of consulting."

The poor woman was shaking her head.

"I am not the mistress, my son," she murmured; "and your father--"

"My father!" interrupted the young man,--"my father! What rights
can he have over us hereafter?" And without further discussion,
without awaiting an answer, he took his sister's hand, and,
placing it in M. de Tregars' hand,

"Ah! take her, sir," he uttered. "Never, whatever she may do, will
she acquit the debt of eternal gratitude which we this day contract
towards you."

A tremor that shook their frames, a long look which they exchanged,
betrayed alone the feelings of Marius and Mlle. Gilberte. They had
of life a too cruel experience not to mistrust their joy.

Returning to Mme. Favoral,

"You do not understand, madame," he went on, "why I should have
selected for such a step the very moment when an irreparable calamity
befalls you. One word will explain all. Being in a position to
serve you, I wished to acquire the right of doing so."

Fixing upon him a look in which the gloomiest despair could be read,

"Alas!" stammered the poor woman, "what can you do for me, sir? My
life is ended. I have but one wish left,--that of knowing where
my husband is hid. It is not for me to judge him. He has not given
me the happiness which I had, perhaps, the right to expect; but he
is my husband, he is unhappy: my duty is to join him wherever he may
be, and to share his sufferings."

She was interrupted by the servant, who was calling her at the
parlor-door, "Madame, madame!"

"What is the matter?" inquired Maxence.

"I must speak to madame at once."

Making an effort to rise and walk, Mme. Favoral went out. She was
gone but a minute; and, when she returned, her agitation had further
increased. "It is the hand of Providence, perhaps," she said. The
others were all looking at her anxiously. She took a seat, and,
addressing herself more especially to M. de Tregars,

"This is what happens," she said in a feeble voice. "M. Favoral
was in the habit of always changing his coat as soon