world (there was no
blinking the fact, whatever might be thought of the propriety), cried,
"Ah, you 're safe?"

"How touching that is!" thought the Captain. "She has a hundred causes
for anxiety, but her first question is, 'You're safe?'" This was she
whom he renounced, and this was she whom the Count of Fieramondi
deceived. What were her trifling indiscretions beside her husband's
infamy--the infamy betrayed and proved by the picture and inscription
in the locket?

"I am safe, and you are safe," said he, returning the pressure of her
hand. "And where is our friend outside?"

"I don't know--I lay hidden till I heard him go. I don't know where he
went. What do you mean by saying I'm safe?"

"I have got rid of Paul de Roustache. He 'll trouble you no more."

"What?" Wonder and admiration sparkled in her eyes. Because he was
enabled to see them, Dieppe was grateful to her for having replaced and
relighted his candle. "Yes, I was afraid in the dark," she said,
noticing his glance at it. "But it 's almost burnt out. We must be
quick. Is the trouble with M. de Roustache really over?"

"Absolutely."

"And we owe it to you? But you--why, you 're wet!"

"It's not surprising," said he, smiling. "There 's a flood in the
river, and I have crossed it twice."

"What did you cross the river for?"

"I had to escort M. de Roustache across, and he 's a bad swimmer. He
jumped in, and--"

"You saved his life?"

"Don't reproach me, my friend. It is an instinct; and--er--he carried
the pocket-book of our friend outside; and the pocket-book had my money
in it, you know."

"Your money? I thought you had only fifty francs?"

"The money due to me, I should say. Fifty thousand francs." The
Captain unconsciously assumed an air of some importance as he mentioned
this sum. "So I was bound to pursue friend Paul," he ended.

"It was dangerous?"

"Oh, no, no," he murmured. "Coming back, though, was rather
difficult," he continued. "The carriage was very heavy, and we had
some ado to--"

"The carriage! What carriage?" she cried with eagerness.

"Oddly enough, I found a lady travelling--from Sasellano, I understood;
and I had the privilege of aiding her to cross the ford." Dieppe spoke
with a calculated lightness.

"A lady--a lady from Sasellano? What sort of a lady? What was she
like?"

The Captain was watching her closely. Her agitation was unmistakable.
Did she know, did she suspect, anything?