de Chalusse. He exclaimed, with
an oath, that I was right--that he was weary of all this deception and
concealment, and that he would make arrangements to have me near him.
'Yes,' he concluded, embracing me, 'the die is cast, come what may!'

"However, these measures required a certain delay; and, in the meantime,
he decided to install me in Paris, which is the only place where one can
successfully hide from prying eyes. He purchased a small but convenient
house, surrounded by a garden, in the neighborhood of the Luxembourg
Palace, and here he installed me, with two old women and a trusty
man-servant. As I needed a chaperon, he went in quest of one, and found
Madame Leon."

On hearing this name, the magistrate gave the young girl a searching
look, as if he hoped to discover what estimate she had formed of the
housekeeper's character, as well as what degree of confidence she had
granted her. But Mademoiselle Marguerite's face remained unaltered in
expression.

"After so many trials," she resumed, "I thought I should now find rest
and peace. Yes, I believed so; and the few months I spent in that quiet
house will be the happiest of my life--I am sure of it. Judge of my
surprise when, on going down into the little garden on the second day
after my arrival, I saw the young man whom I had met at Cannes, and
whose face had lingered in my memory for more than two years as the
type of all that was best and noblest in the human countenance. He was
standing near the gate. A cloud passed before my eyes. What mysterious
freak of fate had caused him to pause there at that particular moment?
This much is certain, he recognized me as I had recognized him. He
bowed, smiling somewhat, and I fled indoors again, indignant with myself
for not being angry at his audacity. I made many plans that day, but the
next morning, at the same hour, I hid myself behind a Venetian blind,
and saw him pause at the gate, and gaze at the garden with evident
anxiety. I soon learned that he lived near by, with his widowed mother;
and twice a day, when he went to the Palais de Justice and returned, he
passed my home."

Her cheeks were crimson now, her eyes were lowered, and she was
evidently embarrassed. But suddenly, as if ashamed of her blushes, she
proudly raised her head, and said, in a firmer voice: "Shall I tell you
our simple story? Is it necessary? I should not have concealed anything
that has passed from my mother, if I had been so happy as to pos