eeks were crimson, and an
unwonted energy sparkled in her eyes. "Let us finish this business," she
said, curtly; "I am expecting some one."

M. Fortunat bowed with a rather pompous, but at the same time obsequious
air. "I have only a few more words to say," he declared. "M. de Chalusse
having no other heir, I have come to acquaint you with your rights."

"Very good; continue, if you please."

"You have only to present yourself, and establish your identity, to be
put in possession of your brother's property."

Madame d'Argeles gave the agent a look of mingled irony and distrust;
and after a moment's reflection, she replied: "I am very grateful
for your interest, monsieur; but if I have any rights, it is not my
intention to urge them."

It seemed to M. Fortunat as if he were suddenly falling from some
immense height. "You are not in earnest," he exclaimed, "or you are
ignorant of the fact that M. de Chalusse leaves perhaps twenty millions
behind him."

"My course is decided on, monsieur; irrevocably decided on."

"Very well, madame; but it often happens that the court institutes
inquiries for the heirs of large fortunes, and this may happen in your
case."

"I should reply that I was not a member of the Chalusse family, and that
would end it. Startled by the news of my brother's death, I allowed my
secret to escape me. I shall know how to keep it in future."

Anger succeeded astonishment in M. Fortunat's mind. "Madame, madame,
what can you be thinking of?" he cried, impetuously. "Accept--in
Heaven's name--accept this inheritance; if not for yourself, for the
sake of----"

In his excitement, he was about to commit a terrible blunder. He saw it
in time, and checked himself.

"For the sake of whom?" asked Madame d'Argeles, in an altered voice.

"For the sake of Mademoiselle Marguerite, madame; for the sake of this
poor child, who is your niece. The count never having acknowledged her
as his daughter, she will be left actually without bread, while her
father's millions go to enrich the state."

"That will suffice, monsieur; I will think of it. And now, enough!"

The dismissal was so imperious that M. Fortunat bowed and went off,
completely bewildered by this denouement. "She's crazy!" he said to
himself. "Crazy in the fullest sense of the word. She refuses the
count's millions from a silly fear of telling people that she belongs
to the Chalusse family. She threatened her brother, but she would never
have carr