still outside. "This is very strange!"
thought Mademoiselle Marguerite. "Was I mistaken? I must convince
myself." And, obeying a mysterious influence, stronger than her own
will, she left the room and went down the stairs. She had reached the
hall, when the garden door suddenly opened, and Madame Leon came in. The
lights in the hall were burning brightly, so that it was easy to observe
the housekeeper's manner and countenance. She was panting for breath,
like a person who had been running. She was very pale, and her dress was
disordered. Her cap-strings were untied, and her cap had slipped from
her head and was hanging over her shoulders. "What is the matter with
you?" asked Mademoiselle Marguerite in astonishment. "Where have you
been?"

On seeing the girl Madame Leon recoiled. Should she fly off or remain?
She hesitated for an instant; and it was easy to read her hesitation in
her eyes. She decided to remain; but it was with a constrained smile
and in an unnatural voice that she replied: "Why do you speak to me like
that, my dear young lady? One might suppose you were angry with me. You
must know very well that I've been in the garden!"

"At this hour of the night?"

"MON DIEU! yes--and not for pleasure, I assure you--not by any
means--I--I----" She was evidently seeking for some excuse; and, for
a moment or two, she stammered forth one incoherent sentence after
another, trying to gain time and imploring Heaven to grant her an
inspiration.

"Well?" insisted Mademoiselle Marguerite, impatiently. "Why did you go
out?"

"Ah! I--I--thought I heard Mirza barking in the garden. I thought she
had been forgotten in all the confusion, and that the poor creature had
been shut out, so I summoned all my courage, and----"

Mirza was an old spaniel that M. de Chalusse had been very fond of, and
the animal's caprices were respected by all the inmates of the house.

"That's very strange," remarked Mademoiselle Marguerite, "for when you
rose to leave the room, half an hour ago, Mirza was sleeping at your
feet."

"What--really--is it possible?"

"It's certain."

But the worthy woman had already recovered her self-possession and her
accustomed loquacity at the same time. "Ah! my dear young lady," she
said, bravely, "I'm in such sorrow that I'm losing my senses completely.
Still, it was only from the kindest of motives that I ventured into the
garden, and I had scarcely entered it before I saw something white run
away from