Baudoin," answered, from, without, a manly voice.

What followed was rapid as lightning, and must be conceived rather than
described. Hardly had the young lady drawn the bolt of the door, hardly
had Agricola Baudoin stepped across the threshold, than Djalma, with the
bound of a tiger, stabbed as it were at once, so rapid were the strokes,
both the young lady, who fell dead on the floor, and Agricola, who sank,
dangerously wounded, by the side of the unfortunate victim. This
scene of murder, rapid as thought, took place in the midst of a half
obscurity. Suddenly the faint light from the chamber was completely
extinguished, and a second after, Djalma felt his arm seized in the
darkness by an iron grasp, and the voice of Faringhea whispered: "You
are avenged. Come; we can secure our retreat." Inert, stupefied at what
he had done, Djalma offered no resistance, and let himself be dragged
by the half-caste into the inner apartment, from which there was another
way out.

When Rodin had exclaimed, in his admiration of the generative power
of thought, that the word NECKLACE had been the germ of the infernal
project he then contemplated, it was, that chance had brought to his
mind the remembrance of the too famous affair of the diamond necklace,
in which a woman, thanks to her vague resemblance to Queen Marie
Antoinette, being dressed like that princess, and favored by the
uncertainty of a twilight, had played so skillfully the part of her
unfortunate sovereign, as to make the Cardinal Prince de Rohan, though
familiar with the court, the complete dupe of the illusion. Having once
determined on his execrable design, Rodin had sent Jacques Dumoulin to
Sainte-Colombe, without telling him the real object of his mission, to
ask this experienced woman to procure a fine young girl, tall, and
with red hair. Once found, a costume exactly resembling that worn by
Adrienne, and of which the Princess de Saint-Dizier gave the description
to Rodin (though herself ignorant of this new plot), was to complete the
deception. The rest is known, or may be guessed. The unfortunate girl,
who acted as Adrienne's double, believed she was only aiding in a jest.
As for Agricola, he had received a letter, in which he was invited to
a meeting that might be of the greatest importance to Mdlle. de
Cardoville.

(43) See the strange effect of hasheesh. To the effect of this is
attributed the kind of hallucination which seized on those unhappy
persons, whom t