iness. She came expecting to see only la Peyrade,
and she found herself received by an unknown man with a haughty manner,
while the barrister, who had merely bowed to her, said not a word;
moreover, the scene took place in a newspaper office, and it is a
well-known fact that to pious persons especially all that relates to the
press is infernal and diabolical.

"Well," said Thuillier to the barrister, "it seems to me that nothing
hinders you from explaining to madame why you have sent for her."

In order to leave no loophole for suspicion in Thuillier's mind la
Peyrade knew that he must put his question bluntly and without the
slightest preparation; he therefore said to her "ex abrupto":--

"We wish to ask you, madame, if it is not true that about two and a
half months ago you placed in my hands, subject to interest, the sum, in
round numbers, of twenty-five thousand francs."

Though she felt the eyes of Thuillier and those of la Peyrade upon
her, Madame Lambert, under the shock of this question fired at her
point-blank, could not restrain a start.

"Heavens!" she exclaimed, "twenty-five thousand francs! and where should
I get such a sum as that?"

La Peyrade gave no sign on his face of the vexation he might be
supposed to feel. As for Thuillier, who now looked at him with sorrowful
commiseration, he merely said:--

"You see, my friend!"

"So," resumed la Peyrade, "you are very certain that you did not place
in my hands the sum of twenty-five thousand francs; you declare this,
you affirm it?"

"Why, monsieur! did you ever hear of such a sum as that in the pocket
of a poor woman like me? The little that I had, as everybody knows,
has gone to eke out the housekeeping of that poor dear gentleman whose
servant I have been for more than twenty years."

"This," said Thuillier, pompously, "seems to me categorical."

La Peyrade still did not show the slightest sign of annoyance; on the
contrary, he seemed to be playing into Thuillier's hand.

"You hear, my dear Thuillier," he said, "and if necessary I shall call
for your testimony, that madame here declares that she did not possess
twenty-five thousand francs and could not therefore have placed them
in my hands. Now, as the notary Dupuis, in whose hands I fancied I had
placed them, left Paris this morning for Brussels carrying with him
the money of all his clients, I have no account with madame, by her own
showing, and the absconding of the notary--"

"Has the no