--it is
useless now to inform you of it. All I can tell you, my dear young lady,
is that, when I had finished my reading, I ran to Abbe d'Aigrigny's, to
convince him of the error into which he had fallen with regard to you. It
was impossible then to find him; but yesterday morning I told him plainly
what I thought. He only appeared surprised to find that I could think at
all. He received my communications with contemptuous silence. I thought
him deceived; I continued my remonstrances, but quite in vain. He ordered
me to follow him to the house, where the testament of your ancestor was
to be opened. I was so blind with regard to the Abbe d'Aigrigny, that it
required the successive arrivals of the soldier, of his son, and of
Marshal Simon's father, to open my eyes thoroughly. Their indignation
unveiled to me the extent of a conspiracy, plotted long ago, and carried
on with terrible ability. Then, I understood why you were confined here
as a lunatic; why the daughters of Marshal Simon were imprisoned in a
convent. Then a thousand recollections returned to my mind; fragments of
letters and statements, which had been given me to copy or decipher, and
of which I had never been able to find the explanation, put me on the
track of this odious machination. To express then and there the sudden
horror I felt at these crimes, would have been to ruin all. I did not
make this mistake. I opposed cunning to cunning; I appeared even more
eager than Abbe d'Aigrigny. Had this immense inheritance been destined
for me alone, I could not have shown myself more grasping and merciless.
Thanks to this stratagem, Abbe d'Aigrigny had no suspicion. A
providential accident having rescued the inheritance from his hands, he
left the house in a state of profound consternation. For my part, I felt
indescribable joy; for I had now the means of saving and avenging you, my
dear young lady. As usual, I went yesterday evening to my place of
business. During the absence of the abbe, it was easy for me to peruse
the correspondence relative to the inheritance. In this way I was able to
unite all the threads of this immense plot. Oh! then, my dear young lady,
I remained, struck with horror, in presence of the discoveries that I
made, and that I never should have made under any other circumstances."

"What discoveries, sir?"

"There are some secrets which are terrible to those who possess them. Do
not ask me to explain, my dear young lady; but, in this examinati