jelly
every morning he would still drop a couple of coins into his pocket
every afternoon. But where can he spend it all? He is never seen abroad;
he goes to bed at nine, and everything looks so clean and proper over
there. Can the brute have vices that nobody knows of?"

He returned to the desk, added up the subtracted money and found a total
of five hundred and forty-five francs. Where was this deficiency to come
from? The inspection was close at hand, and if the crotchety colonel
should take it into his head to examine a single page, the murder would
be out and Burle would be done for.

This idea froze the major, who left off cursing, picturing Mme Burle
erect and despairing, and at the same time he felt his heart swell with
personal grief and shame.

"Well," he muttered, "I must first of all look into the rogue's
business; I will act afterward."

As he walked over to Burle's office he caught sight of a skirt vanishing
through the doorway. Fancying that he had a clue to the mystery, he
slipped up quietly and listened and speedily recognized Melanie's shrill
voice. She was complaining of the gentlemen of the divan. She had signed
a promissory note which she was unable to meet; the bailiffs were in
the house, and all her goods would be sold. The captain, however, barely
replied to her. He alleged that he had no money, whereupon she burst
into tears and began to coax him. But her blandishments were apparently
ineffectual, for Burle's husky voice could be heard repeating,
"Impossible! Impossible!" And finally the widow withdrew in a towering
passion. The major, amazed at the turn affairs were taking, waited a
few moments longer before entering the office, where Burle had remained
alone. He found him very calm, and despite his furious inclination to
call him names he also remained calm, determined to begin by finding out
the exact truth.

The office certainly did not look like a swindler's den. A cane-seated
chair, covered with an honest leather cushion, stood before the
captain's desk, and in a corner there was the locked safe. Summer was
coming on, and the song of a canary sounded through the open window. The
apartment was very neat and tidy, redolent of old papers, and altogether
its appearance inspired one with confidence.

"Wasn't it Melanie who was leaving here as I came along?" asked
Laguitte.

Burle shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes," he mumbled. "She has been dunning me for two hundred francs, but
she can