. I dared not say no; and he risked it. I was very
frightened, and trembled like a leaf. Fortunately, he is very active,
and got over without hurting himself. He had come, sir, to tell me of
the misfortune which had befallen him. We first of all sat down upon the
little seat you know of, in front of the grove; then, as the rain was
falling, we took shelter in the summer house. It was past midnight when
Albert left me, quieted and almost gay. He went back in the same manner,
only with less danger, because I made him use the gardener's ladder,
which I laid down alongside the wall when he had reached the other
side."

This account, given in the simplest and most natural manner, puzzled M.
Daburon. What was he to think?

"Mademoiselle," he asked, "had the rain commenced to fall when M. Albert
climbed over the wall?"

"No, sir, the first drops fell when we were on the seat. I recollect
it very well, because he opened his umbrella, and I thought of Paul and
Virginia."

"Excuse me a minute, mademoiselle," said the magistrate.

He sat down at his desk, and rapidly wrote two letters. In the first, he
gave orders for Albert to be brought at once to his office in the Palais
de Justice. In the second, he directed a detective to go immediately to
the Faubourg St. Germain to the d'Arlange house, and examine the wall
at the bottom of the garden, and make a note of any marks of its having
been scaled, if any such existed. He explained that the wall had been
climbed twice, both before and during the rain; consequently the marks
of the going and returning would be different from each other.

He enjoined upon the detective to proceed with the utmost caution, and
to invent a plausible pretext which would explain his investigations.

Having finished writing, the magistrate rang for his servant, who soon
appeared.

"Here," said he, "are two letters, which you must take to my clerk,
Constant. Tell him to read them, and to have the orders they contain
executed at once,--at once, you understand. Run, take a cab, and be
quick! Ah! one word. If Constant is not in my office, have him sought
for; he will not be far off, as he is waiting for me. Go quickly!"

M. Daburon then turned and said to Claire: "Have you kept the letter,
mademoiselle, in which M. Albert asked for this interview?"

"Yes, sir, I even think I have it with me."

She arose, felt in her pocket, and drew out a much crumpled piece of
paper.

"Here it is!"

The invest