t the window at
the end of the passage had been unfastened.

A little later Dr. Legrand hurried along the Rue Charonne, caring
nothing that people looked after him. He was a doctor of lunatics, they
said, possibly he had gone mad himself. They laughed and took no further
notice of him. He traversed several streets in the Faubourg St. Antoine,
evidently familiar ground to him, and presently entered a tumbledown
tenement. Going hastily to the top floor, he knocked with his knuckles
at a closed door, two low, single knocks, and a double one. It was
evidently a signal, for the door was opened at once and Lucien Bruslart
stood before him.

"So soon!" he exclaimed.

Legrand entered, pushing Bruslart back into the room, and shut the door.

"She's gone! Escaped! Last night!"

Bruslart showed no sign of surprise. He sat on the edge of the table and
waited for more information. Legrand had no more to give. In his hurried
journey from the Rue Charonne he had thought of many things, and now
made no mention of the fact that another of his guests had also
disappeared.

"How did she manage to escape out of your clutches?" asked Bruslart,
after a pause.

"I don't know, and does it matter? She is gone, that is enough."

"Bad for you, Legrand. She will explain how she came to be in your
house, and your friends will be asking why you took any one they did not
send to you. An awkward question, Legrand."

"I shall easily answer that. The difficulty is for you, my friend. How
will you explain your dealings with an aristocrat for whom all Paris is
hunting?"

"More easily perhaps than you imagine."

"You cannot, you cannot. I am the only man who can help you."

"Your help does not seem very effectual, does it?" said Bruslart. "You
were to have come this morning with certain papers assuring me that a
certain troublesome person was in the hands of the authorities, and in
return you were to receive a certain fee. Well, you have no papers,
therefore you get no fee."

"But what will you do?"

"Wait here. I have been safe so far."

"It is impossible," said Legrand. "I shall be asked questions, I shall
have to answer them. I know Citizen Bruslart as a good patriot. He
brings me a lady to take charge of. What could I do but obey? I shall be
asked where Citizen Bruslart is now."

"I see you contemplate betraying me, is that it?"

"No, no, but I must answer questions."

"How do you propose to help betraying me then?" Bruslart ask