hat she ate
nothing, whilst subsequently the confidential maid who had undressed
her vowed that Madame had spent the whole night walking up and down
the room.

Thus two agonizing days went by; agonizing they were to everybody.
Madame la Marquise became more and more agitated, more and more
hysterical as time went on, and the servants could not help but notice
this, even though she made light of the whole affair, and desperate
efforts to control herself. The heads of her household, the
major-domo, the confidential maid, the chef de cuisine, did venture to
drop a hint or two as to the possibility of an accident or of foul
play, and the desirability of consulting the police; but Madame would
not hear a word of it; she became very angry at the suggestion, and
declared that she was perfectly well aware of M. le Marquis's
whereabouts, that he was well and would return home almost
immediately.

As was only natural, tongues presently began to wag. Soon it was
common talk in Paris that M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour had
disappeared from his home and that Madame was trying to put a bold
face upon the occurrence. There were surmises and there was gossip--
oh! interminable and long-winded gossip! Minute circumstances in
connexion with M. le Marquis's private life and Mme. la Marquise's
affairs were freely discussed in the cafes, the clubs and restaurants,
and as no one knew the facts of the case, surmises soon became very
wild.

On the third day of M. le Marquis's disappearance Papa Mosenstein
returned to Paris from Vichy, where he had just completed his annual
cure. He arrived at Rue de Grammont at three o'clock in the afternoon,
demanded to see Mme. la Marquise at once, and then remained closeted
with her in her apartment for over an hour. After which he sent for
the inspector of police of the section, with the result that that very
same evening M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour was found locked up in an
humble apartment on the top floor of a house in the Rue Daunou, not
ten minutes' walk from his own house. When the police--acting on
information supplied to them by M. Mauruss Mosenstein--forced their
way into that apartment, they were horrified to find M. le Marquis de
Firmin-Latour there, tied hand and foot with cords to a chair, his
likely calls for help smothered by a woollen shawl wound loosely round
the lower part of his face.

He was half dead with inanition, and was conveyed speechless and
helpless to his home in the