h of them shuddered.

An abominable thought had flashed across their evil minds, and without a
word or look they understood each other.

Louis broke the ominous silence, by abruptly saying:

"Then you refuse to disappear if I pay you a hundred and fifty thousand
francs? Think it over before deciding: it is not too late yet."

"I have fully thought it over. I know you will not attempt to deceive
me any more. Between certain ease, and the probability of an immense
fortune, I choose the latter at all risks. I will share your success or
your failure. We will swim or sink together."

"And you will follow my instructions?"

"Blindly."

Raoul must have been very certain of Louis's intentions of resorting to
the most dangerous extremities, must have known exactly what he intended
to do; for he did not ask him a single question. Perhaps he dared not.
Perhaps he preferred doubt to shocking certainty, as if he could thus
escape the remorse attendant upon criminal complicity.

"In the first place," said Louis, "you must at once return to Paris."

"I will be there in forty-eight hours."

"You must be very intimate at Mme. Fauvel's, and keep me informed of
everything that takes place in the family."

"I understand."

Louis laid his hand upon Raoul's shoulder, as if to impress upon his
mind what he was about to say.

"You have a sure means of being restored to your mother's confidence and
affection, by blaming me for everything that has happened to distress
her. Abuse me constantly. The more odious you render me in her eyes and
those of Madeleine, the better you will serve me. Nothing would please
me more than to be denied admittance to the house when I return to
Paris. You must say that you have quarrelled with me, and that, if I
still come to see you, it is because you cannot prevent it, and you will
never voluntarily have any intercourse with me. That is the scheme; you
can develop it."

Raoul listened to these strange instructions with astonishment.

"What!" he cried: "you adore Madeleine, and take this means of showing
it? An odd way of carrying on a courtship, I must confess. I will be
shot if I can comprehend."

"There is no necessity for your comprehending."

"All right," said Raoul submissively; "if you say so."

Then Louis reflected that no one could properly execute a commission
without having at least an idea of its nature.

"Did you ever hear," he asked Raoul, "of the man who burnt down his
lady-lo