rt answered sadly; "so I will be careful not to say it,
Berthe. But, apart from this last panic, the reason for which I cannot
tell you, have you ever known me do, or heard me say, anything that was
utterly devoid of reason, in all the time that I have been in your
charge?"

Struck by the remark, the attendant, in spite of herself, was obliged to
confess:

"No, I never have--that is----"

"That is," Mme. Rambert finished for her, "I have sometimes protested to
you that I was the victim of an abominable persecution, and that there
was a tragic mystery in my life: in short, that if I was shut up here,
it was because someone wanted me to be shut up. Come now, Berthe, has
it never occurred to you that perhaps I was telling the truth?"

The attendant had been shaken for a minute by the calm self-possession
of her patient; now she resumed her professional manner.

"Don't worry any more, Mme. Rambert, for you know as well as I do that
Dr. Biron acknowledges that you are cured now. You are going to leave
the place and resume your ordinary life."

"Ah, Berthe," said Mme. Rambert, twisting and untwisting her hands, "if
you only knew! Why, if I leave this sanatorium, or rather if the doctor
sends me back to my family, I shall certainly be put in some other
sanatorium before two days are past! No, it isn't merely an idea that I
have got into my head," she went on as the attendant protested. "Listen:
during the whole ten months that I have been here, I have never once
protested that I was not insane. I was quite glad to be in this place!
For I felt safe here. But now I am not sure of that. I must go, but I
must not go merely to return to my husband! I must be free, free to go
to those who will help me to escape from the horrible trap in which I
have spent the last few years of my life!"

Mme. Rambert's earnest tone convinced the attendant in spite of her own
instinct.

"Yes?" she said enquiringly.

"I suppose you know that I am rich, Berthe?" Mme. Rambert went on. "I
have always been generous to you, and higher fees are paid for me here
than are paid for any other patient. Would you like to make sure of your
future for ever, and quite easily? I have heard you talk about getting
married. Shall I give you a dot? You might lose your situation here, but
if you trust me I will make it up to you a hundredfold, if you will help
me to escape from this place! And it cannot be too soon! I have not a
minute to lose!"

Berthe tried