rom the lips that had grown pale beneath her paint.

"Tiens!" she said. "You will do the mourning for us both, it seems.
Well, as I never loved him, you cannot expect me to cry at his death.
And I shall get his money, I suppose; the money that he grudged me in
his lifetime: it will be mine now, and I can spend it as I choose. I
thank you for your information, mademoiselle, and I pardon you the
insults which you have heaped upon my head to-night. If I have my
regrets, I do not exhibit them in your fashion. Good-night,
mademoiselle: il me faut absolument de l'eau de vie--I can wait for it
no longer. Bon soir!"

She turned and left the house as rapidly as she had come. Lettice sank
down upon a couch, and hid her face in the cushion. She could not shed a
tear, but she was trembling from head to foot, and felt sick and faint.

As Cora sauntered along the pavement, turning her head restlessly from
side to side, her attention was caught by a young woman carrying a
child, who went in at Lettice's door. Mrs. Walcott stopped short, and
put her finger to her forehead with a bewildered air. "Now where have I
seen that face?" she muttered to herself.

After a moment's reflection, she burst into a short, harsh laugh, and
snapped her fingers at the blind of Lettice's room. "I know now," she
said. "Oh yes, I know where I have seen that face before. This will
justify me in the eyes of the world as nothing else has done. Bon soir,
Madame Lettice. Oh, I have a new weapon against you now."

And then she went upon her way, leaving behind her the echo of her
wicked laugh upon the still night air.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

A BRAVE PURPOSE.

If Lettice had not seen Cora when she did, she would probably have gone
to the prison that evening, to ask whether she could not arrange for
Alan's funeral, as she could not arrange for his release. Her spirit was
crushed by the blow which had fallen on her, but she could not give way
so long as his body was there to receive the last token of her love.
When the Frenchwoman left her it was too late to see Captain Haynes,
even if she had been physically able to make the attempt.

It never occurred to her to think that any mistake could have been made
in the information she had received from her landlady. The struggle
which had been going on in her mind, the consciousness that she had
broken with all her old friends, the exaltation which had possessed her
since she resolved to give to Alan all that w