we exchanged words.

"It is a small thing upon which to condemn a man, Mademoiselle," I
said to her one morning when chance left us together. "I told you what
I thought to be the truth. Fate ruled that I was after all a poor
man--but I have not been proved a liar."

"I do not understand you," she answered, with hard eyes. "You are such
a strange mixture of good and bad."

An hour afterwards I received a telegram advising me that the body of
the Vicomte de Clericy had been found in the river at Passy.

Chapter XIV

A Little Cloud

"Rien ne nous rend si grand qu'une grande douleur."

Alphonse Giraud and I--between whom had sprung up that friendship of
contrasts which Madame de Clericy had foreseen--were in constant
communication. My summons brought him to the Hotel Clericy at once,
where he found the ladies already apprised of their bereavement. He
and I set off again for Passy, by train this time, as our need was
more urgent. I despatched instructions to the Vicomte's lawyer to
follow by the next train--bringing the undertaker with him. There was
no heir to my patron's titles, but it seemed necessary to observe
every formality at this the dramatic extinction of a long and noble
line.

As we drove through the streets, the newsboys were shrieking some
tidings which we had neither time nor inclination to inquire into at
that moment. It was a hot July day, and Paris should have been half
empty, but the pavements were crowded.

"What is the matter?" I said to Alphonse Giraud, who was too busy with
his horse to look about. "See the faces of the men at the cafes--they
are wild with excitement and some look scared. There is news afoot."

"My good friend," returned Giraud, "I was in bed when your note
reached me. Besides, I only read the sporting columns of the papers."

So we took train to Passy, without learning what it was that seemed to
be stirring Paris as a squall stirs the sea.

At Passy there was indeed grim work awaiting us. The Prefet himself
was kind enough to busy himself in a matter which was scarcely within
his province. He had instructed the police to conduct us to his house,
where he received us most hospitably.

"Neither of you is related to the Vicomte?" he said, interrogatively;
and we stated our case at once.

"It is well that you did not bring Madame with you," he said. "You
forbade her to come?"

And he looked at me with a keenness which, I trust, impressed the
police officia