ered Hauteville with a grim smile, "he didn't go in the second
cabin, _he went in the steerage!_"

"In the steerage!" she murmured aghast.

"And during the five or six months here in Paris, while he was dancing
attendance on you, he was practically without resources."

"I know better," she insisted; "he took me out all the time and spent money
freely."

The judge shook his head. "He spent on you what he got by pawning his
jewelry, by gambling, and sometimes by not eating. We have the facts."

"_Mon Dieu!_" she shuddered. "And I never knew it! I never suspected it!"

"This is to make it quite clear that he loved you as very few women have
been loved. Now I want to know why you quarreled with him six months ago?"

"I didn't quarrel with him," she answered faintly.

"You know what I mean. What caused the trouble between you?"

"I--I don't know."

"Madam, I am trying to be patient, I wish to spare your feelings in every
possible way, but I _must_ have the truth. Was the trouble caused by this
other woman?"

"No, it came before he met her."

"Ah! Which one of you was responsible for it?"

"I don't know; really, I don't know," she insisted with a weary gesture.

"Then I must do what I can to _make_ you know," he replied impatiently,
and reaching forward, he pressed the electric bell.

"Bring back the prisoner," he ordered, as the guard appeared, and a moment
later Kittredge was again in his place beside Maitre Pleindeaux, with the
woman a few feet distant.

"Now," began Hauteville, addressing both Lloyd and Mrs. Wilmott, "I come to
an important point. I have here a packet of letters written by you,
Kittredge, to this lady. You have already identified the handwriting as
your own; and you, madam, will not deny that these letters were addressed
to you. You admit that, do you not?"

"Yes," answered Pussy weakly.

The judge turned over the letters and selected one from which he read a
passage full of passion. "Would any man write words like that to a woman
unless he were her lover? Do you think he would?" He turned to Mrs.
Wilmott, who sat silent, her eyes on the floor. "What do _you_ say,
Kittredge?"

Lloyd met the judge's eyes unflinchingly, but he did not answer.

Again Hauteville turned over the letters and selected another one.

"Listen to this, both of you." And he read a long passage from a letter
overwhelmingly compromising. There were references to the woman's physical
charm, to the beauty of her