If you do not carry out my orders,
I shall get up and go myself.'

"'Madame,' said the man as he came into the salon, 'you heard M. le
Comte; what ought I to do?'

"'Pretend to go to the attorney, and when you come back tell your
master that his man of business is forty leagues away from Paris on
an important lawsuit. Say that he is expected back at the end of the
week.--Sick people never know how ill they are,' thought the Countess;
'he will wait till the man comes home.'

"The doctor had said on the previous evening that the Count could
scarcely live through the day. When the servant came back two hours
later to give that hopeless answer, the dying man seemed to be greatly
agitated.

"'Oh God!' he cried again and again, 'I put my trust in none but Thee.'

"For a long while he lay and gazed at his son, and spoke in a feeble
voice at last.

"'Ernest, my boy, you are very young; but you have a good heart; you can
understand, no doubt, that a promise given to a dying man is sacred;
a promise to a father... Do you feel that you can be trusted with a
secret, and keep it so well and so closely that even your mother herself
shall not know that you have a secret to keep? There is no one else in
this house whom I can trust to-day. You will not betray my trust, will
you?'

"'No, father.'

"'Very well, then, Ernest, in a minute or two I will give you a sealed
packet that belongs to M. Derville; you must take such care of it that
no one can know that you have it; then you must slip out of the house
and put the letter into the post-box at the corner.'

"'Yes, father.'

"'Can I depend upon you?'

"'Yes, father.'

"'Come and kiss me. You have made death less bitter to me, dear boy.
In six or seven years' time you will understand the importance of
this secret, and you will be well rewarded then for your quickness and
obedience, you will know then how much I love you. Leave me alone for a
minute, and let no one--no matter whom--come in meanwhile.'

"Ernest went out and saw his mother standing in the next room.

"'Ernest,' said she, 'come here.'

"She sat down, drew her son to her knees, and clasped him in her arms,
and held him tightly to her heart.

"'Ernest, your father said something to you just now.'

"'Yes, mamma.'

"'What did he say?'

"'I cannot repeat it, mamma.'

"'Oh, my dear child!' cried the Countess, kissing him in rapture. 'You
have kept your secret; how glad that makes me! Never tell a lie; n