hed to know all. He questioned Lissac,
forcing him into a corner, and making him hesitate, for he now feared
that he would say too much, and limited himself to demanding Jouvenet's
punishment.

"As to Marianne, one would see to that after," he said.

Ah! yes, certainly, Jouvenet should be punished! How? Vaudrey could not
say, but from this moment the Prefect of Police was condemned. Guy's
arrest, which was an act of brutal aggression, was tantamount to a
dismissal signed by the Prefect himself. And Marianne! she then made a
sport of Sulpice and took him for a child or a ninny!

"Not at all. For a man who loves, that is enough," replied Lissac.

Vaudrey had flung himself into an armchair, striking his fist upon the
little table, covered with the journals that he had scarcely opened, and
absent-mindedly pushing the chair back, the better to give way to his
excessively violent threats, after the manner of weak natures.

"Do you want my advice?" Lissac abruptly asked him. "You have only what
you deserve, ah! yes, that is just it! I tell you the sober truth. A
wife like yours should never be forsaken for a creature like Marianne!"

"I love Adrienne sincerely!" replied Vaudrey eagerly.

"And you deceive her entirely. That is foolish. You deserve that
Mademoiselle Kayser should have ridiculed, deceived and ruined you
irretrievably, and that your name should never be uttered again. When
one has the opportunity to possess a wife like yours, one adores her on
bended knees, you understand me, and one doesn't destroy her true
happiness to divert it in favor of the crowd. And what pleasure!
Jouvenet has had the same dose at a less cost!"

"You abuse the rights of friendship, somewhat," said Sulpice, rising
suddenly. "I do what pleases me, as it pleases me, and I owe no account
to any one, I think!"

He stopped suddenly. His feet were, as it were, nailed to the floor and
his mouth closed. He seized Guy's hand and felt his flesh creep, as he
saw Adrienne standing pale, and supporting herself against the doorpost,
as if she had not the strength to proceed, her eyes wide open, like
those of a sick person.

Assuredly, beyond all possible doubt, she had heard everything.

She was there! she heard!

She said nothing, but moved a step forward, upheld by a terrible effort.

Her look was that of a whipped child, of a poor creature terrified and
in despair, and expressed not anger but entire collapse. She was so wan,
so sad-look