ly pale, and he arose slowly from his chair, and,
taking Linton's arm, drew him towards a window in silence. Linton saw
well that some new train of thought had suddenly sprung up, and wondered
what could so instantaneously have wrought this change in his manner.

"You ask me, sir," said the Duke, with a slow emphasis on every word,
"where am I to be found to-morrow? Is not Mr. Linton's knowledge of
Paris sufficient to suggest the answer to that question?" There was a
fierce boldness in the way these words were uttered Linton could not
comprehend, any more than he understood what they might mean.

"I must plead ignorance, my Lord Duke. I really discredit the eulogium
you have pronounced upon my information."

"Then I will tell you, sir," said the Duke, speaking in a low thick
whisper, while his dark eyes glared with the fire of intense excitement.
"You will find me in the Seine!"

Linton staggered back as if he had been struck, and a pallor spread over
his features, making the very lips bloodless. "How do you mean, sir?
Why do you dare to say this to _me?_" said he, in a voice broken and
guttural.

"Since none should better know how to appreciate the news," was the cold
answer.

Linton trembled from head to foot, and, casting a wary look around on
every side to see that they were alone, he said, "These words may mean
much, or they may mean nothing,--at least nothing that has concern for
me. Now, sir, be explicit; in what sense am I to read them?"

The Duke looked astonished at the emotion which all the other's
self-command could not repress; he saw, too, that he had touched a
secret spring of conscience, and with a calm reserve he said, "Take what
I have said in the sense your own heart now suggests, and I venture to
affirm it will be the least pleasing interpretation you can put upon
it!"

"You shall give me satisfaction for this, sir," said Linton, whose
passion now boiled over. "I will not endure the tyranny of insinuations
from any man. Here, before you quit the house,--if ever you quit it,--I
will have full satisfaction for your insolence."

"Insolence!" cried the Duke.

"Yes, insolence. I repeat the word, and these gentlemen shall hear a
still stronger word addressed to you, if that will not suffice to arouse
your courage."

This speech was now directed to the crowd of gamblers, who, suddenly
awakened by the loud talking, rushed in a body into the room.

Questions, and demands for explanation, presse