ad me? Have you no feeling,
Lecount? Can you leave me in my miserable situation--?" He sank into a
chair and burst out crying over his own idea, before he had completed
the expression of it in words. "Too bad!" he said, with his handkerchief
over his face--"too bad!"

It was impossible not to pity him. If ever mortal was pitiable, he
was the man. He had broken down at last, under the conflict of violent
emotions which had been roused in him since the morning. The effort to
follow Mrs. Lecount along the mazes of intricate combination through
which she had steadily led the way, had upheld him while that effort
lasted: the moment it was at an end, he dropped. The coachman had
hastened a result--of which the coachman was far from being the cause.

"You surprise me--you distress me, sir," said Mrs. Lecount. "I entreat
you to compose yourself. I will stay here, if you wish it, with
pleasure--I will stay here to-night, for your sake. You want rest and
quiet after this dreadful day. The coachman shall be instantly sent
away, Mr. Noel. I will give him a note to the landlord of the hotel, and
the carriage shall come back for us to-morrow morning, with another man
to drive it."

The prospect which those words presented cheered him. He wiped his
eyes, and kissed Mrs. Lecount's hand. "Yes!" he said, faintly; "send
the coachman away--and you stop here. You good creature! You excellent
Lecount! Send the drunken brute away, and come back directly. We will
be comfortable by the fire, Lecount--and have a nice little dinner--and
try to make it like old times." His weak voice faltered; he returned to
the fire side, and melted into tears again under the pathetic influence
of his own idea.

Mrs. Lecount left him for a minute to dismiss the coachman. When she
returned to the parlor she found him with his hand on the bell.

"What do you want, sir?" she asked.

"I want to tell the servants to get your room ready," he answered. "I
wish to show you every attention, Lecount."

"You are all kindness, Mr. Noel; but wait one moment. It may be well to
have these papers put out of the way before the servant comes in
again. If you will place the Will and the Sealed Letter together in one
envelope--and if you will direct it to the admiral--I will take care
that the inclosure so addressed is safely placed in his own hands. Will
you come to the table, Mr. Noel, only for one minute more?"

No! He was obstinate; he refused to move from the fire; he