have done has been prompted by remorse. You
alone, captain, know the secret of my life. If I had drawn my will to
serve them from some purer source than the memory of my errors, I should
be happy indeed! But then, too, there would have been nothing to tell
you, and no story about myself."

CHAPTER V. ELEGIES

As Benassis finished his story, he was struck by the troubled expression
of the officer's face. It touched him to have been so well understood.
He was almost ready to reproach himself for having distressed his
visitor. He spoke:

"But these troubles of mine, Captain Bluteau----"

"Do not call me Captain Bluteau," cried Genestas, breaking in upon
the doctor, and springing to his feet with sudden energy, a change of
position that seemed to be prompted by inward dissatisfaction of some
kind. "There is no such person as Captain Bluteau.... I am a scoundrel!"

With no little astonishment, Benassis beheld Genestas pacing to and fro
in the salon, like a bumble-bee in quest of an exit from the room which
he has incautiously entered.

"Then who are you, sir?" inquired Benassis.

"Ah! there now!" the officer answered, as he turned and took his stand
before the doctor, though he lacked courage to look at his friend. "I
have deceived you!" he went on (and there was a change in his voice). "I
have acted a lie for the first time in my life, and I am well punished
for it; for after this I cannot explain why I came here to play the spy
upon you, confound it! Ever since I have had a glimpse of your soul,
so to speak, I would far sooner have taken a box on the ear whenever I
heard you call me Captain Bluteau! Perhaps you may forgive me for this
subterfuge, but I shall never forgive myself; I, Pierre Joseph Genestas,
who would not lie to save my life before a court-martial!"

"Are you Commandant Genestas?" cried Benassis, rising to his feet. He
grasped the officer's hand warmly, and added: "As you said but a short
time ago, sir, we were friends before we knew each other. I have been
very anxious to make your acquaintance, for I have often heard M.
Gravier speak of you. He used to call you, 'one of Plutarch's men.'"

"Plutarch? Nothing of the sort!" answered Genestas. "I am not worthy
of you; I could thrash myself. I ought to have told you my secret in a
straightforward way at the first. Yet, now! It is quite as well that I
wore a mask, and came here myself in search of information concerning
you, for now I know that