uld not
logically explain the conduct of her enemies from the time M. de Fondege
had asked her hand for his son up to the present moment. And first, why
had they been so audacious or so imprudent as to bring her to their own
home if they had really stolen one of those immense amounts that are
sure to betray their possessors? "They are mad," she thought, "or else
they must deem me blind, deaf, and more stupid than mortal ever was!"
Secondly, why should they be so anxious to marry her to their son,
Lieutenant Gustave? This also was a puzzling question. However, she was
fully decided on one point: the suspicions of the Fondege family must
not be aroused. If they were on their guard, it would be the easiest
thing in the world for them to pay their debts quietly, and increase
their expenditure so imperceptibly that she would not be able to prove a
sudden acquisition of wealth.

But the events of the next few days dispelled these apprehensions. That
very afternoon, although it was Sunday, it became evident that a
shower of gold had fallen on the General's abode. The door-bell rang
incessantly for several hours, and an interminable procession of
tradesmen entered. It looked very much as if M. de Fondege had called a
meeting of his creditors. They came in haughty and arrogant, with their
hats upon their heads, and surly of speech, like people who have made
up their minds to accept their loss, but who intend to pay themselves in
rudeness. They were ushered into the drawing-room where the General was
holding his levee; they remained there from five to ten minutes,
and then, bowing low with hat in hand, they retired with radiant
countenances, and an obsequious smile on their lips. So they had been
paid. And as if to prove to Mademoiselle Marguerite that her suspicions
were correct, she chanced to be present when the livery stable-keeper
presented his bill.

Madame de Fondege received him very haughtily. "Ah! here you are!"
she exclaimed, rudely, as soon as he appeared. "So you are the man who
teaches his drivers to insult his customers? That is an excellent way to
gain patronage. What! I hire a one-horse carriage from you by the month,
and because I happen to wish for a two-horse vehicle for a single day,
you make me pay the difference. You should demand payment in advance if
you are so suspicious."

The stable-keeper, who had a bill for nearly four thousand francs in
his pocket, stood listening with the air of a man who is med