n
explanation would be unavoidable. M. de Valorsay would be worsted, but
not annihilated, and the plans which made the physician's intervention
a necessity would never be revealed. She thought of hastening to her
friend the old magistrate; but he lived a long way off, and time was
pressing. Besides she might not find him at home. Then she thought of
going to a notary, to a judge. She would show them the letter, and they
could take a copy of it. But no--this would do no good--the marquis
could still deny it. She was becoming desperate, and was accusing
herself of stupidity, when a sudden inspiration illumined her mind,
turning night into day, as it were. "Oh, Pascal, we are saved!" she
exclaimed. And without pausing to deliberate any longer, she threw a
mantle over her shoulders, hastily tied on her bonnet, and hurried from
the house, without saying a word to any one.

Unfortunately she was not acquainted with this part of Paris, and on
reaching the Rue Pigalle she was at a loss for her way. Unwilling to
waste any more time, she hastily entered a grocer's shop at the corner
of the Rue Pigalle and the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, and anxiously
inquired: "Do you know any photographer in this neighborhood, monsieur?"

Her agitation made this question seem so singular that the grocer
looked at her closely for a moment, as if to make sure that she was not
jesting. "You have only to go down the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette," he
replied, "and on the left-hand side, at the foot of the hill, you will
find the photographer Carjat."

"Thank you."

The grocer stepped to the door to watch her. "That girl's certainly
light-headed," he thought.

Her demeanor was really so extraordinary that it attracted the attention
of the passers-by. She saw this, and slackening her pace, tried
to become more composed. At the spot the grocer had indicated, she
perceived several show frames filled with photographs hanging on either
side of a broad, open gateway, above which ran the name, "E. Carjat."
She went in, and seeing a man standing at the door of an elegant
pavilion on the right-hand side of a large courtyard, she approached
him, and asked for his employer.

"He is here," replied the man. "Does madame come for a photograph?"

"Yes."

"Then will madame be so kind as to pass in. She will not be obliged to
wait long. There are only four or five persons before her."

Four or five persons! How long would she be obliged to wait?--half an
hour-