nd the lake, reclining on the
cushions of her victoria, and eclipsing all the women around her by the
splendor of her toilette. Nothing now remained of the gay worldling but
the golden hair which she was condemned to see always the same, since
its tint had been fixed by dyes as indelible as the stains upon her
past.

She rose with difficulty when M. Wilkie entered, and in the
expressionless voice of those who are without hope, she asked: "What do
you wish of me?"

As usual, when the time came to carry out his happiest conceptions, his
courage failed him. "I came to talk about our affairs, you know," he
replied, "and I find you moving."

"I am not moving."

"Nonsense! you can't make me believe that! What's the meaning of these
carts in the courtyard?"

"They are here to convey all the furniture in the house to the
auction-rooms."

Wilkie was struck dumb for a moment, but eventually recovering himself a
little, he exclaimed: "What! you are going to sell everything?"

"Yes."

"Astonishing, upon my honor! But afterward?"

"I shall leave Paris."

"Bah! and where are you going?"

With a gesture of utter indifference, she gently replied: "I don't know;
I shall go where no one will know me, and where it will be possible for
me to hide my shame."

A terrible disquietude seized hold of Wilkie. This sudden change of
residence, this departure which so strongly resembled flight, this cold
greeting when he expected passionate reproaches, seemed to indicate that
Madame d'Argeles's resolution would successfully resist any amount of
entreaty on his part. "The devil," he remarked, "I don't think this at
all pleasant! What is to become of me? How am I to obtain possession of
the Count de Chalusse's estate? That's what I am after! It's rightfully
mine, and I'm determined to have it, as I told you once before. And when
I've once taken anything into my head----"

He paused, for he could no longer face the scornful glances that Madame
d'Argeles was giving him. "Don't be alarmed," she replied bitterly,
"I shall leave you the means of asserting your right to my parents'
estate."

"Ah--so----"

"Your threats obliged me to decide contrary to my own wishes. I felt
that no amount of slander or disgrace would daunt you."

"Of course not, when so many millions are at stake."

"I reflected, and I saw that nothing would arrest you upon your downward
path except a large fortune. If you were poor and compelled to earn your
daily