rmed a league,
offensive and defensive, with the son of the Count de Chalusse's sister,
who is the only acknowledged heir at this moment--a young man destitute
of heart and intelligence, and inordinately vain, but neither better nor
worse than many others who figure respectably in society. His name is
Wilkie Gordon. The marquis has acquired great influence over him,
and has persuaded him that it is his duty to denounce you to the
authorities. He has, in short, accused you of defrauding the heirs of
the Chalusse estate of two millions of francs and also of poisoning the
count."

The girl shrugged her shoulders disdainfully. "As for the robbery,
we have an answer to that," she answered, "and as regards the
poisoning--really the accusation is too absurd!"

But Pascal still looked gloomy. "The matter is more serious than you
suppose," he replied. "They have found a physician--a vile, cowardly
scoundrel--who for a certain sum has consented to appear in support of
the accusation."

"Dr. Jodon, I presume!"

"Yes; and this is not all. The count's escritoire contains the vial
of medicine of which he drank a portion on the day of his death. Well,
to-morrow night, Madame Leon will open the garden gate of the Hotel de
Chalusse and admit a rascal who will abstract the vial."

Marguerite shuddered. Now she understood the fiendish cunning of the
plot. "It might ruin me!" she murmured.

Pascal nodded affirmatively. "M. de Valorsay wishes you to consider
yourself as irretrievably lost, and then he intends to offer to save you
on condition that you consent to marry him. I should say, however, that
M. Wilkie is ignorant of the atrocious projects he is abetting. They are
known only to the marquis and M. de Coralth; and it is I who, under the
name of Maumejan, act as their adviser. It was to me that the marquis
sent M. Wilkie for assistance in drawing up this accusation. I myself
wrote out the denunciation, which was as terrible and as formidable as
our bitterest enemy could possibly desire, combining, as it did, with
perfidious art, the reports of the valets and the suspicions of the
physician, and establishing the connection between the robbery and the
murder. It finished by demanding a thorough investigation. And M. Wilkie
copied and signed this document, and carried it to the prosecution
office himself."

Mademoiselle Marguerite sank half-fainting into an arm-chair. "You have
done this!" she faltered.

"It was necessary, my d