umphantly; and he
added: "What a willing tool this Wilkie is! A single word sufficed to
make him give all his servants leave of absence. The Hotel de Chalusse
will be deserted, and Madame Leon and Vantrasson can operate at their
leisure."

It was ten o'clock when M. Wilkie made his appearance. "Come, my good
friends!" said he, "my carriage is below."

They started off at once, and five minutes later they were ushered into
the presence of Baron Trigault, who received M. Wilkie as if he had
never seen him before. There was quite a crowd already. At least three
or four hundred people had assembled in the Baron's reception-rooms, and
among them were several former habitues of Madame d'Argeles's house;
one could also espy M. de Fondege ferociously twirling his mustaches
as usual, together with Kami-Bey, who was conspicuous by reason of
his portly form and eternal red fez. However, among these men, all
noticeable for their studied elegance of attire and manner, and all
of them known to M. de Valorsay, there moved numerous others of very
different appearance. Their waistcoats were less open, and their clothes
did not fit them as perfectly; on the other hand, there was something
else than a look of idiotic self-complacency on their faces. "Who can
these people be?" whispered the marquis to M. de Coralth. "They look
like lawyers or magistrates." But although he said this he did not
really believe it, and it was without the slightest feeling of anxiety
that he strolled from group to group, shaking hands with his friends and
introducing M. Wilkie.

A strange rumor was in circulation among the guests. Many of them
declared--where could they have heard such a thing?--that in consequence
of a quarrel with her husband, Madame Trigault had left Paris the
evening before. They even went so far as to repeat her parting words to
the Baron: "You will never see me again," she had said. "You are amply
avenged. Farewell!" However, the best informed among the guests, the
folks who were thoroughly acquainted with all the scandals of the day,
declared the story false, and said that if the baroness had really fled,
handsome Viscount de Coralth would not appear so calm and smiling.

The report WAS true, however. But M. de Coralth did not trouble himself
much about the baroness now. Had he not got in his pocket M. Wilkie's
signature insuring him upward of half a million? Standing near one of
the windows in the main reception-room, between the Ma