. His submission was due to some
secret cause which he never confided to me. There must have been
some great crime under all this. In any case, the poor count found it
impossible to escape this terrible woman. He took refuge at Cannes; but
she followed him. He travelled through Italy, for I don't know how many
months under an assumed name, but all in vain. He was at last compelled
to conceal his daughter in some provincial convent. During the last few
months of his life he obtained peace--that is to say, he bought it. This
lady's husband must either be very poor or exceedingly stingy; and as
she was exceedingly fond of luxury, M. de Chalusse effected a compromise
by giving her a large sum monthly, and also by paying her dress-maker's
bills."

The baron sprang to his feet with a passionate exclamation. "The vile
wretch!" he said.

But he quickly reseated himself, and the exclamation astonished M. de
Valorsay so little that he quietly concluded by saying: "And this is
the reason, baron, why my beloved Marguerite, the future Marquise de
Valorsay, has no dowry."

The baron cast a look of positive anguish at the door of the
smoking-room. He had heard a slight movement there; and he trembled with
fear lest Pascal, maddened with anger and jealousy, should rush in and
throw himself upon the marquis. Plainly enough, this perilous situation
could not last much longer. The baron's own powers of self-control and
dissimulation were almost exhausted, and so postponing until another
time the many questions he still wished to ask M. de Valorsay, he
made haste to check these confidential disclosures. "Upon my word,"
he exclaimed, with a forced laugh, "I was expecting something quite
different. This affair begins like a genuine romance, and ends, as
everything ends nowadays, in money!"

IV.

As a millionaire and a gambler, Baron Trigault enjoyed all sorts of
privileges. He assumed the right to be brutal, ill-bred, cynical and
bold; to be one of those persons who declare that folks must take them
as they find them. But his rudeness now was so thoroughly offensive
that under any other circumstances the marquis would have resented it.
However, he had special reasons for preserving his temper, so he decided
to laugh.

"Yes, these stories always end in the same way, baron," said he. "You
haven't touched a card this morning, and I know your hands are itching.
Excuse me for making you waste precious time, as you say; but what yo