, as the abbe remained silent, a terrible light dawned on the mind
of the stricken man. He understood the cause of Marie-Anne's distorted
features now.

"She perished the victim of a crime!" he exclaimed.

"Some monster has killed her. If she died such a death, our child is
lost forever! And it was I who recommended, who commanded the greatest
precautions! Ah! it is a curse upon me!"

He sank back in his chair, overwhelmed with sorrow and remorse, and
silent tears rolled slowly down his cheeks.

"He is saved!" thought the abbe, whose heart bled at the sight of such
despair. Suddenly someone plucked him by the sleeve.

It was Jean Lacheneur, and he drew the priest into the embrasure of a
window.

"What is this about a child?" he asked, harshly.

A flood of crimson suffused the brow of the priest.

"You have heard," he responded, laconically.

"Am I to understand that Marie-Anne was the mistress of Maurice, and
that she had a child by him? Is this true? I will not--I cannot believe
it! She, whom I revered as a saint! Did her pure forehead and her
chaste looks lie? And he--Maurice--he whom I loved as a brother! So, his
friendship was only a mask assumed to enable him to steal our honor!"

He hissed these words through his set teeth in such low tones that
Maurice, absorbed in his agony of grief, did not overhear him.

"But how did she conceal her shame?" he continued. "No one suspected
it--absolutely no one. And what has she done with her child? Appalled by
a dread of disgrace, did she commit the crime committed by so many other
ruined and forsaken women? Did she murder her own child?"

A hideous smile curved his thin lips.

"If the child is alive," he added, "I will find it, and Maurice shall
be punished for his perfidy as he deserves." He paused; the sound of
horses' hoofs upon the road attracted his attention, and that of Abbe
Midon.

They glanced out of the window and saw a horseman stop before the little
footpath, alight from his horse, throw the reins to his groom, and
advance toward the Borderie.

At the sight of the visitor, Jean Lacheneur uttered the frightful howl
of an infuriated wild beast.

"The Marquis de Sairmeuse here!" he exclaimed.

He sprang to Maurice, and shaking him violently, he cried:

"Up! here is Martial, Marie-Anne's murderer! Up! he is coming! he is at
our mercy!"

Maurice sprang up in a fury of passion, but the abbe darted to the door
and intercepted the infuriated men as