housand francs; and once, when Mme. Blanche
remarked that he must abandon the search, if nothing had been discovered
at the end of two years:

"Never," he replied: "I shall continue the search as long as I live."
But Chupin, unfortunately, remained; and he was a constant terror.

She had been compelled to give him twenty thousand francs, to begin
with.

He declared that his younger brother had come to Paris in pursuit of
him, accusing him of having stolen their father's hoard, and demanding
his share with his dagger in his hand.

There had been a battle, and it was with a head bound up in a
blood-stained linen, that Chupin made his appearance before Mme.
Blanche.

"Give me the sum that the old man buried, and I will allow my brother to
think that I had stolen it. It is not very pleasant to be regarded as a
thief, when one is an honest man, but I will bear it for your sake. If
you refuse, I shall be compelled to tell him where I have obtained my
money and how."

If he possessed all the vices, depravity, and coldblooded perversity of
his father, this wretch had inherited neither his intelligence nor his
_finesse_.

Instead of taking the precautions which his interest required, he seemed
to find a brutal pleasure in compromising the duchess.

He was a constant visitor at the Hotel de Sairmeuse. He came and went
at all hours, morning, noon, and night, without troubling himself in the
least about Martial.

And the servants were amazed to see their haughty mistress
unhesitatingly leave everything at the call of this suspicious-looking
character, who smelled _so_ strongly of tobacco and vile brandy.

One evening, while a grand entertainment was in progress at the Hotel de
Sairmeuse, he made his appearance, half drunk, and imperiously ordered
the servants to go and tell Mme. Blanche that he was there, and that he
was waiting for her.

She hastened to him in her magnificent evening-dress, her face white
with rage and shame beneath her tiara of diamonds. And when, in her
exasperation, she refused to give the wretch what he demanded:

"That is to say, I am to starve while you are revelling here!" he
exclaimed. "I am not such a fool. Give me money, and instantly, or I
will tell all I know here and now!"

What could she do? She was obliged to yield, as she had always done
before.

And yet he grew more and more insatiable every day. Money remained in
his pockets no longer than water remains in a sieve. But he did n