e de Lamotte?"

"I have been engaged in business for several years, and have acquired
some fortune."

"Nevertheless, you have postponed the obligation of making this payment
several times, so that Monsieur de Lamotte had begun to feel uneasiness
on the subject. This was the chief reason of his wife's coming to
Paris."

"One sometimes experiences momentary difficulties, which presently
disappear."

"You say you have a deed given you at Lyons by Madame de Lamotte, which
you were to give to her husband?"

"It is here."

The magistrate examined the deed carefully, and noted the name of the
lawyer in whose office it had been drawn up.

"You may go," he said at last.

"What!" exclaimed Monsieur de Lamotte.

Derues stopped, but the magistrate signed to him to go, intimating,
however, that he was on no account to leave Paris.

"But," said Monsieur de Lamotte, when they were alone, "this man is
indeed guilty. My wife has not betrayed me! She!--forget her duties as
a wife! she was virtue incarnate! Ah! I assure you these terrible
calumnies are invented to conceal double crime! I throw myself at your
feet,--I implore your justice!"

"Rise, monsieur. This is only a preliminary examination, and I confess
that, so far, he comes well out of it, for imagination can hardly
understand such a depth of deceit. I watched him closely the whole time,
and I could discover no sign of alarm, no contradiction, in either face
or language; if guilty, he must be the greatest hypocrite that ever
existed. But I shall neglect nothing: if a criminal is allowed to
flatter himself with impunity, he frequently forgets to be prudent, and
I have seen many betray themselves when they thought they had nothing to
fear. Patience, and trust to the justice of both God and man."

Several days passed, and Derues flattered him self the danger was over:
his every action mean while was most carefully watched, but so that
he remained unaware of the surveillance. A police officer named Mutel,
distinguished for activity and intelligence beyond his fellows, was
charged with collecting information and following any trail. All his
bloodhounds were in action, and hunted Paris thoroughly, but could trace
nothing bearing on the fate of Madame de Lamotte and her son. Mutel,
however, soon discovered that in the rue Saint Victor, Derues had
failed--three successive times, that he had been pursued by numerous
creditors, and been often near imprisonment for debt, and