n expressions of sympathy.

"I would not give way so," said he, "for all the women in and out of
Paradise! and you are a man, Bigot! Remember you have brought me here,
and you have to take me safely back again, out of this den of murder."

"Yes, Cadet," replied Bigot, rousing himself up at the sharp tone of his
friend. "I must think of your safety; I care little for my own at this
moment. Think for me."

"Well, then, I will think for you, and I think this, Bigot, that if the
Governor finds out this assassination, done in your house, and that you
and I have been here at this hour of night with the murdered girl, by
God! he will say we have alone done it, and the world will believe it!
So rouse up, I for one do not want to be taxed with the murder of a
woman, and still less to be hung innocently for the death of one. I
would not risk my little finger for all the women alive, let alone my
neck for a dead one!"

The suggestion was like a sharp probe in his flesh. It touched Bigot
to the quick. He started up on his feet. "You are right, Cadet, it only
wants that accusation to make me go mad! But my head is not my own yet!
I can think of nothing but her lying there, dead in her loveliness and
in her love! Tell me what to do, and I will do it."

"Ay, now you talk reasonably. Now you are coming to yourself, Bigot. We
came to remove her alive from here, did we not? We must now remove her
dead. She cannot remain where she is at the risk of certain discovery
to-morrow."

"No, the secret chamber would not hide such a secret as that," replied
Bigot, recovering his self-possession. "But how to remove her? We cannot
carry her forth without discovery." Bigot's practical intellect was
waking up to the danger of leaving the murdered girl in the Chateau.

Cadet rose and paced the room with rapid strides, rubbing his forehead,
and twitching his mustache violently. "I will tell you what we have got
to do, Bigot! Par Dieu! we must bury her where she is, down there in the
vaulted chamber."

"What, bury her?" Bigot looked at him with intense surprise.

"Yes, we must bury her in that very chamber, Bigot. We must cover up
somebody's damnable work to avert suspicion from ourselves! A pretty
task for you and me, Bigot! Par Dieu! I could laugh like a horse, if I
were not afraid of being overheard."

"But who is to dig a grave for her? surely not you or I," replied Bigot
with a look of dismay.

"Yes, gentlemen as we are, you and I must