when
she had said that. "What must be done?" asked she sharply of herself,
and laughed a mocking laugh. "He gave me her life! He did not mean it!
No! The Intendant was treating me like a petted child. He offered me her
life while he refused me a lettre de cachet! The gift was only upon his
false lips, not in his heart! But Bigot shall keep that promise in spite
of himself. There is no other way,--none!"

This was a new world Angelique suddenly found herself in. A world of
guilty thoughts and unresisted temptations, a chaotic world where black,
unscalable rocks, like a circle of the Inferno, hemmed her in on every
side, while devils whispered in her ears the words which gave shape
and substance to her secret wishes for the death of her "rival," as she
regarded the poor sick girl at Beaumanoir.

How was she to accomplish it? To one unpractised in actual deeds of
wickedness, it was a question not easy to be answered, and a thousand
frightful forms of evil, stalking shapes of death came and went before
her imagination, and she clutched first at one, then at another of
the dire suggestions that came in crowds that overwhelmed her power of
choice.

In despair to find an answer to the question, "What must be done?" she
rose suddenly and rang the bell. The door opened, and the smiling face
and clear eye of Lizette looked in. It was Angelique's last chance, but
it was lost. It was not Lizette she had rung for. Her resolution was
taken.

"My dear mistress!" exclaimed Lizette, "I feared you had fallen asleep.
It is almost day! May I now assist you to undress for bed?" Voluble
Lizette did not always wait to be first spoken to by her mistress.

"No, Lizette, I was not asleep; I do not want to undress; I have much
to do. I have writing to do before I retire; send Fanchon Dodier here."
Angelique had a forecast that it was necessary to deceive Lizette, who,
without a word, but in no serene humor, went to summon Fanchon to wait
on her mistress.

Fanchon presently came in with a sort of triumph glittering in her black
eye. She had noticed the ill humor of Lizette, but had not the slightest
idea why she had been summoned to wait on Angelique instead of her own
maid. She esteemed it quite an honor, however.

"Fanchon Dodier!" said she, "I have lost my jewels at the ball; I cannot
rest until I find them; you are quicker-witted than Lizette: tell me
what to do to find them, and I will give you a dress fit for a lady."

Angelique w