ere who shelters her under his responsibility,--Sir Thorn!"

M. Elgin might be insulted; he might be struck in the face, and thus be
compelled to fight.

And, without considering this absurd plan, he hurried to Circus Street.
Although it was barely eight o'clock, Miss Brandon's house looked as if
everybody were asleep. He rang the bell, however; and, when a servant
came to the door, he inquired,--

"M. Thomas Elgin?"

"M. Elgin is absent," replied the servant.

"At what hour will he be back?"

"He is not coming home to-night."

And whether he had received special instructions, or was only acting
upon general orders, he added,--

"Mrs. Brian is at the theatre; but Miss Brandon is at home."

Daniel's wrath changed into a kind of cold fury.

"They expected me," he thought.

And he hesitated. Should he see Miss Brandon? But for what end? He was
just turning away, when a sudden thought occurred to him. Why should he
not talk with her, come to an understanding, and perhaps make a bargain
with her?

"Show me to Miss Brandon's room," he said to the servant.

She sat, as she always did when left alone in the house, in the little
boudoir, where Daniel had already once been carried by her. Dressed in a
long dressing-wrapper of pale-blue cashmere, her hair scarcely taken up
at all, she was reading, reclining on a sofa.

As the door opened, she raised herself carelessly a little, and, without
turning around, asked,--

"Who is that?"

But, when the servant announced the name of M. Champcey, she rose with a
bound, almost terrified, dropping the book which she had in her hand.

"You!" she murmured as soon as the servant had left. "Here, and of your
own accord?"

Firmly resolved this time to remain master of his sensations, Daniel had
stopped in the middle of the room, as stiff as a statue.

"Don't you know, madam, what brings me here? All your combinations have
succeeded admirably; you triumph, and we surrender."

She looked at him in perfect amazement, stammering--

"I do not understand you. I do not know what you mean."

He shrugged his shoulders, and continued in an icy tone,--

"Do me the honor to think that I am not altogether a fool. I have seen
the letter which you have sent to the minister, signed with my name. I
have held that masterpiece of forgery in my hand and know now how you
free yourself of my presence!"

Miss Brandon interrupted him with an angry gesture,--

"Then it is really so! He has