the sister with a terrible
expression of bewilderment. At last she asked,--

"And do you believe Sarah will allow my father's name to be thus
dishonored,--the name which she bears, and of which she was so proud?"

"She will, perhaps, even insist upon it."

"Great God! What do you mean? Why should she?"

Seeing her brother's hesitation, the old lady took it upon herself to
answer. She touched the poor girl's arm, and said in a subdued voice,--

"Because, you see, my poor child, now that Sarah has gotten possession
of the fortune she wanted, your father is in her way; because, you see,
she wants to be free--do you understand?--free!"

Henrietta uttered a cry of such horror that both the brother and the
sister saw at once that she had not misunderstood the horrible meaning
of that word "free."

But, since the blow had fallen, the old dealer did not think the rest
need be concealed from Henrietta. He got up, therefore, and, leaning
against the mantlepiece, he addressed the poor girl, trembling in all
her limbs with terror, and looking at him with a fixed and painful gaze,
in these words,--

"You must at last learn to know, madam, the execrable woman who has
sworn to ruin you. You see, I know, because I have experienced it
myself, of what crimes she is capable; and I see clear in the dark night
of her infernal intrigues. I know that this woman with the chaste brow,
the open smile, and the soft eyes, has the genius and the instinct of a
murderess, and has never counted upon any thing else, but murder for the
gratification of her lusts."

The attitude of the old man, who raised his head on high while his
breast swelled, breathed in every one of his sharp and threatening
gestures an intense thirst of vengeance. He no longer measured his words
carefully; and they overflowed from his lips as they came boiling up
under the pressure of his rage.

"Anthony!" said the old lady more than once,--"Anthony, brother! I
beseech you!"

But this friendly voice, ordinarily all-powerful, was not even heard by
him now. He went on,--

"And now, madam, must I still explain to you the simple and yet
formidable plan by which Sarah Brandon has succeeded in obtaining by one
effort the immense fortune of the Ville-Handry family? From the first
day, she has seen that you were standing between her and those millions;
therefore she attacked you first of all. A brave and honest man, M.
Daniel Champcey, loved you; he would have protected you