el they are to each
other by a chain far more oppressive and solid than the one Justin
Chevassat wore at the galleys.

"At first, however, they had to conceal their intimacy; for they had no
money. By joining what she had stolen from her benefactor, to what she
had obtained from M. Planix, Sarah could not make up more than some
forty thousand francs. 'That was not enough,' she said, 'to "set up" the
most modest establishment.' As to M. de Brevan, however economical he
had been, he had come to an end of the sums stolen from his employer.
For eight or ten months now, he had been reduced to all kinds of
dangerous expedients in order to live. He rode in his carriage; but
he had been more than once very happy when he could extort a
twenty-franc-piece from his parents. He visited them, of course only
in secret; for they had in the meantime exchanged their shop, for the
modest little box assigned to the concierge of No. 23 Water Street.

"Far, therefore, from being able to be useful to Sarah, he was perfectly
delighted when she brought him one fine day ten thousand francs to
alleviate his distress.

"'Ah!' she said to him on this occasion, and often thereafter, 'why
can't we have that fool's money?' meaning her friend and lover, M.
Planix.

"The next step was naturally an attempt at obtaining this much coveted
treasure. To begin, Sarah induced him to make a last will, in which he
made her his residuary legatee. One would be at a loss to guess how she
could obtain this from a young, healthy man, full of life and happiness,
if it were not that love will explain everything. When this success
had been achieved, M. de Brevan undertook to introduce in the
society frequented by Sarah and M. Planix one of his friends, who was
considered, and who really was, the best swordsman in Paris, a good
fellow otherwise, honor itself, and rather patient in temper than given
to quarrelling.

"Without compromising herself, and with that abominable skill which is
peculiarly her own, Sarah, coquetted just enough with this young man,
M. de Font-Avar, to tempt him to pay her some attentions. But that
very night she complained to M. Planix of his persecution, and knew so
skilfully how to excite his jealousy, and to wound his vanity, that,
three days later, he allowed himself to be carried away by passion, and
struck M. de Font-Avar in the presence of a dozen friends.

"A duel became inevitable; and M. de Brevan, pretending to try and
reconcile