hat he was waiting for the issue. I picked furiously at the ropes
which bound my hands, and a long strand uncoiled and whipped back on my
wrist.

Suddenly I heard old Charles Duchaine bring down his fist with a
vigorous thud upon the end of the table.

"I'll see you in ---- first, Simon!" was his unexpected remark.

"What?" cried Simon, taken completely aback.

"No, Simon," continued the old man in his mild voice once more. "You
are not a gentleman you know, and you are not fit to marry Jacqueline."

Leroux thrust his hard face into the old man's.

"Duchaine, your wits are wandering," he answered. "Listen now! Have
you forgotten that the government is searching for you night and day?
It was a long time ago that you killed a soldier of the Canadian
forces, but not too long ago for the government to remember. It has a
long memory and a long arm, too, and at a word from me----"

It was pitiful to see the change that came over Duchaine's face. He
shook with fear and stretched out his withered hands appealingly.

"Simon, you wouldn't betray me after all these years of friendship?" he
cried. "_Mon Dieu_, I do not wish to hang!"

"Keep calm, Charles, my friend," responded Simon glibly. "I am ready
to return friendship for friendship. Will you acknowledge me as your
son-in-law and heir?"

"Yes," stammered the old man. "Take everything, Simon; only leave me
free."

"Well, that is more reasonable," said Leroux, evidently mollified. "I
am not the man to go back on my friends. I shall give you a cash
return of ten thousand dollars. You have not forgotten the old times
in Quebec?"

"No, Simon," muttered Duchaine, looking up hopefully at him.

"If you had ten thousand dollars, Charles, you could make your fortune
in a week. They play high nowadays, and your system would sweep all
before it."

"Yes, yes!" cried the dotard eagerly. "If only I had ten thousand
dollars I could make my fortune. But I am old now. My little daughter
has gone to New York to play for me. You did not know that, Simon, did
you?" he added, looking at him with a cunning leer.

"She cannot play as well as you, Charles," said Leroux. "You have
played so long, you know; you have the system at your fingers' ends.
There is nobody who could stand up against you. Do you remember Louis
Street and the fine people who were your friends? How they will
welcome you! You could become a man of fashion again, in spite of your
long exile i