e had been speaking: Henri had been listening.

She told him she was not the daughter of the baron de Naarboveck, that
her real name was Therese Auvernois.[5]

[Footnote 5: See _Fantomas_: vol. i, Fantomas Series.]

This told de Loubersac nothing.

Wilhelmine explained that her childhood had been passed in an ancient
chateau, on the banks of the Dordogne, with her grandmother, the
Marquise de Langrune. One fatal December day the Marquise had been
assassinated. They were led to believe the assassin was a young man,
son of a friend of the family, by name, Charles Rambert. This tragedy
had altered the whole course of the orphan girl's life. She was taken
care of by the father of the supposed murderer, a worthy old man,
Monsieur Etionne Rambert. He recommended her to Lady Beltham, whose
husband had been murdered some months before; thus the bereaved girl
came to live under Lady Beltham's wing, and grew very fond of her.
Then Monsieur Etionne Rambert disappeared in a shipwreck, and
Wilhelmine went with Lady Beltham to her castle in Scotland.

Two peaceful years passed. Among other friends and visitors,
Wilhelmine met the Baron de Naarboveck, a foreign diplomat. Then Lady
Beltham went to France, and one sad day the orphan girl learned that
her mother by adoption had died there![6]

[Footnote 6: See _The Exploits of Juve_: vol. ii, Fantomas Series.]

Six dreary, anxious months followed. Then the baron, the only person
in the whole world who seemed to care whether she lived or died, came
to find her. He took her to Paris. There he decided to pass her off as
his daughter, declaring he had very grave reasons for doing so.

Though making her the centre of a mystery, for undeclared reasons of
his own, de Naarboveck was very good to her, helped her to unravel her
financial affairs, and informed her that she was the owner of a large
fortune. He told her that some day she would have to go to a foreign
country to take possession of this fortune--the baron did not say
where.

Wilhelmine stopped her narrative, jumped up, pointing to a shadow
moving across an altar.

"Did you see?" she questioned anxiously.

"I think I did," answered Henri de Loubersac. "It is the shadow of
some passer-by thrown into relief on the light background."

"Oh, I hope we are not being spied on!"

"Of whom are you afraid?" asked de Loubersac.

Wilhelmine--or Therese Auvernois, as she had confessed herself to
be--glanced about her. There was not