FILE NO. U
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•• Voot proofs, monsieur; where are your
>oroofs?"
• Raoul'e confession."
" Raoul is false."                             ,,..\-.
" That is only too true; but how did he find
out the word, if M. Bertomy did not reveal it?
And who left the money in the safe but M. Ber-
t0These arguments had no effect upon Made-
°'"Ànd now tell me," she^said,  scornfully,
" what became of the money?"     .
There was no mistaking the significance ot
these words: they meant:
" You are the instigator of the robbery, and
of course have possession of the money.'
This harsh accusation from a girl whom he
so passionately loved, when, grasping bandit as
he was, he gave up for her sake all the money
s-ained by his crime, so cruelly hurt Clameran
that he turned livid. But his mortification and
anger did not prevent him from pursuing the
part he had prepared and studied.
" A day will come, mademoiselle," he said
" when you will deeply regret having treated
me so cruelly.    I understand your insinuation;
you need not, attempt to deny it."       .
"1 have no idea of denying anything, mon-
Sl°" Madeleine!" remonstrated Mme Fauvel,
who trembled at the rising anger of the man
who had held her fate in his hands, "Made-
leine, be careful !"
" Mademoiselle is pitiless," said Clameran,
sadlv " she creelly punishes an honorable man
whose only fault is having obeyed his brother s
dying injunctions. And I am here now be-
cause I believe in the joint responsibility of all
«he members of a family."
Here he slowly drew from his pocket several
mndles of bank-notes, and laid them on the
'"""Raoul stole three hundred and fifty thou-
,1   francs," he   said: "I return   the   same
mount      It is more than half  my fortune.
Willingly would I give the rest to insure this
being tlie last crime committed by him.
Too inexperienced to penetrate this bold,
vet simple plan of Clameran's, Madeleine was
dumb with astonishment; all her calculations
WMm"PfFauvel, on the contrary, accepted this
restitution as salvation sent from Heaven.
•<Oh thanks, monsieur, thanks!" she cried,
gratefully clasping Clameran's hand m hers;
" vou are goodness itself!"
Louis's eye lit up with pleasure. But he re-
joiced too soon. A minute's reflection brought
back all of Madeleine's distrust. She thought
this magnanimity and generosity unnatural m
» man whom she considered incapable of a no-
ble sentiment, aud at once concluded that it
must conceal some snare beneath.
"What are we to do with this money?   she
de™fiore it to M. Fauvel, mademoiselle "
"Werestore it, monsieur, and how; Restor-
ing the money is denouncing Raoul, and ruin-
inl my aunt Take back your money, mon-
rieur " We will not touch it.
Clameran was too shrewd to insist; he took
¦up the money and prepared to leave.
" I comprehend your refusal, mademoiselle,
and must find another way of accomplishing
my wish. But, before retiring, let me say that
vour injustice pains me deeply. After the
promise you made to me, I had reason to hope
for a kinder welcome."                   .
" I will keep my promise, monsieur; but not
until vou have furnished security.                  .
"Security!   and  for what?    Pray explain
y°" Something to protect my aunt against the
molesSns of Raoul after my-marriage.
What is to prevent his coming to extort money
from his mother after he has squandered my
dowry? A man who spends a hundred tho*
sand francs in four months will soon ran
throu-h my little fortune. We are making a
S£ /give you my hand in exchange for
the honor and life of my aunt; and, of course
you must give me some guaranty to secure the
performance of your promise.
" Ohl I will give you ample securities,' cried
Clameran; " such as will quiet all your suspi-
ciouTdoubts of my good, faith Alas you will
not believe in my devotion: wH shall I do to
convince you of its sincerity?   ShaU I try to
""eTtnBksrCythe offer, monsieur,'.' replied
Madeletne disdainfully.   " If Prosper is gm'ty,
let him be punished by the law; if he is inno-
cent, God will protect him."
Here Madeleine stood up, to signify that the
interview was over.
Clameran bowed and left the room.
"What  pride!    What determination!    the
idea of her demanding securities of me!" he
said to himself as he slowly walked away.
"But the proud girl shall be humbled yet.
She is so beautiful! and, if I did not so madly
love her, I would kill her on tlie spot!"
Never had Clameran been so irritated.
Madeleine's quiet  determination and   fore-
thought had unexpectedly thrown him off his
well-laid track ; not anticipating any such selt-
assertion on her part, he was disconcerted, and
at a loss how to proceed.
He knew that it would be useless to attempt
deceiving a girl of Madeleine's character a,
second time; he saw that she had penetrated
his motives sufficiently to put her on the de-
fensive, and prepare her for any new surprise
Moreover, she would prevent Mme. Fauvel
from being frightened and forced into submis-
sion any longer.                                -, ,
With mortification and rage, Louis saw that
after all his plotting, when success was in his
reach, when his hopes were almost crowned,
he had been foiled and scornfully set at defi-
ance by a girl: the whole thing would have to
be gone over again.                    .7.7      mi
Although Madeleine had resigned herself to
sacrifice, it was still evident that she had no
idea of doing so blindly, and would hot hazard
her aunt's and her own happiness upon the un-
certainty of a verbal promise.
Clameran racked his brain to furnish guaran-
tees- how could he convince her that Raoul
had no idea or desire of annoying Mme. Fauvel
in tho future?
He could got tell Madeleine that her dowry
was to be the bribe received by Raoul for his
ruturo good behavior and past crimes.
The knowledge of all the circumstances ot
this shameful criminal intrigue would have re-
assured her upon her aunt's peace of mind; but
then it would never do to inform her of these
details, certainly not before the marriage.
What securities could he give? Not one
could he think of.
But Clameran was not one of those slow-
minded men who take weeks to consider a dif-
ficulty.    When he could not untie a knot, he
would cut it.                        ,,.__•      : _,_,
Raoul was a stumbling-block to Ins wishes,
and he swore to rid himself of his trouble-
some accomplice as soon as possible."
Although it was not an easy matter to dispose
of so cunning a knave, Clameran felt no hesita-
tion in undertaking to accomplish his purpose
He was incited by one of those passions which
age renders terrible.                .„,-„.    ,
The more certain he was of Madeleine s con-
tempt and dislike, the more determined he was
to marry her. His love seemed to be a sort ot
insane desire to possess and call his own the one
being whom he recognized as his superior in
every way.
But he had sense enough to see that he might
ruin his prospects by undue haste, and that the
safest course would be to await the result of the
robbery and its effect upon Prosper.
He awaited in anxious expectation of a sum-
mons from Mme. Fauvel. At last he concluded
that Madeleine was waiting for him to make the
next move in the direction of yielding.
He was right; Madeleine knew that after the
last bold step the accomplices would remain
ouiet for awhile; she knew resistance could
have no worse results than would cowardly sub-
mission; and therefore assumed the entire re-
sponsibility of managing the affair so as to keep
at bay both Raoul and Clameran.
She knew that Mine. Fauvel would be anxious
to accept any terray of peace, but determined to
use all her influence to prevent her doing this,
and to force, upon her the necessity of preserv-
ing a dignified silence.
This accounted for the silence of the two
women, who were quietly waiting for their ad-
versaries to renew hostilities.
They even succeeded in concealing then
anxiety beneath assumed indifference; never
asking any questions about tlie robbery, or those
who were in any way connected with it.
M Fauvel brought them an account ot rros-
per's examination, tlie many charges brought
against him, his obstinate denial of having
stolen the money; and finally how, after great
perplexity and close study of. the case by he
judge of instruction, the oasbier had been dis-
6
against
charged for want of sufficient proof
hlSi'nce Clameron's offer to restore the notes,
Mme. Fauvel had not doubted Prosper s_ gnilt
She said nothing, but inwardly accusedi h m of
having seduced her son from the path of virtue
and elticed him into crime-her son whom si o
would never cease to love, no matter how great
hlMadèîeine had perfect   faith   in   Prosper's
inShee°CaCs' so confident of his being restored
to liberty, that she ventured to ask her uncle
under pretext of some charitable object to give
her ten thousand francs, which she sent, to the
unfortunate victim of circumstantial, evidence;
who, from what she had heard of his poverty,
must be in need of assistance.
In the letter—cut from the prayer-book to
avoid detection by writing-accompanmg the
money, she advised Prosper to leave France
because she knew that it would be impossible
for a man of his proud nature to remain on the
scene of his disgrace ; the greater his innocence,
the more intolerable his suffering.
Besides, Madeleine, at that time feeling that
she would be obliged to marry Clameran, was
anxious to have the man she loved far, far away
from her.                                                       .__;
On the day that this anonymous present was
sent, in opposition to the wishes of Mme. Fau-
vel, the two poor women were entangled fear-
fully in pecuniary difficulties.
The tradesmen whose money had been squan-
dered by Raoul, refused to give credit any
longer, and insisted upon their bills being paid
at c-hcé; saying they could not understand how
a man of M. Fauvel's wealth and position could
keep them waiting for such insignificant sums.
The butcher, grocer, and wme-merchant had
bills of one, two, and five hundred francs only;
but not having even that small amount, Jttme.
Fauvel had difficulty in prevailing upon them
to receive a part on account, and wait a little
longer for the residue.
Some of the storekeepers threatened to ask
the banker for their money, if everything was
not settled before the end of the week.
Alas! Mme. Fauvel's indebtedness amounted
to fifteen thousand francs
Madeleine and her aunt had declined all invi-
tations during the winter, to avoid purchasing
evening dresses; having always been remarka-
ble for their superb toilets, seldom appearing in
the same ball-dress twice, they dared not give
rise to comment by wearing their old dresses
and knowing that M. Fauvel would be tho first
to ask the cause of this sudden change, as he
liked to see them always the best-dressed women
in the room.                         .    ¦   •                    ,
But at last they were obliged to appear in
public M. Fauvel's most intimate friends, the
Messrs. Jandidier, were about to give a splendid
ball and, as fate would have it, a fancy ball,
which would require the purchasing ot cos-
tumes.                                              . „
Where would the money come from t
They had been owing a large bill to their
dressmaker for over a year. Would, she con-
sent to furnish thf.ro dresses on credit? lhey
were ashamed to ask her.
Madeleine's new maid, Palmyre Chocareille,
extricated them from this difficulty.
This girl who seemed to have suflered all
the minor ills of life—which, after all, are the
hardest to bear-seemed to have divined her
mistress's anxiety.                 „   .  .        j ¦»- j„
At any rate, she voluntarily mformed Made-
leine that a friend of hers, a first-class dress-
maker, had just set up for herself and would
be glad to furnish materials and make the
dresses on credit, for the sake of obtaining the
patronage of Mme. Fauvel and her niece, which
would at once bring her plenty of fashionable
customers.                                                ,         ...
But, after this dilemma was settled, a stiu
greater one presented itself.
Mme Fauvel and her niece could not appear
at a ball without jewelry; and every jewel
they owned had been taken by Raoul, and
PaAfter' thinking the matter over, Madeleine
decided to ask Raoul to take some of the stolen
money, and redeem the last set ot jewels he had
forced from his mother. She informed her
aunt of her intention, and said, m a tone that
admitted of no contradiction.
"Appoint an interview with Raoul; he will
not dare to refuse you; and I will go in your
The next day, the courageous girl took a .cab,