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Show iMJE IVESINASCOT I Ml- Hli. EGBERT; VAvlWJf,'k ILLUSTRATIONS BY (copyright .9ii llf O.IRWIN MYERS w.g .chap man) on the occasion of our last encounter certain things derogatory to his character. char-acter. You refused to hear me. Listen Lis-ten now! He has a reputation for wlldness Becond to none In Paris. It was to pay his gambling debts, debts which he had concealed from his grandfather from very shame, that he sold the draft of the Anglo-French treaty to the triple alliance. Doubtless Doubt-less he has accused me." "And I believe you did. liar and thief." I cried. He only laughed. "If you persist in your refusal to see things as they are, Miss Ives," he said with Intense earnestness, "then I must abandon you to your fate. I only warn you that the net of evidence evi-dence has been woven around him. He cannot escape It. His arrest is imminent. Only you yourself can save him. Say the word that will avail, and I will see to it that the vital evidence is missing, that he remains unscathed. the floor. Five hundred pounds; Twenty-five hundred dollars, twelve thousand thou-sand five hundred francs'. The interest inter-est upon the mortgage! It was the prize money that Charles had won that day lu England when he made his aeroplane flight with me, which the secretary of the aviation meet, obstinately assuming me to be his wife, had thrust Into my hands that evening of our chance encounter at Charing Cross etatlon. I had put the money away in Mr. Spratt's book and wholly forgotten it I think I must have gone mad with joy, for I ran down the stairs, waving the money wildly, shouting incoherently. incoherent-ly. On the way down I encountered Charles. I shook the bank-notes into his face and rushed on past him. The comte and his daughter were in the drawing room and came out as I descended; de-scended; I waved the money at them and ran on Into the library. MagnifT Has there, seated In an arm chair. of mir.d or body whs in any manner impaired, but I could discern that he had begun to detach himself, with that natural change which comes upon the very old. from the more active and external Interests of life. I believe that In my coming he beheld be-held a pardon for hU crime in driving my father from his roof a crime which he had repented bitterly through all those years that had elapsed since that unhappy time. Charles and I set off for Paris by an early train. We traveled through the pleasant, fertile fields of Normandy, among little old villages where life Beemed at once bo simple and so kindly that It required some little effort ef-fort of will to realize that we were, perhaps, rushing Into an unknown danger, dan-ger, that the activities of many enemies ene-mies might even now have laid a trap for our undoing. I had revealed to my fiance the story of Magnlff's threats, omitting, of course, his vile suggestions sugges-tions that Charles had been a traitor and sold the treaty. Charles did not receive the news so lightly as I had expected. "Let us go straight ahead, confident in our own integrity, Anne," he answered. an-swered. "Then let them do their worst. They cannot harm us; treachery always recoils upon Itself, be it never so cunningly contrived." We were so fortunate as to have a compartment to ourselves. It was bo charming to be seated together, side by side. Charles placed his arm round me and drew me to him. "Will you let me announce our engagement, en-gagement, Anne?" lie pleaded. "It is surely realized at home. My grandfather grandfa-ther and mother know we love one another. an-other. Besides, if any danger does threaten us. I can protect you better as my wife." "You travel very rapidly, monsieur," I answered. "A moment ago it was merely an announcement of the engagement en-gagement that you required. And now you end the sentence by proposing another an-other relationship." stone sunr ?: lino the 01 tli earth, emerging through :ai lion door way into a huge room, lighted by )en trie light, around which innumerable-! safety compartments were arranged.! Nobody else was there, except a jani I tor who stood at a door at the far end, which communicated by a flight of steps, with the street outside. Ma- nlff led ua to the safe and handed tho! key to me. "It has not ben opened for thirty! years," he said. "You may find th hinge stiffened. Nevertheless thi Code Napoleon prescribes Uiat joaj yourself shall open it. If It Is beyond) your power, doubtless, the chevalier1' will hold your fingers. Btit he muni not unlock the safe." I made no answer, but stepped for- ward and fitted the key Into the lock,! turning it until I obtained the comlii-l nation. The functionaries, apparently! inspired by Intense Interest, drew) close, one on each side of me. TIim. heavy door Bwuiig open easily. Insldw the safe I saw a bundlo of papers. Myl hand shook so, from excitement, thut l could barely lay hold of them. "Observe! Her hand treinbloa. Gn ton!" I heard one of the officials say to the other in a stage whisper. I drew the papers from their resting place and handed thorn to MagninV "Pray examine these, and, if yon find that they are made out correctly. complete the contract," I said. "You again claim, before these gtii tlemeu," said the banker, "that then are your own Panama bonds?" "Indubitably," 1 answered. Magniff signaled to the officials, and, they came up to me. He glanced at. the papers and began to shuffle thou rapidly. One shoot became detached and fluttered to the ground. It was doubled piece of notepapor, such hm used anywhere for correspondence,, and It was covorod with minute writing. writ-ing. Suddenly Charles darted forward. for-ward. "The treaty!" he exclaimed, and erasne.l for it 1 Jmm -Marry me!" "Never!" I cried. "I loathe you and despise you." "I am unfortunately aware of that," he answered. "Nevertheless, you shall have the completest liberty. Until I win your love I shall never molest you. You will be free to come and to go; I only ask you to go through the form of the ceremony with me." "You may plead forever," I answered, an-swered, "but you will waste your breath. I do not believe a word of your concoction of falsehoods, and, if I did, I would not marry you." "Not to save Clichy?" "How how ?" I stammered. "Marry me and, on the day of the ceremony as soon as the union has been pronounced I will present your grandfather with a full and free release." re-lease." "You will induce your father to forego fore-go his revenge?" I cried. "You lack the power monsieur. Not for a thousand thou-sand worlds would he be balked now, after these years of scheming." "He must," answered Leopold. "I have him in my power. Ho knows it; that is why he made terms with me." "How?" "Because I hold your bonds," he answered. an-swered. "You know their value now." "They are his; I have sold them." "Anne," said by persecutor, "we are wasting words. Can I never convince you? Listen! Give me your solemn promise to marry me and, on the morning morn-ing of the ceremony I will restore Clichy Cli-chy to your grandfather. And the chevalier chev-alier shall go free." "Walt wait!" I cried desperately, trying to pierce the tangled net of cunning that surrounded me. "Give me until tomorrow to make my decision." de-cision." Suddenly he seized my hand. "O, Anne, be wise," he cried. "I love you; I worship you; you are the one woman I . have loved out of all who have come into my life. You can redeem re-deem me with your goodness. Marry me and I swear to heaven that I will adore you, I will be your slave. I will consecrate my life to you. I love you Anne." And falling at my feet, he poured forth a more impassioned plea to me. It was impossible to mistake the sincerity sin-cerity of his passion; I could not but recognize that in this, at least, he was not base. I turned, away and left him kneeline in the riath. Jean CasBeroy, the ancient butler, entered. en-tered. "Take this gentleman to his apartment," he said. "Obey hlB orders and make him comfortable. The library li-brary will bo at his disposal." Magnlff, thoroughly disconcerted, stood glowering at the comte, uncertain uncer-tain whether to bluster or to accept this most distant hospitality. And, the.n, with a most charming courteous-ness courteous-ness of which, I am sure, I should never have been capable, the chevalier's cheva-lier's mother arose. "I shall seo to it that your sheets are aired, monsieur," she said, smiling ns though he were the most welcome guest. "The grounds are at your disposal; dis-posal; pray make yourself master here." Magnlff swung on hlB heel and strode sullenly out of the room In the wake of the old servitor. Y'ou may as well leave tomorrow, Anne," said my grandfather. "Every moment spent here now is a humiliation." humilia-tion." I took him by the arm and patted I1I3 trembling hand. I knew that the departure from Clichy would quickly snap the thread of his still vigorous life. Though I no longer hoped for rescue, I was resolved that we should hold out to the uttermost. "Grandfather," I said, "when Richelieu Riche-lieu invested Castle Chichy and the last ounce of powder had been fired, the last atom of provision gone, Clichy did not surrender. And, at the last instant, rescue came. Let us fight to the uttermost. Let us remain till Sunday." A dull fire gleamed in the old comte's eyes. "You are quite right, my dear," he answered. "What do you say, Charles?" "She Is right," answered the chevalier. cheva-lier. "It was a woman like you, Anne, who Inspired our ancient defenders, as you inspire us today." Friday came, then Saturday. But a bare four-and-twenty hours remained. re-mained. Magniff had not ventured to leave his apartment during the period that had elapsed, but on the morning of the last day but one I encountered him in the grounds. I think he had been watching for me. "Wait a moment, mademoiselle," he exclaimed, as I made to hasten past him. "A moment only. Will you not believe me when I say how profoundly I regret the part I have to play? Let me assure you, I have 110 enmity against your grandfather." "Then why are you here how did you dare come here?" I asked indignantly. indig-nantly. "It was to see you," he answered. "Now do not go, mademoiselle. 1 knew that you had met your relatives and become reconciled and gone to reside with them. Meanwhile, my father and I have become reconciled, also. And nothing would content him but that I should assume this odious role of "Go! Never Let Me See You Again." reading a newspaper. As 1 entered he rose and came toward me, a light of triumph in his eyes. "You have come to accept, Anne, he cried. "1 have come to pay your blood fee," I cried wildly, and flung the notes down on the table. "Take these and go. Go! Never let hie see you again. You understand?" I babbled on. "Go! Go!" Then everything swam around me. The old comte caught me from behind and supported me as I fell fainting into his arms. CHAPTER VK. The Stolen Treaty. (Magniff lays down his hand, and I find his cards stacked.) At last the day arrived on which the safe containing my bonds was to be opened". My bonds, I say well, hardly mine, since I had blindly sold them to the banker for a paltry ?10,-000, ?10,-000, not knowing their value to him, when I might have utilized his need of them to force Magniff to release my grandfather from his mortgage. I re-.flected re-.flected with some bitterness upon my folly. Still, even $10,000 was not to be despised. That would enable my grandfather to meet his interest and thus retain Clichy for at least two years, during which period much might "When we reach Paris I shall show you the office of a registrar," he answered. an-swered. "There we shall be formally betrothed. And then " "Yes, monsieur?" I said, with feigned coolness. "I shall serve formal notice upon my mother and grandfather of our betrothal, be-trothal, in accordance with the provisions pro-visions of the Code Napoleon," he answered. I had listened with beating heart to the unfolding of these proposals, but the mention of the code brought instantly in-stantly to my memory the image of little lit-tle Mr. Spratt, presenting me with his famous code. "Take this volume . . . my life-work ... a com-piliation com-piliation of love . . .- you will need it abroad," the little man had gasped as handed it to me. And now in every crisis of my life, it seemed, the vision of Mr. Spratt was destined to arise like some specter confronting me. I became be-came suddenly silent. Charles carried out his program. Upon our arrival at the terminus he hurried me along a. mazo of small side streets, up a narrow staircase and into the presence of the registrar. There we complied with the formalities which the famous code prescribed. We were betrothed an incident, merely, in Anglo-Saxon countries, but here a matter of severe formality, and neces- One of the officials stooped; his hands met those of my fiance. As they rose I heard something click. The chevalier was handcuffed! The second man stepped up to hit and touched him on the shoulder. "Charles Victor Sebastian, Chevalion d'Yves," he said. "I arrest you for. espionage and theft of a secret government gov-ernment document." Charles was too stupefied to attempt resistance, even if the thought had! entered his head. 1 stared from one-to one-to the other of the group, still mystified. mysti-fied. I had not yet fully comprehended. comprehend-ed. Magniff whispered to the second man and he came to my side. "Mademoiselle Anne Ives," he said. "I arrest you for complicity In tb theft of a government document, and also for attempting to obtain money by the sale of worthless forged bonds" Magniff nodded his head. "A very clumsy forgery," he said. He turned to me. "It grieves me, mademoiselle, to have to place you under arrest," be continued. "I hoped that at the last moment you would not have the audacity au-dacity to carry out this scheme Remember, Re-member, pray, that I warned you upon the occasion of our former interview, inter-view, what would be the inevitable consequences should you persist in this attempt of yours to extort moDej 8YNOP3IS. Armi Ivea, inaacot by reputation, ara-rta from Winnipeg for London Id hII'-ihI the fwjrnnallun of King licoige. Hr father had conn- Id America following a ijuarrel Willi 1 1 1 h father. Comte d'Yves of I run. Amte'a father, at hla death, loft her 11 key to a Htrong box containing honda of tho ri'funr-l French Panama Canal company. The lox In In tlm vaults of MagnitT & Co., Turin banker. (In the steamer Anne moots the dissolute. Hon of Magniff, who, not knowing her Identity, tells her of a ehemo to Ket hold of the canal bonds Mid extort money from Magniff. Anne volunteers to go a a passenger with a French contestant al an aW atlon meet In Ixuidon. The Krenchni.-i n wins, hut tilsappea is without disclosing his Identify. Iden-tify. Hhe meeiH blm attain In the crowd n.l Westminster abbey and accompanies him to the coronation. rlhe learn thai he In her cousin. Chevalier d'VveH, and that hla companion la her grand father. Compl" d'Yves. Hhnrlng her father's hale for the fimlly. Anno abruptly loaves the nhbey. Hhe loses her purse, and borrows money lo go lo Carls. Tin the way she meets nn otlhlal of the aviation meet who, thinking her the wife of Iho win '. forces on her the prize of r) pounds. She learns that Hanker Mtignlff Is exlremelv lillter against her (,'tand fal her" a nd holds a. morti.'aire on the a 'Slral home. MaK- nllT tells her a new kov must he. made for the box. lie Induces her to sin an dKrcomoiit to Bell him the bonds for Sfl,o(M franc-M. Young Magnlff returns Anne's purse, hut disclaims all knowledge of the key lo the strong box. The chevnller and Ills grandfather call on Anne regarding Important diplomatic papers which were alolen from the chevalier In London. Anno. In her liullKiml Ion M bi.:ng suspected, sus-pected, disc-loficH tier identity nnrt the comte takes her to hla arms. The chev-nllcr chev-nllcr declares his love und finds that It Is reciprocated. CHAPTER VI Continued. "But they shall not," I repeated, rrowning. "Charles, you know I am a mascot. All my friends have told me that. Did I not bring luck to you as a passmigor in the machine? And didn't I get EMtelle Christie inside the abbey to sea the coronation? I say that Clichy Cli-chy Bhall never fall into Magnlff's hands. Why, has it withstood seven 80iges by the English and two by Burgundy, Bur-gundy, not to speak of countless gallant gal-lant defenses In olden times against Frenchmen themselves; in the wars of tho Fronde, against the Huguonots, against Henry of Navarre and Richelieu, Riche-lieu, even that It should succumb now to a paltry mortgage? "Bravo," said Charles, clapping his hands. "Your eyes flash fire, dear Anne. If they were mortars and used In our defense, I warrant Clichy should never go under." "Mock me as you please," 1 answered, an-swered, a little petulantly, "Clichy shall be saved, or I will never be called mascot again." Thursday cftme, the last day accorded accord-ed us, and the interest was as far off "ns ever. It was a sad gathering that morning at the breakfast table. Eveiy-thing Eveiy-thing wps packed, and we were to remove re-move to the little cottage at RarubouU-let RarubouU-let owned by the comte's daughter, where they hoped to find a precarious existence for a while on a few thousand thou-sand francs that remained of her dowry. "It will last us a year, Anne," said the comte grimly. "And then well, ( am not likely to see the next. And Charles can take care of his mother somehow." I could not restrain a sob. "But my money from MagnifT!" I cried. "You must take It; I can earn my own living in future, as in the past. On that you can live decently, at least." The comte smilod sadly. "We'll talk of that when the time comes, Anne," he answered. "At least we are not yet dispossessed." "Nor shall be," I replied defiantly. "Does not the law give three days' grace to us?" "Three days or thirty," answered tho chevalier, "it is all one to us now." And while we still sat talking over our plans, we saw a smartly tilted dogcart dog-cart turn up the drive and there descended de-scended Leopold Magniff, Jr.! I confess that I was thoroughly unnerved un-nerved at the sight of this man. I had never believed that he would dare to cross my path again. The memory of my threats which he had made on the occasion of our last interview recurred to me and a!l"cted me with a presentment present-ment of overw helmit g horror. He came in jauntily, bowing to all of us, an affectation of regretful humility hu-mility hardly concealing an air of obvious ob-vious triumph. The comte and the chevalier arose grimly and stood confronting con-fronting him, like two statues of stone. "Monsieur," said our visitors, addressing address-ing each alternately, and becoming disconcerted dis-concerted as neither appeared to recognize rec-ognize his remarks, but merely stood to receive him "monsieur. It is with deep regret that I come to receive the interest upon my father's mortgage or iu default, to take possession of the chateau." Then at last the comte spoke, and each word seemed wrenched from the fibers of his heart. "We cannot meft the interest. The chateau is at your disposal." "Stop!" I cried. "The law allows three days of grace. 1 believe." Magniff turned toward me and bowed sneeringly. "Quite so. mademoiselle." he answered. an-swered. "Hut it permits me to take possession immediately pending this period." The old comte touched a bell and tP lit : 1 1 if 1 : 1 mm ; Ir'W H'fe l In the hallway I met Charles. I feared that he would see my agitated face, but his own was so distressed that I feared that the'greatest of sorrows sor-rows must have come to him. "The comte!" I gasped; and then 1 noticed that in one hand he held a can of kerosene. "My monoplane," he answered wildly. wild-ly. "I am going to burn her, Anne. She shall never fall into his clutches, she who bore us aloft that splendid day " "I took the can from him. "Wait until tomorrow, Charles," I whispered. "Much may happen by then." I left him standing irresolute and went up to my room and sat down in a chair. I did not weep. My brain was in a whirl, and a thousand thoughts and doubts oppressed me. Magnlff's threats, his infamous suggestions sugges-tions as to the honor of my fiance, the imminent loss of Clichy all this presented pre-sented aspects and I strove dimly to pierce to the heart of the problem which confronted me. If I married Magniff, Clichy would at least be saved. That seemed the chief consideration. My happiness that of Charles, even, was nothing compared to the preservation of the old home that had withstood so many vicissitudes. Other women, braver than I, had sacrificed themselves in the past for Chateau Clichy. Then why not I, even though I should kill myself afterwards? Then, in the midst of these cogitations cogita-tions there flashed into my mind, in the most incongruous way, the memory mem-ory of Mr. Spratt. . Angrily I sought to free myself from this recollection. What had this little lit-tle Winnipeg teacher to do with my present troubles? He was the last, the very last and least thought that should come, to me. But my mind wandered, wan-dered, and again I seemed to see him bidding me a timid farewell upon the Winnipeg platform. "My great wok MIS3 Ives," he panted, offering me the code. "The work of many years. Tak it; you will need it in France." Hi? odious little rabbit-like face rose up so plainly in my mind's eye that I seemed to visualize him in the room, and I pressed my fingers hard upon my eyelids eye-lids in a fruitless effort to dismiss him. I rose at las'.:, still miserably uncertain. uncer-tain. My suitcase lay packed upon the bureau and. opening it idly, I caught sight of that wretched gift of Mr! Spratt to me. I raised it; an envelope en-velope fell from beneath the paper cover. I opened it and recoiled with a suppressed scream. Five bank-notes, of the value of one hundred pounds apiece, fluttered upon occur. As to the future of myself and Charles I dared not think. Marriage was out of the question under the present pres-ent circumstances. Every penny that could be scraped together had gone to pay the interest on that miserable mortgage, and in three months more the interest must again be met. "We shall be driven to giving exhibitions exhi-bitions in our monoplane for a bare living, sun-goddess," said Charles to me, gaily. I could not re-echo my fiance's mirth. Since the loss or theft of the treaty draft Charles had been suspended from his office in the diplomatic diplo-matic service of France. I feared, too, that suspicion had fallen on him. He had no other source of income than his meager pay as captain in an infantry in-fantry regiment, from which he had been detached for special service of the state. Despite the fact that, in accordance with my agreement with the financier, I was to receive $10,000 upon the safe being opened, I arose on the appointed morning after a restless night, overwhelmed over-whelmed with misgivings. Empty and vain as they appeared to be, I could not but recall Leopold Magniff's threats, his self-confident assurances that the chevalier and I stood on the brink of ruin. What schemes had he prepared for us? What might he not have done, being in possession of my key, as I felt sure he was? I voiced my fears at the breakfast table, but Charles laughed them away. Much as ho hated us. he argued, Leopold Magniff Mag-niff would hardly dare utilize his possession pos-session of my kpy to remove the bonds from the safe, since they could not be negotiated, and he would merely be placing himself within the grasp of the law. "You will find the bonds in the safe. Anne." said Charles optimistically. "Or, rather, we shall." "You will come with me?" I cried, and all my fears and doubts immediately immedi-ately lesolved themselves. We ssked advice of my grandfather, who cordially approved of the chevalier's cheva-lier's suggestion. "For you see," he said, "our little Anne came to us in such an unexpected fashion that she is liable to disappear, perhaps in the guipe of some beneficent fairy, after having saved Clichy to us, if we permit per-mit her to go to Paris alone." "Never fear that you will lose me. until you are tired of me. grandfather." grandfa-ther." I answered. The old comte had changed consid-ably consid-ably during the brief period that I had known him. His great age eighty-four, eighty-four, appeared to have begun at length lo manifest itself. Not that his vigor sary preliminary to a marriage. But I leaned happily upon Lis arm as we descended the narrow staircase. The happiness, the perfect joy in the irrevocability of the step, thrilled me. Winnipeg seemed like a distant memory mem-ory of some former, dimly remembered remem-bered existence at that moment. "And now, should anything befall me I shall be content," he said as we descended to the street. Often those words recurred to me afterwards. We arrived at the bank and sent in our cards. I could not avoid a thrill of expectation as to the outcome; would Magniff refuse to see me? But he did not. He would see both of us, he said, and we were ushered almost immediately into his private office. There he 6at, half buried among his ledgers, as on the occasion of my former for-mer visit to him; but this time he was attended by a couple of severe-looking functionaries in semi-uniform. He bowed distantly to Charles and bade us be seated. "The Chevalier d'Yves attends, 1 take it, as an interested party," said Magniff, looking at me through his gold glasses. There was a peculiar expression ex-pression upon his features; a sort of cunning triumph, as though he held the situation perfectly in hand. We bowed our acknowledgment to the suggestion. Then, at a summons by bell, a messenger brought in the agreement which I had signed three weeks before. "Your name is Anne lvos," Magniff said rapidly, glancing over the document. docu-ment. "You claim to be the granddaughter grand-daughter of the Comte d'Yves, of Cll-ch'y, Cll-ch'y, Normandy, and the possessor of certain bonds now in one of our safes. You have sold these to me for 50,000 francs, payable upon delivery." As I admitted each of these several propositions the banker handed the document to the functionaries, who glanced at It, swiftly, and then at me and Charles. "The dpulicate key has been fashioned." fash-ioned." Magniff continued, "and these gentlemen are the government officials whose presence at the unlocking of the safe is required under the Code Napoleon." The pale and etudious face of little Mr. Spratt stood out before my eyes with startling clearness. "Then let us proceed to the vaults," said Magniff, and we all rose and followed fol-lowed him. The functionaries closel in around us in a significant manner, almost as though we were prisoners, I thought, and as though the vaults were destined to be ovr dungeon. We proceeded by a subterranean I The Chevalier Was Handcuffed. from me. Had I alone been concerned," con-cerned," he concluded, "I should have permitted you to go unscathed. But I have my duty as a Frenchman. When I discovered that this trick ot yours was part of a wider scheme tr defraud and betray France, that you had actually concealed the stolen doo-ument doo-ument in this safe of yours, thinking to hide It when you removed the forged bonds, then my patriotism arose and forced me Into action." 'Oh, spare your patriotism," I returned, re-turned, cold with humiliation aDd auger. au-ger. "No, let him do hiB worst," I continued, seeing that Charles m upon the point of springing to rny side. "It is the last baffled scheme ot a desperate trickster." "Bravo, Anne," said Charles, clapping clap-ping his manacled hands. At the hollow hol-low chink of the steel, the words of anger died on my lips. For tbe firt time I realized that Leopold Magniff nets had closed round us. He had fulfilled ful-filled his threats. (TO EE CONTINUKD.) ,( "And I Believe You Did, Liar and Thief," I Cried. bailiff. He wished me to keep you under surveillance." "Oh, that was unnecessary," I re-j re-j toned. "Nor does it seem probable, I since he refused to see me when 1 i called at the bank, nor deigued to an I Ewer the letter I wrote him. And, be-I be-I sides, in less than a week, I am due i at his office to receive payment for my ! bonds. Oh, I assure you he is not bo vitally concerned about me." Magniff stepped up close to me and every atom of sincerity left his face. ! "Miss Ives," he said bluntly, "you ! are living in a tool's paradise. 't-l've I me, you are on the verge of complete I ruin, and so is the chevalier. No. d.. I not look so disdainful, for assuredly you will come to a realization of that fact unless you accept my proposal. He will not lose Clichy alone; he will lose his liberty, perhaps his life. The loss of his estate will be as nc-Mng in comparison wiih the shanie that I will be his, that will send down his I grandfather into an unhallowed grave." 1 He bent his face until it almost touched mine, and hissed in my ear: "He sold the treaty!" "Impossible!" I cried, starting from him. "Improbable to the uttermost, but true," Magniff rejoined. "I told you |