“Why would this be disastrous?”

“Because, the moment Mme. Fauvel opens her lips to her husband, our birds will take flight.”

Prosper had never thought of this eventuality.

“Then, again,” continued M. Verduret, “it would deeply distress another person.”

“Anyone whom I know?”

“Yes, my friend, and very well too.  I should certainly be chagrined to the last degree, if these two rascals escape, without having obtained complete satisfaction from them.”

“It seems to me that you know how to take care of yourself, and can do anything you please.”

M. Verduret shrugged his shoulders, and said: 

“Did you not perceive the gaps in my narrative?”

“I did not.”

“That is because you don’t know how to listen.  In the first place, did Louis de Clameran poison his brother, or not?”

“Yes; I am sure of it, from what you tell me.”

“There you are!  You are much more certain, young man, than I am.  Your opinion is mine; but what proof have we?  None.  I skilfully questioned Dr. C——.  He has not the shadow of suspicion; and Dr. C——­ is no quack; he is a cultivated, observing man of high standing.  What poisons produce the effects described?  I know of none; and yet I have studied up on poisons from Pomerania digitalis to Sauvresy aconite.”

“The death took place so opportunely——­”

“That anybody would be convinced of foul play.  That is true; but chance is sometimes a wonderful accomplice in crime.  In the second place, I know nothing of Raoul’s antecedents.”

“Is information on that point necessary?”

“Indispensable, my friend; but we will soon know something.  I have sent off one of my men—­excuse me, I mean one of my friends—­who is very expert and adroit, M. Palot; and he writes that he is on the track.  I am interested in the history of this sentimental, sceptical young rascal.  I have an idea that he must have been a brave, honest sort of youth before Clameran ruined him.”

Prosper was no longer listening.

M. Verduret’s words had inspired him with confidence.  Already he saw the guilty men arraigned before the bar of justice; and enjoyed, in anticipation, this assize-court drama, where he would be publicly exonerated and restored to position.

Then he would seek Madeleine; for now he understood her strange conduct at the dressmaker’s, and knew that she had never ceased to love him.

This certainty of future happiness restored all the self-possession that had deserted him the day he found the safe robbed.  For the first time he was astonished at the peculiarity of his situation.

Prosper had at first only been surprised at the protection of M. Verduret and the extent of his investigations:  now he asked himself, what could have been his motives for acting thus?

What price did he expect for this sacrifice of time and labor?