"If I wished for any more, I could have it." "All is in that," murmured he.

"Widow Lerouge possessed some important secret, which persons rich and powerful had the strongest motives for concealing.

She had them in her power, and that was her fortune.

She made them sing to her tune; she probably went too far, and so they suppressed her.

But of what nature was this secret, and how did she become possessed of it?
Most likely she was in her youth a servant in some great family; and whilst there, she saw, heard, or discovered, something--What?
Evidently there is a woman at the bottom of it.