An hour later, it was concealed in the miserable hovel in which I dwelt.

The following year I purchased Sairmeuse." He had confessed all; and he paused, trembling, trying to read his sentence in the eyes of his daughter.
"And can you hesitate ?" she demanded.
"Ah! you do not know----" "I know that Sairmeuse must be given up." This was the decree of his own conscience, that faint voice which speaks only in a whisper, but which all the tumult on earth cannot overpower.
"No one saw me take away the chest," he faltered.

"If anyone suspected it, there is not a single proof against me.

But no one does suspect it." Marie-Anne rose, her eyes flashed with generous indignation.
"My father!" she exclaimed; "oh! my father!" Then, in a calmer tone, she added: "If others know nothing of this, can _you_ forget it ?" M.Lacheneur appeared almost ready to succumb to the torture of the terrible conflict raging in his soul.
"Return!" he exclaimed.

"What shall I return?
That which I have received?
So be it.