Six months later I knew that it was the Duchess who had addressed this missive to her husband, and why she had done so.

By degrees I learned all the secret to which this scrap of paper gave me the clue; and if I have been a long while over it, it is because one link was wanting which I only discovered yesterday." "Ah," said the doctor, "then Caroline Schimmel has spoken." "Yes; drink was the magician that disclosed the secret that for twenty years she had guarded with unswerving fidelity." As Mascarin uttered these words he opened a drawer, and drew from it a large pile of manuscript, which he waved over his head with an air of triumph.
"This is the greatest work that I have ever done," exclaimed he.

"Listen to it, Hortebise, and you shall see how it is that I hold firmly, at the same time, both the Duke and Duchess of Champdoce, and Diana the Countess of Mussidan.

Listen to me, Catenac,--you who distrusted me, and were ready to play the traitor, and tell me if I do not grasp success in my strong right hand." Then, holding out the roll of papers to Paul, he cried, "And do you, my dear boy, take this and read it carefully.

Let nothing escape you, for there is not one item, however trivial it may seem to you, that has not its importance.