So great was the tension on my nerves that I could scarcely restrain a shout of laughter.  I turned it into a shout for Parks; but his face, when he appeared on the threshold, was too much for me, and I sank into a chair, laughing hysterically.

“For God’s sake!” Parks began....

“It’s all right,” Godfrey broke in, sharply, “Rogers has had another fit.  Get the ammonia!”

Parks staggered away, and Mr. Hornblower sat down weakly.

“I don’t see the joke!” he growled, glaring at me, his face crimson.

“Get a grip of yourself, Lester,” said Godfrey, savagely, seized the pitcher from my hand, and hurried with it to madame.

I did get a grip of myself, and when Parks came back a moment later with the ammonia, was able to hold up Rogers’s head, while Parks applied the phial to his nostrils.

“Give me a whiff of it, too, Parks,” I said, unsteadily, and in an instant my eyes were streaming; but I had escaped hysteria.  “Straighten Rogers out and let him lie there,” I gasped, and sat dizzily down upon the floor.  But I dared not look at Hornblower.  I felt that another glance at his dazed countenance would send me off again.

Madame, meanwhile, had dashed some water into the face of the unconscious Julie—­much to the detriment of her complexion!—­watched her a moment, then stood erect and lowered her veil.

“She will soon be all right again,” she said; and, truly enough, at the end of a few seconds, the girl opened her eyes and looked dazedly about her.  Then a violent trembling seized her.

“What is it, Julie?” asked her mistress, taking her hand.  “You knew this man?”

A hoarse sob was the only answer.

“You must tell me,” went on madame, quietly but firmly.  “Perhaps a crime has been committed.  You must tell me everything.  You may rely upon the discretion of these gentlemen.  You knew this man?”

The girl nodded, and closed her eyes; but the hot tears brimmed from them and ran down over her cheeks.

“In Paris?”

The girl nodded again.

“He was your lover?”

A third nod, and a fresh flood of tears.

“I remember, now,” said madame, suddenly.  “I saw him with her once.  What was he doing in this house?” she went on, more sternly.  “Tell us!”

“Madame will never forgive me!” sobbed the girl, and I began to think that she was more concerned for herself than for her lover.  The same thought occurred to her mistress too, no doubt, for her voice hardened.

“Try me,” she said.  “Understand well, you must tell—­if not here, then before an officer of the police.”

“Oh, no, no!” screamed Julie, sitting suddenly erect.  “Never that!  I could not bear that!  Madame would not be so cruel!”

“Then tell us now!” said the veiled lady, inexorably.

“Very well, madame!” cried the girl, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, and speaking in a mixture of French and English which I shall not attempt to transcribe.  “I will tell; I will tell everything.  After all, I was not to blame.  It was that creature.  I did not love him—­but I feared him.  He possessed a power over me.  He could make me do anything.  He even beat me!  And still I went back to him!”