“Do you want to ruin me?” cried the woman; then, with a supplicating gesture:  “Spare me this shame; I will give you money, a large sum.  See here!” and, opening her gold bag, she drew out some folded notes.  “I’ll give you a thousand francs—­five thousand.  Don’t turn away!  I’ll give you more—­my jewels, my pearls, my rings.  Look at them.”  She held out her hands, flashing with precious stones.

Suddenly she felt the girl’s eyes on her in utter scorn.  “You are not even intelligent,” Alice flung back; “you were a fool to come here; now you are stupid enough to think you can buy my silence. Mon Dieu, what a base soul!”

“Forgive me, I don’t know what I am saying,” begged the other.  “Don’t be angry.  Listen; you say I was a fool to come here, but it isn’t true.  I realized my danger, I knew what I was risking, and yet I came, because I had to come.  I felt I could trust you.  I came in my desperation because there was no other person in Paris I dared go to.”

“Is that true?” asked the girl, more gently.

“Indeed it is,” implored the lady, her eyes swimming with tears.  “I beg your pardon sincerely for offering you money.  I know you are loyal and kind and—­I’m ashamed of myself.  I have suffered so much since last night that—­as you say, I must be mad.”

It was a strange picture—­this brilliant beauty, forgetful of pride and station, humbling herself to a poor candle seller.  Alice looked at her in wonder.

“I don’t understand yet why you came to me,” she said.

“I want to make amends for the harm I have done, I want to save M. Kittredge—­not for myself.  Don’t think that!  He has gone out of my life and will never come into it again.  I want to save him because it’s right that I should, because he has been accused of this crime through me and I know he is innocent.”

“Ah,” murmured Alice joyfully, “you know he is innocent.”

“Yes; and, if necessary, I will give evidence to clear him.  I will tell exactly what happened.”

“What happened where?”

“In the room where this man was—­was shot.  Ugh!” She pressed her hands over her eyes as if to drive away some horrid vision.

“You were—­there?” asked the girl.

The woman nodded with a wild, frightened look.  “Don’t ask me about it.  There isn’t time now and—­I told him everything.”

“You mean Lloyd?  You told Lloyd everything?”

“Yes, in the carriage.  He realizes that I acted for the best, but—­don’t you see, if I come forward now and tell the truth, I shall be disgraced, ruined.”

“And if you don’t come forward, Lloyd will remain in prison,” flashed the girl.

“You don’t understand.  There is no case against Lloyd.  He is bound to be released for want of evidence against him.  I only ask you to be patient a few days and let me help him without destroying myself.”

“How can you help him unless you speak out?”