Ah! was she herself the grandniece of Jean Tessier?  Then, Heaven be thanked! the General’s toilsome journey was ended.  He had much to tell them—­when he should be rested.  He removed the silk hat and mopped his shining forehead.  He must introduce himself that he might have credit with Madame, else she might hardly listen to his story, for there had never been a tale like it before since the world was.  Let him present himself—­M. le General Pedro Suarez de Moreno, Count de Tinoco and Marquis de la d’Essa.  Although one was fatigued it refreshed one to be the bearer of good news, and such was his mission.  Let Madame prepare herself to hear.  Yes, it would be proper for her to call M’sieu’, her husband, that he might participate.

Over a draft of this same vintage M. le General imparted to them the secret.  Lapierre laughs and shrugs his shoulders as he recalls the scene—­the apoplectic General, with the glass of wine in one hand, waving the other grandiloquently as he described the wealth about to descend upon them.

Yes, the General must begin at the beginning, for it was a long story.  First, as to himself and how he came to know of the affair.  It had been on his return from the Philippines after the surrender of Manila, where he had been in command of the armies of Spain, that he had paused for repose in New York and had first learned of the Tessier inheritance.  The precise manner of his discovery was left somewhat indefinite, but the Lapierres were not particular.  So many distinguished persons had played a part in the drama that the recital left but a vague impression as to individuals.  A certain Madame Luchia, widow of one Roquefailaire, whom he had accidentally met, had apparently been the instrument of Providence in disclosing the history of Jean Tessier to the General.  She herself had been wronged by the villains and knew all the secrets of the conspirators.  But she had waited for a suitable opportunity to speak.  Jean Tessier had died possessed of properties which to-day, seventy years after, were worth in the neighborhood of five hundred million dollars!  The General paused for the effect, solemnly nodding his head at his astounded auditors in affirmance.  Yes, it was even so!

Five hundred million dollars!  No more—­and no less!  Then he once more took up the thread of his narrative.

Tessier’s lands, originally farms, were to-day occupied by huge magasins, government buildings, palaces and hotels.  He had been a frugal, hardworking, far-seeing man of affairs whose money had doubled itself year by year.  Then had appeared one Emmeric Lespinasse, a Frenchman, also from Bordeaux, who had plotted to rob him of his estate, and the better to accomplish his purpose had entered the millionaire’s employ.  When Tessier died, in 1884, Lespinasse had seized his papers and the property, destroyed his will, dispersed the clerks, secretaries, “notaries” and accountants of the deceased, and quietly got rid of such persons as stood actively in his way.  The great wealth thus acquired had enabled him to defy those who knew that he was not entitled to the fortune, and that the real heirs were in far-away France.