“You need not be alarmed.  That is a box of which we made the peculiar fastenings.  It is too heavy to be carried off, and burglars will not tamper with it in impunity,” said the Italian, smiling maliciously, as he put his hand on the lid to raise it.

“I understand; it opens with a secret lock?”

“Yes; one I cannot tell you about.”

“I have no use for it,” she said hastily, “on the contrary, I wish the money to be where I cannot touch it.”

“Nobody will touch it there,” returned the young man gravely.  “Stop! how will you get it if anything happens to me—­if I should die?”

“A young man like you die in a couple of days!” laughed Cesarine.

“It may occur,” he replied gloomily.  “Death has hovered over this house at any moment of some of our experiments with the most powerful essences of nature.  And only this morning, when I was out to the post-office, they were talking of a hideous discovery—­a young man’s remains, found in a ditch in the Five Hectare Field.”

“A—­a young man?”

“A foreigner, some said; but his clothes were in tatters, and the water-rats had disfigured him.”

“Poor fellow!” said she, and quickly she added as if eager to change the subject:  “my name is on the letters of credit.  In case of any mishap, I will plainly say so to my husband and he will return me my own property.”

That was sensible.  He had no farther remonstrances to offer, and taking advantage of her glancing out into the garden, he closed the lid and fastened it so that she could not see how the trick was done.  She was not vexed, for she saw that man is always weak and on the point of losing his Paradise.  Antonino would betray as the price of love.  She allowed him to go in to luncheon alone, wishing to inspect the mysterious casket; but, unluckily, she was interrupted by Hedwig, who rather officiously wanted to dust the room.  Not for the first time, Cesarine, remembering the wide occult sway claimed by Colonel Von Sendlingen, suspected that the girl was not so much her ally as she wished.  She had begun to watch her under the impression that she was in confederacy with Mademoiselle Daniels.  She had perceived no signs of that, but she believed she intercepted an exchange of glances with the false Marseillais.  They were of the same nationality and this fact caused Cesarine to be on her guard.  Unless Hedwig repeated what had happened between Clemenceau and Antonino, how could the colonel know of their conversation?

Hesitating to question her directly, disliking her from that moment, and feeling her heart shrink at her loneliness when such crushing odds were threatening her, she donned her “company smile” and went to the sitting-room bravely.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE COMPACT.

Luncheon was served and M. Cantagnac, seated comfortably, was trying the delicacies with rare conscientiousness about any escaping his harpoon-like fork.  Cesarine did not give him a second look and neither he nor Clemenceau, with whom he was chatting on politics, more than glanced up at her.  M. Daniels was more polite, for he warmly accepted a second cup of coffee as soon as she, without any attempt to displace Mademoiselle Daniels at the urn, took her place beside her.