her the superb manner in which it was furnished and decorated.  She had stepped up to the toilette, he admitted, and had surveyed herself, as was very natural, in the glass, but it was only for a moment; he was close to her all the time, and indeed they hardly remained in the chamber two minutes:  they entered, looked round, and retired, and that was all.  It was true, he did not keep his eyes on his companion all the time; but had she taken anything, he could not have failed seeing the act.

A general impression prevailed among the people at the chateau that Julia was innocent; that it was impossible for one so virtuous and intelligent to commit so disgraceful and rash a theft.  Indeed, the tide of suspicion had been fast turning against Victor himself, when it received a new direction by the discovery of the missing articles in Julia’s reticule.  Another examination ensued, the distracted Julia, as has been stated, being herself brought into the presence of the magistrate.  In intense affliction, she declared her innocence:  that she knew not how the articles had got into her reticule; she had not put them there; did not know they were there; had, indeed, never touched them at all.  The portion of the letter in which they had been wrapped was handed to her, and she was questioned concerning it.  ’It was part of a letter,’ she said, ’which had been addressed to her by Victor Colonne.’  She remembered receiving it; but by what means it came to be applied to its present purpose, she did not at all know.  M. Morelle sternly bade her tell the truth, and conceal nothing; it would be better for her.  In great agony, she earnestly reiterated what she had said.  It was useless; the evidence against her was too strong to be shaken by merely her own denial.  Moreover, the commissaire of police, in delivering his evidence, laid much emphasis upon the embarrassment and distress she had evinced whilst he was searching the little basket in which the articles were found.

The case was on the point of being decided against her, when, by what may be termed a providential interposition, the tables were suddenly turned, and she was rescued from the jail, from infamy, and perhaps from death!  A young girl, one of the domestics at the chateau, having examined the portion of the letter which formed a link in the circumstantial evidence, produced from her pocket another fragment, which exactly fitted to the first, and made the letter complete!  With much curiosity, and indeed excitement, all listened eagerly to what she had to say.  She stated that the fragment she produced, which formed the remainder of the torn letter wrapped round the stolen articles, she had picked up in the garden of the chateau, where it had been dropped by Victor.  Julia’s reticule had been left on a seat under a tree; the witness saw Victor open it, and take out a letter.  He did not know she was at hand; indeed, could not see her.  He tore the letter into two pieces:  he appeared agitated.  One piece of the letter