“I hope, sir,” said Dr. Baleinier, recovering his coolness, “that you will at least communicate the declaration that has been made to you.”

“It has been declared to me, sir,” said the magistrate, in a stern voice, “that Mdlle. de Cardoville was brought here by stratagem.”

“By stratagem?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It is true.  The lady was brought here by stratagem,” answered the Jesuit of the short robe, after a moment’s silence.

“You confess it, then?” said M. de Gernande.

“Certainly I do, sir.  I admit that I had recourse to means which we are unfortunately too often obliged to employ, when persons who most need our assistance are unconscious of their own sad state.”

“But, sir,” replied the magistrate, “it has also been declared to me, that Mdlle. de Cardoville never required such aid.”

“That, sir, is a question of medical jurisprudence, which has to be examined and discussed,” said M. Baleinier, recovering his assurance.

“It will, indeed, sir, be seriously discussed; for you are accused of confining Mdlle.  De Cardoville, while in the full possession of all her faculties.”

“And may I ask you for what purpose?” said M. de Baleinier, with a slight shrug of the shoulders, and in a tone of irony.  “What interest had I to commit such a crime, even admitting that my reputation did not place me above so odious and absurd a charge?”

“You are said to have acted, sir, in furtherance of a family plot, devised against Mdlle. de Cardoville for a pecuniary motive.”

“And who has dared, sir, to make so calumnious a charge?” cried Dr. Baleinier, with indignant warmth.  “Who has had the audacity to accuse a respectable, and I dare to say, respected man, of having been the accomplice in such infamy?”

“I,” said Rodin, coldly.

“You!” cried Dr. Baleinier, falling back two steps, as if thunderstruck.

“Yes, I accuse you,” repeated Rodin, in a clear sharp voice.

“Yes, it was this gentleman who came to me this morning, with ample proofs, to demand my interference in favor of Mdlle. de Cardoville,” said the magistrate, drawing back a little, to give Adrienne the opportunity of seeing her defender.

Throughout this scene, Rodin’s name had not hitherto been mentioned.  Mdlle. de Cardoville had often heard speak of the Abbe d’Aigrigny’s secretary in no very favorable terms; but, never having seen him, she did not know that her liberator was this very Jesuit.  She therefore looked towards him, with a glance in which were mingled curiosity, interest, surprise and gratitude.  Rodin’s cadaverous countenance, his repulsive ugliness, his sordid dress, would a few days before have occasioned Adrienne a perhaps invincible feeling of disgust.  But the young lady, remembering how the sempstress, poor, feeble, deformed, and dressed almost in rags was endowed notwithstanding her wretched exterior,