“Worse,” answered Noel.  “She is now delirious, and no longer knows what she says.  She has just assailed me with the most atrocious abuse, upbraiding me as the vilest of mankind!  I really believe she is going out of her mind.”

“One might do so with less cause,” murmured M. Tabaret; “and I think you ought to send for the doctor.”

“I have just done so.”

The advocate had resumed his seat before his bureau, and was rearranging the scattered letters according to their dates.  He seemed to have forgotten that he had asked his old friend’s advice; nor did he appear in any way desirous of renewing the interrupted conversation.  This was not at all what old Tabaret wanted.

“The more I ponder over your history, my dear Noel,” he observed, “the more I am bewildered.  I really do not know what resolution I should adopt, were I in your situation.”

“Yes, my old friend,” replied the advocate sadly, “it is a situation that might well perplex even more profound experiences than yours.”

The old amateur detective repressed with difficulty the sly smile, which for an instant hovered about his lips.

“I confess it humbly,” he said, taking pleasure in assuming an air of intense simplicity, “but you, what have you done?  Your first impulse must have been to ask Madame Gerdy for an explanation.”

Noel made a startled movement, which passed unnoticed by old Tabaret, preoccupied as he was in trying to give the turn he desired to the conversation.

“It was by that,” answered Noel, “that I began.”

“And what did she say?”

“What could she say!  Was she not overwhelmed by the discovery?”

“What! did she not attempt to exculpate herself?” inquired the detective greatly surprised.

“Yes! she attempted the impossible.  She pretended she could explain the correspondence.  She told me . . .  But can I remember what she said?  Lies, absurd, infamous lies.”

The advocate had finished gathering up his letters, without noticing the abstraction.  He tied them together carefully, and replaced them in the secret drawer of his bureau.

“Yes,” continued he, rising and walking backwards and forward across his study, as if the constant movement could calm his anger, “yes, she pretended she could show me I was wrong.  It was easy, was it not, with the proofs I held against her?  The fact is she adores her son, and her heart is breaking at the idea that he may be obliged to restitute what he has stolen from me.  And I, idiot, fool, coward, almost wished not to mention the matter to her.  I said to myself, I will forgive, for after all she has loved me!  Loved? no.  She would see me suffer the most horrible tortures, without shedding a tear, to prevent a single hair falling from her son’s head.”

“She has probably warned the count,” observed old Tabaret, still pursuing his idea.

“She may have tried, but cannot have succeeded, for the count has been absent from Paris for more than a month and is not expected to return until the end of the week.”