“It was nothing.  Victory remained, as usual, with, the ‘big battalions;’ and one evening the two partners returned to their lodgings, ruined, penniless, having not even a watch left, and owing the hotel-keeper a considerable sum of money.

“That evening Maxime spoke of blowing his brains out.  Never, on the contrary, had Sarah been merrier.

“The next morning she dressed very early and went out, saying she had a plan in her head, and would soon be back.

“But she did not come back; and all that day M. de Brevan, devoured by anxiety, waited in vain for her return.  At five o’clock, however, a messenger brought him a letter.  He opened it; there were three thousand francs in it, and these words:—­

“’When you receive these lines, I shall be far from Homburg.  Do not wait for me.  Enclosed is enough to enable you to return to Paris.  You shall see me again when our fortune is made.

“‘Sarah.’”

“Maxime was at first overcome with amazement.  To be abandoned in this way!  To be thus unceremoniously dismissed, and by Sarah!  He could not recover from it.  But anger soon roused him to fury; and at the same time he was filled with an intense desire to avenge himself.  But, in order to avenge himself, he must first know how to find his faithless ally.  What had become of her?  Where had she gone?

“By dint of meditating, and recollecting all he could gather in his memory, M. de Brevan remembered having seen Sarah two or three times, since fortune had forsaken them, in close conversation with a tall, thin gentleman of about forty years, who was in the habit of wandering through the rooms, and attracted much attention by his huge whiskers, his stiff carriage, and his wearied expression.  No doubt Sarah, being ruined, had fallen an easy prey to this gentleman, who looked as if he might be a millionaire.

“Where did he stay?  At the Hotel of the Three Kings.  Maxime went there at once.  Unfortunately, he was too late.  The gentleman had left that morning for Frankfort, by the 10.45 train, with an elderly lady, and a remarkably pretty girl.

“Sure of his game now, M. de Brevan left immediately for Frankfort, convinced that Sarah’s brilliant beauty would guide him like a star.  But he hunted in vain all over town, inquiring at the hotels, and bothering everybody with his questions.  He found no trace of the fugitives.

“When he returned to his lodgings that night, he wept.

“Never in his life had he fancied himself half so unhappy.  In losing Sarah, he thought he had lost everything.  During the five months of their intimacy, she had gained such complete ascendency over him, that now, when he was left to his own strength, he felt like a lost child, having no thought and no resolution.