But Daniel was not so easily shaken.  He said,—­

“I will think it over.  I will see.  Perhaps something might be done with that young man whom the count mentioned, that M. Wilkie Gordon.  If I thought he was really anxious for Miss Brandon’s hand”—­

“I have heard it said, and I am sure it is so, the young man is one of those idiots whom vanity renders insane, and who do not know what to do in order to make themselves notorious.  Miss Brandon being very famous, he would marry her, just as he would pay a hundred thousand dollars for a famous racer.”

“And how do you account for Miss Brandon’s refusal?”

“By the character of the man, whom I know very well, and whom she knows as well.  She is quite aware that, three months after the wedding, he would decamp, and in less than a year she would be divorced.  Then there is another thing:  Wilkie is only twenty-five years old; and you know a fellow at that age is likely to live a good deal longer than a lover who is beyond the sixties.”

The way in which he said this lent to his words a terrible significance; and Daniel, turning pale, stammered out,—­

“Great God!  Do you think Miss Brandon could”—­

“Could do anything, most assuredly,—­except, perhaps, get into trouble with the police.  I have heard her say that only fools employ poison or the dagger.”

A strange smile passed over his lips; and he added in a tone of horrible irony,—­

“It is true there are other means, less prompt, perhaps, but much safer, by which people may be removed when they become inconvenient.

“What means?  The same, no doubt, which she had employed to get rid of poor Kergrist, and that unlucky Malgat, the cashier of the Mutual Discount Society.  Purely moral means, based upon her thorough knowledge of the character of her victims, and her own infernal power over them.”

But Daniel tried in vain to obtain more light from his friend.  Brevan answered evasively; perhaps because he did not dare to speak out freely, and reveal his real thoughts; or because it lay in his plans to be content with having added this horrible fear to all the other apprehensions of his friend.

His embarrassment, just now unmistakable, had entirely disappeared, as if he had come to a final decision after long hesitation.  He who had first advised all kinds of concessions now suggested the most energetic resistance, and seemed to be confident of success.

When he at last left Daniel, he had made him promise to keep him hour by hour informed of all that might happen, and, above all, to try every means in his power to unmask Miss Brandon.

“How he hates her!” said Daniel to himself when he was alone,—­“how he hates her!”

But this very hatred, which had already troubled him the night before, now disturbed him more and more, and kept him from coming to any decision.  The more he reflected, the more it seemed to him that Maxime had allowed himself to be carried away beyond what was probable, or even possible.  The last accusation, especially, seemed to him perfectly monstrous.