itself which was shining in the distance.

"We have all been fools!" he cried; "but this will give us the
accomplices."

He returned to the salon, sought out Monsieur de Grandville, said a
few words in his ear, after which they both took leave. But the Abbe
de Rastignac accompanied them politely to the door; he watched them as
they departed, saw them go to the terrace, noticed the fire on the
island, and thought to himself, "She is lost!"

The emissaries of the law got there too late. Denise and Louis, whom
Jean had taught to dive, were actually on the bank of the river at a
spot named to them by Jean, but Louis Tascheron had already dived four
times, bringing up each time a bundle containing twenty thousand
francs' worth of gold. The first sum was wrapped in a foulard
handkerchief knotted by the four corners. This handkerchief, from
which the water was instantly wrung, was thrown into a great fire of
drift wood already lighted. Denise did not leave the fire until she
saw every particle of the handkerchief consumed. The second sum was
wrapped in a shawl, the third in a cambric handkerchief; these
wrappings were instantly burned like the foulard.

Just as Denise was throwing the wrapping of the fourth and last
package into the fire the gendarmes, accompanied by the commissary of
police, seized that incriminating article, which Denise let them take
without manifesting the least emotion. It was a handkerchief, on
which, in spite of its soaking in the river, traces of blood could
still be seen. When questioned as to what she was doing there, Denise
said she was taking the stolen gold from the river according to her