"What have you done with the child?"

"I took him with my own hands to Anneci, where I bought everything
necessary for the well-being of this lady and for the death of the other
one."

"Doesn't your brother know anything about it?"

"Lord preserve us--no! He went away yesterday, and will not be back for a
week. We have nothing to fear."

I gave her another ten louis, begging her to buy some furniture, and to
get me something to eat by the time I came next day. She said she had
still plenty of money left, and I thought she would go mad when I told
her that whatever was over was her own. I thought the invalid stood in
need of rest, and I left her, promising to return at the same hour on the
following day.

I longed to get this troublesome matter safely over, and I knew that I
could not regard myself as out of the wood till the poor lay-sister was
under the sod. I was in some fear on this account, for if the priest was
not an absolute idiot he must see that the woman had been poisoned.

Next morning I went to see the fair Zeroli, and I found her and her
husband examining the watch he had bought her. He came up to me, took my
hand, and said he was happy that his wife had the power to keep me at
Aix. I replied that it was an easy task for her, and a "bravo" was all he
answered.

The chevalier was one of those men who prefer to pass for good-natured