and hesitated considerably in making this request, but,
unfortunately, I did not think much about it at the time. I did
as he requested, and he poured eight or ten drops of the contents
of the vial into a glass of water, and swallowed it."

So intense was Dr. Jodon's interest that he became himself again.
He forgot to attitudinize. "And after that?" he asked, eagerly.

"After that, M. de Chalusse seemed to feel much better, and
retired to his study as usual. I fancied that any annoyance the
letter had caused him was forgotten; but I was wrong, for in the
afternoon he sent a message, through Madame Leon, requesting me to
join him in the garden. I hastened there, very much surprised,
for the weather was extremely disagreeable. 'Dear Marguerite,' he
said, on seeing me, 'help me to find the fragments of that letter
which I flung from the window this morning. I would give half my
fortune for an address which it must certainly have contained, but
which I quite overlooked in my anger.' I helped him as he asked.
He might have reasonably hoped to succeed, for it was raining when
the scraps of paper were thrown out, and instead of flying through
the air, they fell directly on to the ground. We succeeded in
finding a large number of the scraps, but what M. de Chalusse so
particularly wanted was not to be read on any one of them. Several
times he spoke of his regret, and cursed his precipitation."

M. Bourigeau, the concierge, and M. Casimir exchanged a
significant smile. They had seen the count searching for the
remnants of this letter, and had thought him little better than an
idiot. But now everything was explained.