the countess, quickly.

"This would have been a sorry credit," replied President L'Aigre.
"The Valois family had for a long time been extinct, and the last
man of that name who is known, was detected in counterfeiting,
sentenced, and executed. Your grandfather was an illegitimate son of
the counterfeiter Valois. That is the sum total of your relation to
the royal family of France. It is possible that upon this very chair
on which you now sit, accused of this act of deception, your natural
great-grandfather once sat, accused like you of an act of deception,
in order, after conviction of his crime, to be punished according to
the laws of France."

The countess made a motion as if she wanted to rise from the
unfortunate seat, but instantly the heavy hand of the officer was
laid upon her shoulder, and his threatening voice said, "Sit still,
or I put on the chains!"

The Countess Lamotte-Valois of France sank back with a loud sob upon
the chair, and for the first time a death-like paleness diffused
itself over her hitherto rosy cheeks.

"So Madame de Boulainvillier had the children of the day-laborer
Valois called," continued the president, with his imperturbable
self-possession. "The oldest daughter, a girl of twelve years,
pleased her in consequence of her lively nature and her attractive
exterior. She took her to herself, she gave her an excellent
education, she was resolved to provide for her whole future; when
one day the young Valois disappeared from the chateau of Madame de
Boulainvillier. She had eloped with the sub-lieutenant, Count