avail. Answer, therefore: What have you done? Why were you afraid of
being involved in the trial of Countess Lamotte?"

"Because I had done a great wrong," answered Retaux, with vehemence.
"Because I had allowed myself to be led astray by the promises, the
seductive arts, the deceptions of the countess. I was poor; I lived
unseen and unnoticed, and I wished to be rich, honored, and
distinguished. The countess promised me all this. She would persuade
the cardinal to advance me to honor; she would introduce me to the
court, and through her means I should become rich and sought after.
I believed all this, and like her devoted slave I did all that she
asked of me."

"Slavish soul!" cried the countess, with an expression of
unspeakable scorn.

"What did the countess desire of you?" asked the president. "What
did you do in her service?"

"I wrote the letters which were intended for the cardinal," answered
Retaux de Vilette. "The countess composed them, and I wrote them in
the handwriting of the queen."

"How did you know her handwriting?"

"The countess gave me a book in which a letter of the queen's was
printed in exact imitation of her hand. I copied the letters as
nearly as I could, and so worked out my sentences."

"He lies, he lies!" cried the countess, with a fierce gesture.