He had confessed all; and he paused, trembling, trying to read his
sentence in the eyes of his daughter.

"And can you hesitate?" she demanded.

"Ah! you do not know----"

"I know that Sairmeuse must be given up."

This was the decree of his own conscience, that faint voice which speaks
only in a whisper, but which all the tumult on earth cannot overpower.

"No one saw me take away the chest," he faltered. "If anyone suspected
it, there is not a single proof against me. But no one does suspect it."

Marie-Anne rose, her eyes flashed with generous indignation.

"My father!" she exclaimed; "oh! my father!"

Then, in a calmer tone, she added:

"If others know nothing of this, can _you_ forget it?"

M. Lacheneur appeared almost ready to succumb to the torture of the
terrible conflict raging in his soul.

"Return!" he exclaimed. "What shall I return? That which I have
received? So be it. I consent. I will give the duke the eighty thousand
francs; to this amount I will add the interest on this sum since I have