Suzanne was the first to run to the little boudoir which separated
the big drawing-room from her father's bedroom. But, at the
entrance, a hideous sight appalled her. By the slanting rays of the
moon, she saw two apparently lifeless bodies lying close to each
other on the floor. She leaned over one of them:

"Father!--Father!--Is it you? What has happened to you?" she cried,
distractedly.

After a moment, the Comte de Gesvres moved. In a broken voice, he
said:

"Don't be afraid--I am not wounded--Daval?--Is he alive?--The
knife?--The knife?--"

Two men-servants now arrived with candles. Raymonde flung herself
down before the other body and recognized Jean Daval, the count's
private secretary. A little stream of blood trickled from his neck.
His face already wore the pallor of death.

Then she rose, returned to the drawing room, took a gun that hung in
a trophy of arms on the wall and went out on the balcony. Not more
than fifty or sixty seconds had elapsed since the man had set his
foot on the top rung of the ladder. He could not, therefore, be very
far away, the more so as he had taken the precaution to remove the
ladder, in order to prevent the inmates of the house from using it.
And soon she saw him skirting the remains of the old cloister. She
put the gun to her shoulder, calmly took aim and fired. The man
fell.