"Go! Go at once, and come back to me quickly! You have said enough to awaken a horrible suspicion. I do not dare to let my mind dwell upon the frightful possibility that suggests itself."
M. de Bois bade her good-morning as precipitately as she could desire, and hastened upon his mission.
When Madeleine reached her home she said to Ruth, "I am unfit for my usual duties to-day. Ruth, I have long intended that you should occupy a more active and prominent position in this establishment. Do you not feel yourself competent to do so?"
Ruth returned affectionately,—
"I have studied diligently under your tuition; sometimes I fancy that I have almost mastered some of the rules, and fathomed some of the mysteries, of your art."
"To-day, then," rejoined Madeleine, "I mean that you shall wholly take my place. I have faith in your ability."
Ruth retired, well pleased at the confidence reposed in her; and Madeleine entered her boudoir to await, with a sense of dread which she could ill repress, the return of Gaston de Bois.
The clock had just struck twelve when he was announced. One glance at his pale face hardly left Madeleine courage to ask,—
"What has happened?"