"Unlock that door! I shall reveal at once to the Prince this attack on his good name and Miss Frederika. How dare you bring these men here with such falsehoods?"
Rudolph, alarmed for himself, hung his head in silence. He was trembling violently.
"Rudolph," said Maximilian, solemnly, "I call upon you, by the oath you have taken, to say to this lady whether or not the contents of that paper are true."
"I believe them to be true," responded Rudolph, in a low tone.
It was wonderful to see the fine indignation, the keen penetration that shone in Estella's eyes, as she looked first at Rudolph and then at Maximilian.
"Rudolph," said Maximilian, "by the oath you have taken, tell Miss Washington whether or not you paid $5,000 to her aunt, Maria Plunkett, for the purchase of her body, as set forth in that paper."
"It is true," replied Rudolph, in the same low tone.
"It is false!" cried Estella,--and yet I thought there was that in her tone which indicated that the hideous doubt had begun to enter her soul.
"Rudolph," said Maximilian, "tell this lady whether you took a receipt from her aunt for the money you paid for her."
"I did," replied Rudolph.