"Did not Madame de Villefort ever hear of the change which had been made?" asked the district-attorney.
"Oh, yes; my wife had placed a small chain with a golden cross around our child's neck just after it was born; in my hurry I had forgotten to put this talisman on the strange child; I first denied, then confessed, everything. Instead of heaping reproaches on me, she acquiesced in the fraud. The next day my father-in-law came; Naya's daughter was baptized under the name of Valentine de Villefort, and on the bed of the child, my happy parents-in-law laid my appointment as district-attorney in Paris, and bonds to the value of three hundred thousand francs. Naya, with the dead child in her arms, was found the next day at our door. They were both buried in the potter's field. The papers Naya carried were written in the Indian language; they were given to me as a high official, and since then they, together with the wax impression and the half of the bracelet, have lain in my private portfolio which always stands near my bed."
Upon a wink from Villefort, Monsieur de Flambois opened the portfolio designated; everything was found there as he had said.
"Did you never hear again from Daola?" said d'Avigny after a pause.
"Yes; three years later the rajah wrote me from India. He had fought at Waterloo, was again a captive of the English, and only had an opportunity at the end of a year to escape. Together with the Rajah Scindia, who later on went over to England, he had again begun the struggle for independence; he is now living in the interior of Hindustan, waiting for a better opportunity. He asked me for news from Naya; I wrote him I knew nothing of her, and that ended our correspondence.
"This is my confession. Now use justice and erase from the headstone under which Naya's daughter rests the name of Valentine de Villefort."
"Suppose Valentine de Villefort is still alive?" asked D'Avigny solemnly.