Then Ansell, having carefully closed the window, went back to the table and, bending towards his friend, said:
“Listen. I’m going to tell you something important. I’ve got a good thing on for us both to-night. You know the Baron’s out at Neuilly? Well, to-night, it quite——”
“Hush, Ralph! Madame——” his companion cried, glancing at Jean, apprehensively.
“Oh, she may just as well know the truth at first as at last,” laughed Ansell roughly. Then, turning to his wife, he exclaimed, with a sinister grin: “Perhaps, Jean, you may wonder how we live—how I have got my money in the past. Well, I may as well tell you, for one day you will surely discover our secret. We are burglars.”
The girl started, staring blankly at her husband, and uttered a low scream.
“Burglars!” she gasped, astounded.
“Yes. And now you know the truth, take care that you never blab out a word to anyone, or, by Heaven, it will be the worse for you! If you say a word,” he added, fiercely, with knit brows and glaring eyes, “if you let drop a hint to anybody, I’ll break every bone in your body.”
“Ralph!” she cried, starting up in horror. “Have you taken leave of your senses?”
“Enough!” protested Adolphe, angrily. “I won’t stand by and hear such threats, Ralph.”