"Then, turning to me, he said: 'You are my son; will you come with me? I
have no right to take you away, but I shall assume it, if you are willing
to come with me: I shook his hand without replying, and we went out
together. I was certainly three parts mad.

"Two days later Monsieur de Bourneval killed Monsieur de Courcils in a
duel. My brothers, to avoid a terrible scandal, held their tongues. I
offered them and they accepted half the fortune which my mother had left
me. I took my real father's name, renouncing that which the law gave me,
but which was not really mine. Monsieur de Bourneval died three years
later and I am still inconsolable."

He rose from his chair, walked up and down the room, and, standing in
front of me, said:

"Well, I say that my mother's will was one of the most beautiful, the
most loyal, as well as one of the grandest acts that a woman could
perform. Do you not think so?"

I held out both hands to him, saying:

"I most certainly do, my friend."




WALTER SCHNAFFS' ADVENTURE

Ever since he entered France with the invading army Walter Schnaffs had