whom he had caused to be drowned by Nicholas Martial, by the Ravageurs'
Island.

It was, then, with growing and alarming anguish that Rudolph acquired, in
spite of himself, the terrible conviction that the Goualeuse was his
daughter, and that she was dead. Unfortunately for him, all seemed to
confirm this belief. Before condemning Jacques Ferrand on the proofs given
by the notary himself to Cecily, the prince, his deep interest for the
Goualeuse, having caused inquiries to be made at Asnieres, had learned
that, in fact, two women, one old and the other young, and dressed in a
peasant's costume, had been drowned in going to Ravageurs' Island, and that
rumor accused the Martials of this new crime. Here we must state that, in
spite of the attention of Dr. Griffon, of the Count de Saint Remy, and of
La Louve, Fleur-de-Marie, for a long time in a desperate situation, had
hardly become convalescent, and that her weakness, mental and physical, was
such, that she had not been able up to this time to inform Madame George or
Rudolph of her position. This concourse of circumstances could not leave
the slightest hope to the prince. A last proof was reserved for him. At
length he cast his eyes on the miniature, which he had almost feared to
look at. The blow was frightful. In this infantine and charming face,
already radiant with that divine beauty which belongs to the cherubim, he
recognized in a striking manner the features of Fleur-de-Marie; her Grecian
nose, her noble forehead, her little mouth; already slightly serious. For,
said Madame Seraphin to Sarah, in one of her letters which Rudolph had just
read, "The child asks always for its mother, and is very sad."

There were her large blue eyes, of a blue so pure and soft--the bluebell's
blue, as La Chouette had said to Sarah on recognizing in this miniature the
features of the unfortunate child whom she had persecuted, in her infancy,
under the name of LaPegriotte, and as a young girl under the name of La