"As to that, there is time enough; now you are on your feet again, I have
made my expenses, as Martial says."

"I hope that the Count of Saint Remy will tell me, directly, that the
physician will allow me to write to Madame George. She must be so uneasy!
And, perhaps, M. Rudolph also!" added Fleur-de-Marie casting down her eyes,
and blushing anew at the thought of her preserver. "Perhaps they think me
dead!"

"As those believe, also, who ordered you to be drowned, poor dear! Oh, the
hounds!"

"You always suppose, then, that it was not an accident, La Louve?"

"An accident? Yes, the Martials call them _accidents_. When I say the
Martials, it is without counting my man for he is not of that family, no
more than Francois and Amandine shall be."

"But what interest could any one have in my death! I have never harmed any
one--no one knows me."

"It's all one, if the Martials are scoundrels enough to drown some one,
they are not fools enough to do it for nothing. Some words which the widow
made use of in prison, to my Martial, proves this."

"He has been to see his mother, then? this terrible woman!"

"Yes, and there is no more hope for her, nor for Calabash, nor for
Nicholas. Many things have been discovered, but Nicholas, in the hope of
saving his life, has denounced his mother and sister for another