to shake off the enervation into which her will was slowly sinking. She
followed him to a half-demolished flight of steps at the top of which was
a door likewise strengthened by planks nailed in the form of a cross.

Renine went to work in the same way as before. They entered a spacious
hall paved with white and black flagstones, furnished with old sideboards
and choir-stalls and adorned with a carved escutcheon which displayed the
remains of armorial bearings, representing an eagle standing on a block of
stone, all half-hidden behind a veil of cobwebs which hung down over a pair
of folding-doors.

"The door of the drawing-room, evidently," said Renine.

He found this more difficult to open; and it was only by repeatedly
charging it with his shoulder that he was able to move one of the doors.

Hortense had not spoken a word. She watched not without surprise this
series of forcible entries, which were accomplished with a really masterly
skill. He guessed her thoughts and, turning round, said in a serious voice:

"It's child's-play to me. I was a locksmith once."

She seized his arm and whispered:

"Listen!"

"To what?" he asked.

She increased the pressure of her hand, to demand silence. The next moment,
he murmured: