"I am so foolishly superstitious about the possession of that bracelet," said Marguerite, "that I will be dreadfully unhappy if it is really lost, but what hope can I have? Have I any? Ah, pardon, my friend, for my showing such sorrow for anything which does not concern you, but if you only knew how much that bracelet meant to me-- Ah, what a sad night I shall spend, how unhappy I shall be!" There flashed through my mind one of those ideas that come to us when we are desperately in love. I had a very fast race-horse,--it was Candid; it was three leagues and a half from Paris to the Château of ----; the night was fine, the moon shone clear, the road was a splendid one. I wished to spare Marguerite not only a night, but an hour, even a few moments of grief, by finding out in the least time possible if the bracelet had been left in the library of ----, even at the risk of killing my horse. "Pardon for my selfishness," said I to Marguerite, "but your distress and the loss you have sustained have reminded me that I foolishly left the key in the lock of a little chest which contains important papers. I have every confidence in my _valet de chambre_, but others besides he might enter my room. Permit me, then, to write a note, that I will send back by the carriage, to tell him to get the key, and bring it to me." I wrote the following words: "George is to saddle Candid instantly, he must go to the Château de ---- and ask the overseer if he has not found a bracelet in the library. When George gets this note it will be ten o'clock, by eleven o'clock you must either bring the bracelet or the answer to the Hôtel de Pënâfiel." The letter was sent. It was rather more than three leagues and a half to the Château de ---- from Paris. He would have to travel seven leagues in an hour. Such a thing was possible with a horse like Candid, but it was a hundred to one that it would ruin him. Until ten o'clock I had sufficient control over myself to amuse Marguerite and take her mind off her loss. Eleven o'clock struck, George had not returned. At five minutes past eleven a _valet de chambre_ came in, bringing on a waiter a small package, which he presented to me. It was Marguerite's bracelet. I cannot express the transports of joy with which I received it. "You will pardon me," I said to Marguerite, "the tardiness of my servants. Not knowing the value you set on that bracelet, I stole it from you, but seeing your extreme annoyance, I pretended that I had forgotten my key, and wrote to my _valet de chambre_ to send me a little package that he would find in my coffer." "Oh, I have found it, I have found it! I forgive you!" cried Marguerite, in a transport of joy; then, holding out her hand, she added: "Ah, how kind you are to have taken pity on my weakness, and how I thank you for having sent to your house for the bracelet, in order to save me a few moments' distress."