XI. SABINE'S CONFESSION 255 XII. SUZANNE'S ENLIGHTENMENT 265 XIII. ONÉSIME'S CONQUEST 271 XIV. ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST 279 XV. AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 287 XVI. SEGOFFIN'S RUSE 294 XVII. THE VOICE OF THE TEMPTER 302 XVIII. "MY MOTHER'S MURDERER STILL LIVES!" 309 XIX. AFTER THE STORM 316 XX. THE MIDNIGHT ATTACK 322 XXI. A LAST APPEAL 329 XXII. CONCLUSION 338 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE "AXE IN HAND" _Frontispiece_ "'GO AWAY AND LET ME ALONE'" 53 "'MY STAR HAS NOT DESERTED ME'" 155 "SEVERAL MEN RUSHED UPON HIM" 236 Avarice and Anger. THE MILLIONAIRES AVARICE. CHAPTER I. AN UNFORTUNATE CHOICE. The narrow street known for many long years as the Charnier des Innocents (the Charnel-house of the Innocents), near the market, has always been noted for the large number of scriveners who have established their booths in this densely populated part of Paris. One fine morning in the month of May, 18--, a young girl about eighteen years of age, who was clad in working dress, and whose charming though melancholy face wore that peculiar pallor which seems to be a sort of sinister reflection of poverty, was walking thoughtfully down the Charnier des Innocents. Several times she paused as if in doubt in front of as many scriveners' booths, but either because the proprietors seemed too young or too unprepossessing in appearance or too busy, she went slowly on again. Seeing, in the doorway of the last booth, an old man with a face as good and kind as it was venerable, the young girl did not hesitate to enter the modest little establishment. The scrivener, struck in his turn by the young girl's remarkable beauty and modest bearing, as well as her timid and melancholy air, greeted her with almost paternal affability as she entered his shop, after which he closed the door; then drawing the curtain of the little window, the good man motioned his client to a seat, while he took possession of his old leather armchair. Mariette--for that was the young girl's name--lowered her big blue eyes, blushed deeply, and maintained an embarrassed, almost painful, silence for several seconds. Her bosom rose and fell tumultuously under the small gray shawl that she wore over her faded calico gown, while the hands she had clasped in her lap trembled violently.