“But though I knew everything,” she went on after a moment, “I could do nothing, as I had no wish to make the acquaintance of M. d’Argenson’s men. It was not until I saw you enter the court of the Epée Flamboyante with Mlle. Ribaut on your arm that I found a plan. Now, M. le Moyne, my plan is working admirably. I hold the key to the situation. In a day or two, Ribaut will come to terms. I will take my ten thousand crowns and pouf!--there will no longer be a Mère Fouchon. I will go to Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nice--anywhere away from this execrable Paris. I shall have money--I shall live well--I shall no longer fear the police or a return to the life of the Rue des Marmosets. I shall escape from hell, after all.” “And what do you propose doing with me?” I asked. She looked at me a moment with glittering eyes, all her venom in her face. “Ah, you, M. le Moyne. It is most unfortunate for you that you did not remain contentedly in the Rue du Chantre instead of following the girl here. You have put your head in the trap, and in the trap you stay. Out of it, you would trouble me. You are too intimate with M. d’Argenson. So, when I am ready to leave Paris, I shall close the outer door, swing into place a certain slab of stone, and go away. That will be the end. A century from now, perhaps, workmen will find a cavern under the street. In the cavern will be a skeleton chained to the wall. They can wonder as they please, but I’ll wager they’ll not guess the story. Perhaps some one will make a very pretty romance of it. Think what an honor, Monsieur! The hero of a romance!” Honor! Ah, well, this devil should not see I feared her. Besides, was not the lieutenant of police my friend? He would learn from the concierge whither I had gone. Doubtless he was already searching for me. So I laughed in her face. “You deceive yourself, Madame,” I said. “I have friends who know that I came here. They will turn this whole quarter upside down but they find me, and then you will be sent to ornament a gibbet at Bicetre.” She rocked back and forth, clasping her knees and leering into my face. “Find you?” she echoed. “Not soon, Monsieur; certainly not in time to save you, unless the earth opens. The police have been this way, and they have passed without finding a trace of you or of me. You would never have discovered me, never have found a trace of me, had I not opened the door that you might walk in. I saw my chance to be revenged--and revenge is very sweet--so I opened the trap and in you came! For you had not behaved nicely to me, Monsieur; you had looked at me in a way that any woman would resent; you had spoken words to me that were not to be forgiven. Well, you are in the trap, and you will never get out. Do you fancy I would have taken the risk of sending for that clothing had I not been certain I could laugh at the police?” She paused for breath. Now that the gates were opened, that silence of fifteen years was being broken with a vengeance!