"What has happened to her!" cried Ballangier, clenching his fists frantically; "ah! I suspect, and so does Charles! There's a man--a vile scoundrel--who looks respectable, unfortunately; he's been watching Mignonne a long while. I thrashed him some time ago, but it seems that that didn't sicken him. I ought to have killed him then and there! When you come away from Père-Lachaise toward Paris, there are some deserted streets, nothing more than alleyways, where you don't meet anyone even in broad daylight. We don't know which streets Mignonne usually took, but he knew, no doubt; he must have been on the watch for her and abducted her, forced her into a cab. Here in Paris, with a little money one can always find a hundred vagabonds, miserable wretches, who are ready to do any rascally thing. It must be the man we met last night who has carried Mignonne off--it can't be anyone else; and you remember, Charles, when I pointed him out to you, how he was sneaking along, looking furtively on all sides, as if to see whether anyone was following him. And when he saw that you were looking at him, he scuttled away fast Oh! to think that if I had followed him then, I should know where Mignonne is! For he was going to her, I am sure of it! But you know the man, Charles; you told me last night that you knew him; you said: 'The day of reckoning must come some time.'--So tell me who he is, tell me where I can find him and kill him if he doesn't give Mignonne back to me!" Frédérique and Balloquet gazed anxiously at me. Should I name that man? name him before her? Why should I spare the monster? Why should not his wife, as well as I, have the right to despise him utterly? "The man who was watching Mignonne," I said, at last, "was your husband, Frédérique; it was Monsieur Dauberny." Ballangier was stupefied. Balloquet was no less surprised. Frédérique, on the contrary, simply nodded her head, muttering: "I suspected as much!"--Then she said: "But it isn't enough to be convinced, to know that it was he? How are we to prove it? How can we discover in what place, in what out-of-the-way corner of Paris, he has concealed Mignonne? If you should ask him, he would deny having had any hand in the young woman's disappearance." "Just let me find your husband," I said; "tell me where I can see him and speak to him, and I am sure that he will deny nothing to me." Frédérique looked at me in surprise; then she rose hurriedly, saying: "I will go home at once; my presence will not rouse his suspicions. I will find out what he did yesterday and to-day; I will find out whether he is at home. If he is, I will send word to you instantly; and to prevent his going out, I will go to his apartment, I will ask for an interview on business--in short, I will keep him at home." She said no more, but left the room at once. Then I said to Balloquet: "You remember Annette--and that Bouqueton?" "Yes, yes! Well?" "Well, that Bouqueton was Monsieur Dauberny."