"Well," exclaimed Nathalie, "speak! Tell me everything that you have seen!" "Madame, I followed M. d'Apremont, at a distance, as far as the Rue Vieille du Temple, where he entered a small house, in an alley. There was no servant to let him in." "An alley! No servant! Dreadful!" "I went in directly after him, and heard him go up-stairs and unlock a door." "Open the door himself, without knocking! Are you sure of that?" "Yes, madame." "The wretch! So he has a key! But, go on." "When the door shut after him, I stole softly up-stairs, and peeped through the keyhole." "You shall have twenty francs more." "I peeped through the keyhole, and saw him drag a trunk along the floor." "A trunk?" "Then he undressed himself, and--" "Undressed himself!" "Then, for a few seconds, I could not see him, and directly he appeared again, in a sort of gray blouse, and a cap on his Lead." "A blouse! What in the world does he want with a blouse? What next?" "I came away, then, madame, and made haste to tell you; but he is there still." "Well, now run to the corner and get me a cab, and direct the coachman to the house where you have been." While the messenger went for the cab, Nathalie hurried on her hat and cloak, and ran into her uncle's room. "I have found him out--he loves another. He's at her house now, in a gray blouse. But I will go and confront him, and then you will see me no more." The old man had no time to reply. She was gone, with her messenger, in the cab. They stopped at last. "Here is the house." Nathalie got out, pale and trembling. "Shall I go up-stairs with you, madame?" asked the boy. "No, I will go alone. The third story, isn't it?" "Yes, madame; the left-hand door, at the head of the stairs." It seemed that now, indeed, the end of all things was at hand. Nathalie mounted the dark, narrow stairs, and arrived at the door, and, almost fainting, she cried: "Open the door, or I shall die!" The door was opened, and Nathalie fell into her husband's arms. He was alone in the room, clad in a gray blouse, and--smoking a Turkish pipe. "My wife!" exclaimed Armand, in surprise. "Your wife--who, suspecting your perfidy, has followed you, to discover the cause of your mysterious conduct!"