Paul kissed her, and offered his arm to Odette. She had said nothing. She was completely crushed to the ground at Elaine's great sacrifice. "Why do you not kiss my mother?" asked Paul, astonished at her silence. Odette looked at Elaine humbly, deprecatingly. She leaned over and touched her lips to Mme. Sirvin's cold brow. Elaine shuddered to the very depths of her soul. The husband and wife left the room. Then a frightful change came over this suffering saint. She remained one minute immovable--Odette's touch was still burning on her forehead. Then she sprang to her feet with a wild shriek of "Paul! Paul!" Her strength, however, had all gone; wildly beating the air with her arms, with a groan of despair, she fell her full length on the floor, rigid and unconscious. CHAPTER XIII. Odette was in the cruelest suspense and anxiety during her stroll through the Bois de Boulogne with her husband. Fortunately, Paul was so gay and happy that he chatted merrily all the time, hardly giving her a chance to reply. After an hour or so they returned home, Paul saying he must go to his mother. As they reached the gate, Odette said "I will leave you here." "Are you not coming in?" "Not just yet; I have a call to make in the neighborhood." So Paul left her and went to his mother's room. As soon as he had entered the house she walked quickly to Claude's studio, and finding it empty, went in and locked the door. At last she was alone! She had had no time yet to think. Ever since her trip to Dijon had she been haunted by the dread of discovery, although she had always tried to banish the thought. If it did intrude she had always answered it by thinking that Paul would kill her, or else that she and Claude would commit suicide together. As she crouched now in a corner of the sofa these thoughts thronged her brain; she lived over again the frightful scene with Elaine, and grovelled in spirit before her sublime sacrifice. She compared herself to Elaine, and writhed at the abyss separating them; one so pure and noble, the other so degraded. It grew dark; her mind was full of despair and anguish. Would Claude never come to put an end to this cruel uncertainty? At last she heard his step outside. He fitted his key in the lock and opened the door. He lighted a wax taper on the mantelpiece and started when he saw Odette. He had been walking aimlessly, miles and miles, into the country, trying to find some way to retrieve his honor and extricate himself from the quicksands where his passion had led him. But he had arrived at no decision, and had returned as miserable and anxious as when he started. "I have been waiting hours for your return," said Odette, "for it was your wife that overheard us in the drawing-room." "Elaine?" "Yes! She knows all. So I was waiting till you came, to----" "To what?" "To commit suicide." "Commit suicide!"