Edmé was on the point of calling Agatha by name, when the door was pushed open and a man entered and passed stealthily across the floor of the salon into the ante-chamber without noticing her presence. Edmé thrust her hand over her mouth to stifle the cry that was upon her lips. The man was evidently familiar with the surroundings, for almost immediately the light of a candle shone out from the ante-room, throwing a faint glow upon the polished floor of the salon. Edmé had seen him very imperfectly in the darkness. She was uncertain whether he was one of the mob, returned alone for plunder, or one of the lackeys of her household who had got the better of his terror and returned to the château. Unable to bear the suspense, she advanced toward the door of the ante-room. Her heart beat rapidly as she placed her hand upon the door, which had been left ajar. She hesitated one moment, then summoning up the courage that had sustained her during the whole of that terrible afternoon, she boldly pushed the door open and looked into the room. To her amazement she saw, bending over a cabinet, her cousin, the Marquis de Lacheville. The marquis held a candle in one hand while he searched hurriedly for something in the drawer of the cabinet. In his haste and anxiety he threw out the contents of each drawer as he opened it till the floor was littered with papers. So intent was he upon his search that he did not hear Edmé's approach. "Monsieur de Lacheville!" she said in a low tone. Upon hearing his name, the marquis uttered a cry like that of a hunted animal, and turning, confronted her. "Mademoiselle de Rochefort, you here! How you startled me!" he exclaimed, endeavoring to control himself; but his knees shook, and his lips twitched nervously. "Your coming gave me a start also, monsieur. You glided across the floor of the salon so like a phantom, I did not know who it was, nor what to think." "I have just arrived from Paris, where I have been in hiding for months," he stammered. "Upon seeing the doors all battered down and the frightful disorder in the lower halls, I thought the château must be deserted and that you had sought some place of refuge. Knowing that in times past the baron, your father, was in the habit of keeping money in this old secretary, I have been ransacking it from top to bottom. I have need of a considerable sum; but I find nothing here--not a sou." Edmé noticed that his dress was in great disorder and that his face was pale and haggard. Every few moments he put up his hand in an attempt to stop the nervous twitching of the mouth which he seemed unable to control. "My nerves have been much shaken lately," he said, as she looked at him with wonder. And then he laughed discordantly. The sound of the mirthless laughter, accompanied by no change in the expression of his face, was painful to Edmé's ears.