'_Tenez_,' continued the man, 'poached game is always high. The pearls in that watch are costly because it's worth a man's life to get at them. You want me to be your pearl diver. Be it so. You must guarantee me a safe descent,--it's a descent, you know--ha!--you must furnish me the armor of safety; a little gap to breathe through while I'm at my work--the thought of a capful of Napoleons!' 'My good man, I don't wish to talk to you or to listen to your sallies. I wish simply to know your price. I'm not bargaining for a pair of chickens. Propose a sum.' The boatman had by this time resumed his seat and his oars. He stretched out for a long, slow pull, which brought him closely face to face with his temptress. This position, his body bent forward, his eyes fixed on Madame Bernier's face, he kept for some seconds. It was perhaps fortunate for Hortense's purpose at that moment--it had often aided her purposes before--that she was a pretty woman.[C] A plain face might have emphasized the utterly repulsive nature of the negotiation. Suddenly, with a quick, convulsive movement, the man completed the stroke. '_Pas si hete_! propose one yourself.' 'Very well,' said Hortense, 'if you wish it, _Voyons_: I'll give you what I can. I have fifteen thousand francs' worth of jewels. I'll give you them, or, if they will get you into trouble, their value. At home, in a box I have a thousand francs in gold. You shall have those. I'll pay your passage and outfit to America, I have friends in New York. I'll write to them to get you work.' 'And you'll give your washing to my mother and sister, _hein_? Ha! ha! Jewels, fifteen thousand francs; one thousand more makes sixteen; passage to America--first class--five hundred francs; outfit--what does Madame understand by that?' 'Everything needful for your success _la-bas_.' 'A written denial that I am an assassin? _Ma foi_, it were better not to remove the impression. It's served me a good turn, on this side of the water at least. Call it twenty-five thousand francs.' 'Very well; but not a sous more.' 'Shall I trust you?' 'Am I not trusting you? It is well for you that I do not allow myself to think of the venture I am making.' 'Perhaps we're even there. We neither of us can afford to make account of certain possibilities. Still, I'll trust you, too.... _Tiens_!' added the boatman, 'here we are near the quay.' Then with a mock-solemn touch of his cap, 'Will Madame still visit the cemetery?' 'Come, quick, let me land,' said Madame Bernier, impatiently. 'We _have_ been among the dead, after a fashion,' persisted the boatman, as he gave her his hand. III. It was more than eight o'clock when Madame Bernier reached her own house. 'Has M. de Meyrau been here?' she asked of Josephine. 'Yes, ma'am; and on learning that Madame was out, he left a note, _chez monsieur_.' Hortense found a sealed letter on the table in her husband's old study. It ran as follows: