"And you assume the harsh and pitiless man," exclaimed the comte, "when, as your proposal proves, you have one of the noblest hearts in the world!" "If the subject sinks under it, as is possible, there will be an opportunity for a most interesting dissection, which will allow me to confirm once again Goodwin's assertions." "How horridly you talk!" cried the comte. "For those who know how to read, the dead body is a book in which they learn to save the lives of the diseased!" replied Dr. Griffon, stoically. "At last, then, you do good?" said M. de Saint-Remy, with bitterness; "and that is important. What consequence is the cause provided that benefit results? Poor child! The more I look at her the more she interests me." "And well does she deserve it, I can tell you, sir," observed La Louve, with excitement, and approaching him. "Do you know her?" inquired the comte. "Do I know her, sir? Why, it is to her I owe the happiness of my life; and I have not done for her half what she has done for me." And La Louve looked passionately towards her husband,--she no longer called him her man! "And who is she?" asked M. de Saint-Remy. "An angel, sir,--all that is good in this world. Yes; and although she is dressed as a country girl, there is no merchant's wife, no great lady, who can discourse as well as she can, with her sweet little voice just like music. She is a noble girl, I say,--full of courage and goodness." "By what accident did she fall into the water?" "I do not know, sir." "Then she is not a peasant girl?" asked the comte. "A peasant girl,--look at her small white hands, sir!" "True," observed M. de Saint-Remy; "what a strange mystery! But her name--her family?" "Come along," said the doctor, breaking into the conversation; "we must convey the subject into the boat." Half an hour after this, Fleur-de-Marie, who had not yet recovered her senses, was in the doctor's abode, lying in a good bed, and maternally watched by M. Griffon's gardener's wife, to whom was added La Louve. The doctor promised M. de Saint-Remy, who was more and more interested in La Goualeuse, to return to see her again in the evening. Martial went to Paris with Francois and Amandine, La Louve being unwilling to quit Fleur-de-Marie before she had been pronounced out of danger. The Isle du Ravageur remained deserted. We shall presently find its sinister inhabitants at Bras-Rouge's, where they were to be joined by the Chouette for the murder of the diamond-matcher. In the meantime we will conduct the reader to the rendezvous which Tom, Sarah's brother, had with the horrible hag, the Schoolmaster's accomplice. CHAPTER XVIII. THE PORTRAIT.