"You refuse to give me the pearls--eh?" he said, his dark brows knit, and murder in his piercing eyes. "You think to trick me--your husband! By gad! You shall pay for this! Tell me where they are. This is your last moment. You shall die--die--curse you!" And his grip tightened upon her thin, white throat--the grip of a murderer. Jean, unable to move, unable to cry out, felt herself fainting, when next second she was startled by a sharp pistol shot. "Ah!" gasped her assailant, releasing his hold instantly and clapping his right hand to his back. The shot had been fired from behind. "Ah!" cried the wounded man in wild despair. "I--why, I----" Then he reeled completely round and fell backward upon the carpet--inert--dead! At the same instant Jean, staggered by the suddenness of it all, was confronted by a ragged, unkempt, hatless man in a striped jacket some sizes too big for him. Around his neck was a dirty scarf in lieu of a collar, and his dark hair was curly and ruffled. She saw the man emerge from the curtain, and started back in increased alarm. "Madame!" cried the newcomer, "it is me! Don't you know me?" She stood rooted to the spot. "Adolphe!" she gasped, staring at him. "Yes, madame. I came here, not knowing that this was your _chateau_," he explained, in a low whisper. "I found the window open just before that man arrived. I came in and took your pearls. Here they are!" And he drew them from the pocket of his shabby jacket and handed them back to her. "Where--where did you come from? You have saved my life," she faltered in blank amazement. "I came out of prison nine months ago," was his reply. "They brought me to Paris, but I could find no work, so I tramped to Havre, hoping to get a job at the docks, or to work my passage to New York. But all to no avail, so I--I had, alas! to return to my old profession. And the first house I enter I find, to my dismay, is yours!" "You heard us talking?" she asked quickly. "I heard everything--and I understood everything," was the quick reply. "That man," he went on, "robbed me and gave me deliberately into the hands of the police. I swore to be avenged, and I have killed him--as he deserves. He was an assassin, and I am his executioner!" "But the servants will be alarmed by the shot!" she gasped suddenly. "There is no time to lose. You must want money. I shall send you some to the _Poste Restante_ in Havre--to-morrow. Now go--or you may be discovered." "But how will you explain?" he asked hurriedly. "Ah, madame, through those long, dreary years at Devil's Island I have thought of you, and wondered--and wondered what had become of you. I am so glad to know that you are rich and happy, as you assuredly deserve." She sighed, for a flood of memories came over her. "Yes, Adolphe, I am greatly indebted to you. Twice you have saved me from that man's violence. Ah, I shall not forget."