"
"Are you surprised at this?" asked Mascarin, with a sneer.
"How could I anticipate such an infidelity, when only the evening before
she swore by all she held most sacred that she loved me only? Why did
she lie to me? Did she write to make the blow fall heavier? When I
ascended the staircase, I was picturing to myself her joy when I told
her of your kind promises to me. For more than an hour I remained in my
garret, overwhelmed with the terrible thought that I should never see
her again."
Mascarin watched Paul attentively, and came to the conclusion that his
words were too fine for his grief to be sincere.
"But what about the accusation of theft?"
"I am coming to that," returned the young man. "I then determined to
obey your injunctions and leave the Hotel de Perou, with which I was
more than ever disgusted. I went downstairs to settle with Madame
Loupins, when ah! hideous disgrace! As I handed her the two weeks' rent,
she asked me with a contemptuous sneer, where I had stolen the money
from?"
Mascarin secretly chuckled over the success of his plans thus announced
by Paul.
"What did you say?" asked he.
"Nothing, sir; I was too horror-stricken; the man Loupins came up, and
both he and his wife scowled at me threateningly.
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