Ah, my friend," to Fitzgerald, "Madame would be cheap at twenty millions! You sly dog! And I never suspected it." Fitzgerald sent him a scowl.

"You are damned impertinent, sir." "Impertinent ?" The Colonel uncrossed his legs and brought his knees together.

"Madame has been under my care since she was a child, Monsieur; I have a fatherly interest in her.

At any rate, I am glad that the affair is at an end.

It was very noble in you.