This, in itself, is mysterious; the old woman herself was a servant in the family of the ci-devant Marquis de St.Caux.She gives out that the girls are relatives of hers, but it is believed in the neighbourhood that they are aristocrats in disguise.

They receive many visits from a young man of whom no one knows anything." Harry felt the colour leave his cheeks, and his hand shook as he hastily abstracted the note, and he could scarcely master the meaning of the next few letters he opened.
This was a sudden blow for which he was unprepared.

He could not even think what was best to be done.

However, saying to himself that he had at any rate a few days before him, he resolutely put the matter aside, to be thought over when he was alone, and proceeded with his work.

After a time he came to the list of those marked out for execution on the following day, and saw with a fresh pang the name of Marie de St.Caux.
So the crisis had arrived.