"The servant says he overheard high words between you--" "He overheard ?" cried Nino, springing to his feet.

"Cursed beast, to listen at the door!" He began to walk about excitedly, "How long is this affair to keep me ?" he asked, suddenly; "I have to sing to-night--and that poor lady lying there dead--oh, I cannot!" "Perhaps you will not be detained more than a couple of hours," said the fat man.

"And perhaps you will be detained until the Day of Judgment," he added, with a sly wink at the gendarmes, who laughed obsequiously.

"By this afternoon, the doctors will know of what she died; and if there was no poison, and she died a natural death, you can go to the theatre and sing, if you have the stomach.

I would, I am sure.