"Speak, Marie! What has happened?" cries Natalie, with a sinking
heart.
"Madame, she is gone! Gone forever!"
Madame de Santos bounds to the side of the defeated woman. "If
you are lying, beware!" she hisses. Her hand is raised. There is a
dagger flashing in the air. Villa Rocca wrests it from the raging
woman's hand. "No folly, Madame! She speaks the truth!"
Marie stubbornly tells of her repulse. Josephine was "not alone!"
Blunt Aristide elbowed her out of the house, saying:
"Be off with you! The girl is gone! If you want to know where she
is, apply to the police. Now, don't show your lying face here
again! I will have you arrested! You are a child stealer! You and
your ruffian had better never darken this door. Go!"
Natalie de Santos sinks back in her chair. Her teeth are chattering.
A cordial restores her nerves. Count Villa Rocca lingers, moody
and silent.
What powerful adversary has baffled them?
"Marie, await me in my room!" commands Natalie. In five minutes the
roll of rubber-tired wheels proves that madame and the count have
gone out. "To the opera?" "To the theatre?" The sly maid does not
follow them. Her brain burns with a mad thirst for vengeance. Her
hoard must now be completed.
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