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Rh before they were expected, they suddenly reappeared in Paris. At the moment of their arrival D'Anglade was absent from the house. The Count and Countess were still at the supper-table when he returned, about eleven o'clock, accompanied by the Abbes de Fleury and de Villars, with whom he had been supping at the house of President Robert. The three were in excellent humor. Seeing a light in the Count's dining-room, D'Anglade entered and presented his compliments.

"What unexpected affair brings you back so soon? " he asked.

"You will tax me with superstition," replied M. de Montgomery. "Yesterday, as I was dining, I was struck by some drops of blood which I saw upon a napkin and upon the table-cloth. I feared this presaged some misfortune, and I returned at once, impelled by a sort of presentiment."

"It is not for us to complain, Monsieur, but rather for those you left so quickly," said D'Anglade; and bowing politely, he rejoined his companions and went up to his rooms.

The next day, Thursday, towards evening, M. de Montgomery repaired to the Lieutenant-Criminel of Chatelet, and entered a complaint against D'Anglade and his wife, charging them with robbery. He declared that during his absence some one had broken the lock of the strong box in his office and taken thirteen bags, each containing one thousand livres in silver, and eleven thousand five hundred livres in gold in pieces of two pistoles, one hundred louis d'or, and a pearl necklace, valued at four thousand livres. "The robbery," he added, "could only have been committed by persons living in the house."

The Lieutenant-Criminel, with the Procureur du Roi and a Commissary of Police, went at once to the house. A search of the apartments was naturally made, and it clearly appeared that, as the Count had stated, the crime must have been committed by persons familiar with the house. D'Anglade and his wife earnestly desired that this search should commence with the rooms which they occupied.

The Lieutenant-Criminel was conducted by them through the various apartments. Boxes, cabinets, wardrobes, beds, mattresses, all were searched with the greatest care; but in vain, nothing was found. It was then proposed to visit the attic. Madame d'Anglade at this moment excused herself, pleading a sudden faintness. The officers of justice, accompanied by D'Anglade, went up to the attic; and after a short search found, in an old box full of wearing apparel and linen, a roll of seventy louis d'or wrapped up in a piece of printed paper which the Count de Montgomery declared he recognized as a leaf from his genealogy. He further remarked that these louis, like those which had been stolen, bore the dates of 1686 and 1687.

This discovery of course confirmed the suspicions which the Lieutenant-Criminel had formed against D'Anglade. Interrogated as to this money, the unfortunate man did not know what to reply; his hesitation, very natural under the circumstances, only increased the suspicion of his guilt.

The authorities then descended to the ground floor, and at the desire of Madame d'Anglade visited the dormitory in the base ment, where the almoner, the page, and the valet-de-chambre of the Count slept. In her despair Madame d'Anglade recollected that the Count's men had spoken of this room, the door of which had been left securely locked, but which was found, on the Montgomerys' return, to be only latched. It was possible, according to her, that the crime might have been committed by some one of the domestics who usually slept in this room.

"I will answer for my servants," replied the Count, coldly.

Nothing could have been more natural than this observation of Madame d'Anglade; yet to minds already prepossessed with a belief in the guilt of D'Anglade and his wife, this remark served to confirm it when,