"Why did you deceive me? You went to see Prudence."

"Yes. I thought that you must have had a very strong motive for going to Paris, after not leaving me for four months. I was afraid that something might happen to you, or that you were perhaps going to see another woman."

"Now I am relieved. I know what you have done, but I don't yet know what you have been told."

I showed Marguerite my father's letters.

"That is not what I am asking you about. What I want to know is why you went to see Prudence."

"Well, I went to ask her if the horse was any better, and if she wanted your shawl and your jewels any longer."

Marguerite blushed, but did not answer.

"And," I continued, "I learned what you had done with your horses, shawls, and jewels."