She asked why. He said he was there to explain; and expressed
himself as feeling greatly relieved at having to open his
business to her, because she would, doubtless, be best able to
prepare her sister for the bad news that he was, unfortunately,
obliged to bring. The sudden faintness which overcame her, as he
spoke those words, prevented her from addressing him in return.
He poured out some water for her from a bottle which happened to
be standing on the table, and asked if he might depend on her
fortitude. She tried to say "Yes"; but the violent throbbing of
her heart seemed to choke her. He took a foreign newspaper from
his pocket, saying that he was a secret agent of the French
police--that the paper was the Havre _Journal_, for the past
week, and that it had been expressly kept from reaching the
baron, as usual, through his (the agent's) interference. He then
opened the newspaper, and begged that she would nerve herself
sufficiently (for her sister's sake) to read certain lines, which
would give her some hint of the business that brought him there.
He pointed to the passage as he spoke. It was among the "Shipping
Entries," and was thus expressed:
"Arrived, the _Berenice_, from San Francisco, with a valuable
cargo of hides. She brings one passenger, the Baron Franval, of
Chateau Franval, in Normandy."
As Miss Welwyn read the entry, her heart, which had been
throbbing violently but the moment before, seemed suddenly to
cease from all action, and she began to shiver, though it was a
warm June evening.
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