taken away all power of reflection. She had been caught in the act, and possibly the scaffold was rising before her eyes, and she already felt the felon's branding iron. "There she stood gasping for breath, waiting for us to speak, staring at us with haggard eyes. "I went across to the grate and pulled out an unburned fragment. 'Ah, madame!' I exclaimed, 'you have ruined your children! Those papers were their titles to their property.' "Her mouth twitched, she looked as if she were threatened by a paralytic seizure. "'Eh! eh!' cried Gobseck; the harsh, shrill tone grated upon our ears like the sound of a brass candlestick scratching a marble surface. "There was a pause, then the old man turned to me and said quietly: "'Do you intend Mme. la Comtesse to suppose that I am not the rightful owner of the property sold to me by her late husband? This house belongs to me now.' "A sudden blow on the head from a bludgeon would have given me less pain and astonishment. The Countess saw the look of hesitation in my face. "'Monsieur,' she cried, 'Monsieur!' She could find no other words. "'You are a trustee, are you not?' I asked. "'That is possible.' "'Then do you mean to take advantage of this crime of hers?' "'Precisely.' "I went at that, leaving the Countess sitting by her husband's bedside, shedding hot tears. Gobseck followed me. Outside in the street I separated from him, but he came after me, flung me one of those searching glances with which he probed men's minds, and said in the husky flute-tones, pitched in a shriller key: "'Do you take it upon yourself to judge me?' "From that time forward we saw little of each other. Gobseck let the Count's mansion on lease; he spent the summers on the country estates. He was a lord of the manor in earnest, putting up farm buildings, repairing mills and roadways, and planting timber. I came across him