"Hush, Ralph! Madame----" his companion cried, glancing at Jean, apprehensively.
"Oh, she may just as well know the truth at first as at last," laughed Ansell roughly. Then, turning to his wife, he exclaimed, with a sinister grin: "Perhaps, Jean, you may wonder how we live--how I have got my money in the past. Well, I may as well tell you, for one day you will surely discover our secret. We are burglars."
The girl started, staring blankly at her husband, and uttered a low scream.
"Yes. And now you know the truth, take care that you never blab out a word to anyone, or, by Heaven, it will be the worse for you! If you say a word," he added, fiercely, with knit brows and glaring eyes, "if you let drop a hint to anybody, I'll break every bone in your body."
"Ralph!" she cried, starting up in horror. "Have you taken leave of your senses?"
"Enough!" protested Adolphe, angrily. "I won't stand by and hear such threats, Ralph."
"What, pray, is it to do with you?" asked Ansell, fiercely. "She's my wife, and I can speak to her. I can tell her what home-truths I like without your interference."
"I should have deemed it more prudent to have said nothing, Ralph," answered the other quietly.
Though Carlier was dressed also in a striped jacket and waistcoat and black trousers, he wore no collar, and looked even a greater blackguard than his friend.
His eyes met Jean's, and in them he saw an expression of silent thanks for taking her part.
Then she turned and, covering her face with her hands, burst into bitter, blinding tears, and disappeared into the little kitchen.
"Sit down," Ansell urged. "Now that little fool has gone, we can talk."
"You are a perfect idiot," declared the other, in disgust.
"That's my affair. She'll have to be brought to her senses and know the truth."
"I can't help that," he laughed. "She must get over it. If she wants fine dresses and a good time she must help us. And I mean that she shall before long. Look at Tavernier's wife."
"Rubbish!" he laughed. "Wait and see what I'll do. She'll be a valuable asset to us before long."
Adolphe leaned his elbows upon the table and shrugged his shoulders.
"_Bien!_" he said. "Let me hear the proposition."
"It is quite simple," the young adventurer said. "I know the interior of the Baron's house. There is a lot of good stuff there--some jewellery, too, and even enough table silver to make the job worth while. In his safe he keeps a lot of papers. If we could only get them they would fetch something in certain quarters--enough to make us both rich; but the worst of it is that we left our jet in London, and we cannot get it without." And he took a caporal from the packet before him and slowly lit it. Then he resumed, saying: "Now, I propose that we leave the safe out of the question, and go for the plate in the _salle-à-manger_. We have no tools for a really artistic job, so we must be content this time with the Baron's embroideries. His papers may come later--at least, that's my project. I've been out at Neuilly all day, and have had a good look around, and decided on the way we shall get in. It is perfectly easy--all save the watchdog. But a bit of doctored meat will do the trick. I got a little dose for him from old Père Lebrun on my way home," and from his pocket he produced a small bottle.