and her eyes flashed lightning. Athos remained sitting.

“You believed me to be dead, did you not, as I believed you to be? And the name of Athos as well concealed the Comte de la Fere, as the name Milady Clarik concealed Anne de Breuil. Was it not so you were called when your honored brother married us? Our position is truly a strange one,” continued Athos, laughing. “We have only lived up to the present time because we believed each other dead, and because a remembrance is less oppressive than a living creature, though a remembrance is sometimes devouring.”

“But,” said Milady, in a hollow, faint voice, “what brings you back to me, and what do you want with me?”

“I wish to tell you that though remaining invisible to your eyes, I have not lost sight of you.”