"To tell you the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a
broken voice, "you place me in a strange dilemma. The mo-
tives of my conduct were to have died with me. To reveal
them I must disclose to you some secret wounds, must place
the honor of my family in your keeping, and must speak of
myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. I
hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us.
You will, no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the
law one which will allow of judgment being pronounced with-
out any betrayal of my confidences."

"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le
Marquis."

"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my
wife having run into considerable expenses, I was obliged to
have recourse to borrowing. You know what was the position
of noble families during the Eevolution ; I had not been able
to keep a steward or a man of business. ISTowadays gentle-
men are for the most part obliged to manage their afEairs



THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 369

themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to
Paris, from Languedoe, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father,
who dreaded, and not without reason,, the inquisition which
family title-deeds, and what was then styled the 'parch-
ments' of the privileged class, brought down on the owners.
