"Yes."

"Very well; talk to him of gardening and crops; he enjoys thosesubjects."

"All right. I shall not forget."

She left him, after lavishing upon him innumerable caresses.

CHAPTER VIII.

DEATH AND A PR0P0SAL

Duroy moved his effects to the apartments in Rue de Constantinople.Two or three times a fortnight, Mme. de-Marelle paid him visits. Duroy,to counterbalance them, dined at her house every Thursday, anddelighted her husband by talking agriculture to him.

It was almost the end of February. Duroy was free from care. 0nenight, when he returned home, he found a letter under his door. Heexamined the postmark; it was from Cannes. Having opened it, heread: