Now d'Albufex, having sold everything that he ever had, possessed neither country-houses nor landed estates.
They turned their attention to the marquis' relations and intimate friends. Was he able on this side to dispose of some safe retreat in which to imprison Daubrecq?
The result was equally fruitless.
And the days passed. And what days for Clarisse Mergy! Each of them brought Gilbert nearer to the terrible day of reckoning. Each of them meant twenty-four hours less from the date which Clarisse had instinctively fixed in her mind. And she said to Lupin, who was racked with the same anxiety:
"Fifty-five days more... Fifty days more... What can one do in so few days?... Oh, I beg of you... I beg of you... "
What could they do indeed? Lupin, who would not leave the task of watching th
