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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Other People's Money, by Emile Gaboriau
+#4 in our series by Emile Gaboriau
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+Title: Other People's Money
+
+Author: Emile Gaboriau
+
+Release Date: May, 1999 [EBook #1748]
+[This file was last updated on November 11, 2002]
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+Edition: 11
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
+
+by Emile Gaboriau
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+I
+
+There is not, perhaps, in all Paris, a quieter street than the Rue
+St. Gilles in the Marais, within a step of the Place Royale.  No
+carriages there; never a crowd.  Hardly is the silence broken by
+the regulation drums of the Minims Barracks near by, by the chimes
+of the Church of St. Louis, or by the joyous clamors of the pupils
+of the Massin School during the hours of recreation.
+
+At night, long before ten o'clock, and when the Boulevard
+Beaumarchais is still full of life, activity, and noise, every thing
+begins to close.  One by one the lights go out, and the great windows
+with diminutive panes become dark.  And if, after midnight, some
+belated citizen passes on his way home, he quickens his step, feeling
+lonely and uneasy, and apprehensive of the reproaches of his
+concierge, who is likely to ask him whence he may be coming at so
+late an hour.
+
+In such a street, every one knows each other: houses have no mystery;
+families, no secrets,--a small town, where idle curiosity has always
+a corner of the veil slyly raised, where gossip flourishes as rankly
+as the grass on the street.
+
+Thus on the afternoon of the 27th of April, 1872 (a Saturday), a fact
+which anywhere else might have passed unnoticed was attracting
+particular attention.
+
+A man some thirty years of age, wearing the working livery of
+servants of the upper class,--the long striped waistcoat with
+sleeves, and the white linen apron,--was going from door to door.
+
+"Who can the man be looking for?" wondered the idle neighbors,
+closely watching his evolutions.
+
+He was not looking for any one.  To such as he spoke to, he stated
+that he had been sent by a cousin of his, an excellent cook, who,
+before taking a place in the neighborhood, was anxious to have all
+possible information on the subject of her prospective masters.  And
+then, "Do you know M. Vincent Favoral?" he would ask.
+
+Concierges and shop-keepers knew no one better; for it was more than
+a quarter of a century before, that M. Vincent Favoral, the day after
+his wedding, had come to settle in the Rue St. Gilles; and there
+his two children were born,--his son M. Maxence, his daughter Mlle.
+Gilberte.
+
+He occupied the second story of the house.  No. 38,--one of those
+old-fashioned dwellings, such as they build no more, since ground is
+sold at twelve hundred francs the square metre; in which there is no
+stinting of space.  The stairs, with wrought iron balusters, are wide
+and easy, and the ceilings twelve feet high.
+
+"Of course, we know M. Favoral," answered every one to the servant's
+questions; "and, if there ever was an honest man, why, he is
+certainly the one.  There is a man whom you could trust with your
+funds, if you had any, without fear of his ever running off to
+Belgium with them."  And it was further explained, that M. Favoral
+was chief cashier, and probably, also, one of the principal
+stockholders, of the Mutual Credit Society, one of those admirable
+financial institutions which have sprung up with the second empire,
+and which had won at the bourse the first installment of their
+capital, the very day that the game of the Coup d'Etat was being
+played in the street.
+
+"I know well enough the gentleman's business," remarked the servant;
+"but what sort of a man is he?  That's what my cousin would like to
+know."
+
+The wine-man at No. 43, the oldest shop-keeper in the street, could
+best answer.  A couple of petits-verres politely offered soon started
+his tongue; and, whilst sipping his Cognac:
+
+"M. Vincent Favoral," he began, "is a man some fifty-two or three
+years old, but who looks younger, not having a single gray hair.  He
+is tall and thin, with neatly-trimmed whiskers, thin lips, and small
+yellow eyes; not talkative.  It takes more ceremony to get a word
+from his throat than a dollar from his pocket.  'Yes,'  'no,'
+'good-morning,' 'good-evening;' that's about the extent of his
+conversation.  Summer and winter, he wears gray pantaloons, a long
+frock-coat, laced shoes, and lisle-thread gloves.  'Pon my word, I
+should say that he is still wearing the very same clothes I saw upon
+his back for the first time in 1845, did I not know that he has two
+full suits made every year by the concierge at No. 29, who is also a
+tailor."
+
+"Why, he must be an old miser," muttered the servant.
+
+"He is above all peculiar," continued the shop-keeper, "like most
+men of figures, it seems.  His own life is ruled and regulated like
+the pages of his ledger.  In the neighborhood they call him Old
+Punctuality; and, when he passes through the Rue Turenne, the
+merchants set their watches by him.  Rain or shine, every morning of
+the year, on the stroke of nine, he appears at the door on the way
+to his office.  When he returns, you may be sure it is between twenty
+and twenty-five minutes past five.  At six he dines; at seven he goes
+to play a game of dominoes at the Cafe Turc; at ten he comes home
+and goes to bed; and, at the first stroke of eleven at the Church of
+St. Louis, out goes his candle."
+
+"Hem!" grumbled the servant with a look of contempt, "the question
+is, will my cousin be willing to live with a man who is a sort of
+walking clock?"
+
+"It isn't always pleasant," remarked the wine-man; "and the best
+evidence is, that the son, M. Maxence, got tired of it."
+
+"He does not live with his parents any more?"
+
+"He dines with them; but he has his own lodgings on the Boulevard du
+Temple.  The falling-out made talk enough at the time; and some
+people do say that M. Maxence is a worthless scamp, who leads a very
+dissipated life; but I say that his father kept him too close.  The
+boy is twenty-five, quite good looking, and has a very stylish
+mistress: I have seen her. . . . I would have done just as he did."
+
+"And what about the daughter, Mlle. Gilberte?"
+
+"She is not married yet, although she is past twenty, and pretty as
+a rosebud.  After the war, her father tried to make her marry a
+stock-broker, a stylish man who always came in a two-horse carriage;
+but she refused him outright.  I should not be a bit surprised to
+hear that she has some love-affair of her own.  I have noticed
+lately a young gentleman about here who looks up quite suspiciously
+when he goes by No. 38."  The servant did not seem to find these
+particulars very interesting.
+
+"It's the lady," he said, "that my cousin would like to know most
+about."
+
+"Naturally.  Well, you can safely tell her that she never will have
+had a better mistress.  Poor Madame Favoral!  She must have had a
+sweet time of it with her maniac of a husband!  But she is not young
+any more; and people get accustomed to every thing, you know.  The
+days when the weather is fine, I see her going by with her daughter
+to the Place Royale for a walk.  That's about their only amusement."
+
+"The mischief!" said the servant, laughing.  "If that is all, she
+won't ruin her husband, will she?"
+
+"That is all," continued the shop-keeper, "or rather, excuse me, no:
+every Saturday, for many years, M. and Mme. Favoral receive a few
+of their friends: M. and Mme. Desclavettes, retired dealers in
+bronzes, Rue Turenne; M. Chapelain, the old lawyer from the Rue St.
+Antoine, whose daughter is Mlle. Gilberte's particular friend; M.
+Desormeaux, head clerk in the Department of Justice; and three or
+four others; and as this just happens to be Saturday--"
+
+But here he stopped short, and pointing towards the street:
+
+"Quick," said he, "look!  Speaking of the--you know--It is twenty
+minutes past five, there is M. Favoral coming home."
+
+It was, in fact, the cashier of the Mutual Credit Society, looking
+very much indeed as the shop-keeper had described him.  Walking with
+his head down, he seemed to be seeking upon the pavement the very
+spot upon which he had set his foot in the morning, that he might set
+it back again there in the evening.
+
+With the same methodical step, he reached his house, walked up the
+two pairs of stairs, and, taking out his pass-key, opened the door
+of his apartment.
+
+The dwelling was fit for the man; and every thing from the very hall,
+betrayed his peculiarities.  There, evidently, every piece of
+furniture must have its invariable place, every object its irrevocable
+shelf or hook.  All around were evidences, if not exactly of poverty,
+at least of small means, and of the artifices of a respectable
+economy.  Cleanliness was carried to its utmost limits: every thing
+shone.  Not a detail but betrayed the industrious hand of the
+housekeeper, struggling to defend her furniture against the ravages
+of time.  The velvet on the chairs was darned at the angles as with
+the needle of a fairy.  Stitches of new worsted showed through the
+faded designs on the hearth-rugs.  The curtains had been turned so
+as to display their least worn side.
+
+All the guests enumerated by the shop-keeper, and a few others
+besides, were in the parlor when M. Favoral came in.  But, instead
+of returning their greeting:
+
+"Where is Maxence?" he inquired.
+
+"I am expecting him, my dear," said Mme. Favoral gently.
+
+"Always behind time," he scolded.  "It is too trifling."
+
+His daughter, Mlle. Gilberte, interrupted him:
+
+"Where is my bouquet, father?" she asked.
+
+M. Favoral stopped short, struck his forehead, and with the accent
+of a man who reveals something incredible, prodigious, unheard of,
+
+"Forgotten," he answered, scanning the syllables: "I have for-got-ten
+it."
+
+It was a fact.  Every Saturday, on his way home, he was in the habit
+of stopping at the old woman's shop in front of the Church of St.
+Louis, and buying a bouquet for Mlle. Gilberte.  And to-day . . .
+
+"Ah!  I catch you this time, father!" exclaimed the girl.
+
+Meantime, Mme. Favoral, whispering to Mme. Desclavettes:
+
+"Positively," she said in a troubled voice, "something serious must
+have happened to--my husband.  He to forget!  He to fail in one of
+his habits!  It is the first time in twenty-six years."
+
+The appearance of Maxence at this moment prevented her from going on.
+M. Favoral was about to administer a sound reprimand to his son, when
+dinner was announced.
+
+"Come," exclaimed M. Chapelain, the old lawyer, the conciliating man
+par excellence,--"come, let us to the table."
+
+They sat down.  But Mme. Favoral had scarcely helped the soup, when
+the bell rang violently.  Almost at the same moment the servant
+appeared, and announced:
+
+"The Baron de Thaller!"
+
+More pale than his napkin, the cashier stood up.  "The manager," he
+stammered, "the director of the Mutual Credit Society."
+
+
+
+II
+
+Close upon the heels of the servant M. de Thaller came.
+
+Tall, thin, stiff, he had a very small head, a flat face, pointed
+nose, and long reddish whiskers, slightly shaded with silvery threads,
+falling half-way down his chest.  Dressed in the latest style, he
+wore a loose overcoat of rough material, pantaloons that spread
+nearly to the tip of his boots, a wide shirt-collar turned over a
+light cravat, on the bow of which shone a large diamond, and a tall
+hat with rolled brims.  With a blinking glance, he made a rapid
+estimate of the dining-room, the shabby furniture, and the guests
+seated around the table.  Then, without even condescending to touch
+his hat, with his large hand tightly fitted into a lavender glove,
+in a brief and imperious tone, and with a slight accent which he
+affirmed was the Alsatian accent:
+
+"I must speak with you, Vincent," said he to his cashier, "alone and
+at once."
+
+M. Favoral made visible efforts to conceal his anxiety.  "You see,"
+he commenced, "we are dining with a few friends, and--"
+
+"Do you wish me to speak in presence of everybody?" interrupted
+harshly the manager of the Mutual Credit.
+
+The cashier hesitated no longer.  Taking up a candle from the table,
+he opened the door leading to the parlor, and, standing respectfully
+to one side:
+
+"Be kind enough to pass on, sir," said he: "I follow you."
+
+And, at the moment of disappearing himself,
+
+"Continue to dine without me," said he to his guests, with a last
+effort at self-control.  "I shall soon catch up with you.  This will
+take but a moment.  Do not be uneasy in the least."
+
+They were not uneasy, but surprised, and, above all, shocked at the
+manners of M. de Thaller.
+
+"What a brute!" muttered Mme. Desclavettes.
+
+M. Desormeaux, the head clerk at the Department of Justice, was an
+old legitimist, much imbued with reactionary ideas.
+
+"Such are our masters," said he with a sneer, "the high barons of
+financial feudality.  Ah! you are indignant at the arrogance of the
+old aristocracy; well, on your knees, by Jupiter! on your face,
+rather, before the golden crown on field of gules."
+
+No one replied: every one was trying his best to hear.
+
+In the parlor, between M. Favoral and M. de Thaller, a discussion of
+the utmost violence was evidently going on.  To seize the meaning
+of it was not possible; and yet through the door, the upper panels of
+which were of glass, fragments could be heard; and from time to time
+such words distinctly reached the ear as dividend, stockholders,
+deficit, millions, etc.
+
+"What can it all mean? great heaven!" moaned Mme. Favoral.
+
+Doubtless the two interlocutors, the director and the cashier, had
+drawn nearer to the door of communication; for their voices, which
+rose more and more, had now become quite distinct.
+
+"It is an infamous trap!" M. Favoral was saying.  "I should have been
+notified--"
+
+"Come, come," interrupted the other.  "Were you not fully warned? did
+I ever conceal any thing from you?"
+
+Fear, a fear vague still, and unexplained, was slowly taking
+possession of the guests; and they remained motionless, their forks
+in suspense, holding their breath.
+
+"Never," M. Favoral was repeating, stamping his foot so violently
+that the partition shook,--"never, never!"
+
+"And yet it must be," declared M. de Thaller.  "It is the only, the
+last resource."
+
+"And suppose I will not!"
+
+"Your will has nothing to do with it now.  It is twenty years ago
+that you might have willed, or not willed.  But listen to me, and
+let us reason a little."
+
+Here M. de Thaller dropped his voice; and for some minutes nothing
+was heard in the dining-room, except confused words, and
+incomprehensible exclamations, until suddenly,
+
+"That is ruin," he resumed in a furious tone: "it is bankruptcy on
+the last of the month."
+
+"Sir," the cashier was replying,--"sir!"
+
+"You are a forger, M. Vincent Favoral; you are a thief!"
+
+Maxence leaped from his seat.
+
+"I shall not permit my father to be thus insulted in his own house,"
+he exclaimed.
+
+"Maxence," begged Mme. Favoral, "my son!"
+
+The old lawyer, M. Chapelain, held him by the arm; but he struggled
+hard, and was about to burst into the parlor, when the door opened,
+and the director of the Mutual Credit stepped out.
+
+With a coolness quite remarkable after such a scene, he advanced
+towards Mlle. Gilberte, and, in a tone of offensive protection,
+
+"Your father is a wretch, mademoiselle," he said; "and my duty should
+be to surrender him at once into the hands of justice.  On account of
+your worthy mother, however, of your father himself, above all, on
+your own account, mademoiselle, I shall forbear doing so.  But let
+him fly, let him disappear, and never more be heard from."
+
+He drew from his pocket a roll of bank-notes, and, throwing them upon
+the table,
+
+"Hand him this," he added.  "Let him leave this very night.  The
+police may have been notified.  There is a train for Brussels at
+five minutes past eleven."
+
+And, having bowed, he withdrew, no one addressing him a single word,
+so great was the astonishment of all the guests of this house,
+heretofore so peaceful.
+
+Overcome with stupor, Maxence had dropped upon his chair.  Mlle.
+Gilberte alone retained some presence of mind.
+
+"It is a shame," she exclaimed, "for us to give up thus!  That man
+is an impostor, a wretch; he lies!  Father, father!"
+
+M. Favoral had not waited to be called, and was standing up against
+the parlor-door, pale as death, and yet calm.
+
+"Why attempt any explanations?" he said.  "The money is gone; and
+appearances are against me."
+
+His wife had drawn near to him, and taken his hand.  "The misfortune
+is immense," she said, "but not irreparable.  We will sell everything
+we have."
+
+"Have you not friends?  Are we not here," insisted the others,--M.
+Desclavettes, M. Desormeaux, and M. Chapelain.
+
+Gently he pushed his wife aside, and coldly.
+
+"All we had," he said, "would be as a grain of sand in an ocean.
+But we have no longer anything; we are ruined."
+
+"Ruined!" exclaimed M. Desormeaux,--"ruined!  And where are the
+forty-five thousand francs I placed into your hands?"
+
+He made no reply.
+
+"And our hundred and twenty thousand francs?" groaned M. and Mme.
+Desclavettes.
+
+"And my sixty thousand francs?" shouted M. Chapelain, with a
+blasphemous oath.
+
+The cashier shrugged his shoulders.  "Lost," he said, "irrevocably
+lost!"
+
+Then their rage exceeded all bounds.  Then they forgot that this
+unfortunate man had been their friend for twenty years, that they
+were his guests; and they commenced heaping upon him threats and
+insults without name.
+
+He did not even deign to defend himself.
+
+"Go on," he uttered, "go on.  When a poor dog, carried away by the
+current, is drowning, men of heart cast stones at him from the bank.
+Go on!"
+
+"You should have told us that you speculated," screamed M.
+Desclavettes.
+
+On hearing these words, he straightened himself up, and with a
+gesture so terrible that the others stepped back frightened.
+
+"What!" said he, in a tone of crushing irony, "it is this evening
+only, that you discover that I speculated?  Kind friends!  Where,
+then, and in whose pockets, did you suppose I was getting the
+enormous interests I have been paying you for years?  Where have
+you ever seen honest money, the money of labor, yield twelve or
+fourteen per cent?  The money that yields thus is the money of the
+gaming table, the money of the bourse.  Why did you bring me your
+funds?  Because you were fully satisfied that I knew how to handle
+the cards.  Ah!  If I was to tell you that I had doubled your capital,
+you would not ask how I did it, nor whether I had stocked the cards.
+You would virtuously pocket the money.  But I have lost: I am a
+thief.  Well, so be it.  But, then, you are all my accomplices.  It
+is the avidity of the dupes which induces the trickery of the
+sharpers."
+
+Here he was interrupted by the servant coming in.  "Sir," she
+exclaimed excitedly, "O sir! the courtyard is full of police agents.
+They are speaking to the concierge.  They are coming up stairs: I
+hear them!"
+
+
+
+III
+
+According to the time and place where they are uttered, there are
+words which acquire a terrible significance.  In this disordered
+room, in the midst of these excited people, that word, the "police,"
+sounded like a thunderclap.
+
+"Do not open," Maxence ordered; "do not open, however they may ring
+or knock.  Let them burst the door first."
+
+The very excess of her fright restored to Mme. Favoral a portion of
+her energy.  Throwing herself before her husband as if to protect
+him, as if to defend him,
+
+"They are coming to arrest you, Vincent," she exclaimed.  "They are
+coming; don't you hear them?"
+
+He remained motionless, his feet seemingly riveted to the floor.
+
+"That is as I expected," he said.
+
+And with the accent of the wretch who sees all hope vanish, and who
+utterly gives up all struggle,
+
+"Be it so," he said.  "Let them arrest me, and let all be over at once.
+I have had enough anxiety, enough unbearable alternatives.  I am tired
+always to feign, to deceive, and to lie.  Let them arrest me!  Any
+misfortune will be smaller in reality than the horrors of uncertainty.
+I have nothing more to fear now.  For the first time in many years I
+shall sleep to-night."
+
+He did not notice the sinister expression of his guests.  "You think
+I am a thief," he added: "well, be satisfied, justice shall be done."
+
+But he attributed to them sentiments which were no longer theirs.
+They had forgotten their anger, and their bitter resentment for their
+lost money.
+
+The imminence of the peril awoke suddenly in their souls the
+memories of the past, and that strong affection which comes from
+long habit, and a constant exchange of services rendered.  Whatever
+M. Favoral might have done, they only saw in him now the friend, the
+host whose bread they had broken together more than a hundred times,
+the man whose probity, up to this fatal night, had remained far
+above suspicion.
+
+Pale, excited, they crowded around him.
+
+"Have you lost your mind?" spoke M. Desormeaux.  "Are you going to
+wait to be arrested, thrown into prison, dragged into a criminal
+court?"
+
+He shook his head, and in a tone of idiotic obstinacy,
+
+"Have I not told you," he repeated, "that every thing is against me?
+Let them come; let them do what they please with me."
+
+"And your wife," insisted M. Chapelain, the old lawyer, "and your
+children!"
+
+"Will they be any the less dishonored if I am condemned by default?"
+
+Wild with grief, Mme. Favoral was wringing her hands.
+
+"Vincent," she murmured, "in the name of Heaven spare us the
+harrowing agony to have you in prison."
+
+Obstinately he remained silent.  His daughter, Mlle. Gilberte,
+dropped upon her knees before him, and, joining her hands:
+
+"I beseech you, father," she begged.
+
+He shuddered all over.  An unspeakable expression of suffering and
+anguish contracted his features; and, speaking in a scarcely
+intelligible voice:
+
+"Ah! you are cruelly protracting my agony," he stammered.  "What
+do you ask of me?"
+
+"You must fly," declared M. Desclavettes.
+
+"Which way?  How?  Do you not think that every precaution has been
+taken, that every issue is closely watched?"
+
+Maxence interrupted him with a gesture:
+
+"The windows in sister's room, father," said he, "open upon the
+courtyard of the adjoining house."
+
+"Yes; but here we are up two pairs of stairs."
+
+"No matter: I have a way."
+
+And turning towards his sister:
+
+"Come, Gilberte," went on the young man, "give me a light, and let
+me have some sheets."
+
+They went out hurriedly.  Mme. Favoral felt a gleam of hope.
+
+"We are saved!" she said.
+
+"Saved!" repeated the cashier mechanically.  "Yes; for I guess
+Maxence's idea.  But we must have an understanding.  Where will you
+take refuge?"
+
+"How can I tell?"
+
+"There is a train at five minutes past eleven," remarked M.
+Desormeaux.  "Don't let us forget that."
+
+"But money will be required to leave by that train," interrupted the
+old lawyer.  "Fortunately, I have some."
+
+And, forgetting his hundred and sixty thousand francs lost, he took
+out his pocket-book.  Mme. Favoral stopped him.  "We have more than
+we need," said she.
+
+She took from the table, and held out to her husband, the roll of
+bank notes which the director of the Mutual Credit Society had thrown
+down before going.
+
+He refused them with a gesture of rage.
+
+"Rather starve to death!" he exclaimed.  "'Tis he, 'tis that wretch--"
+But he interrupted himself, and more gently:
+
+"Put away those bank-bills," said he to his wife, "and let Maxence
+take them back to M. de Thaller to-morrow."
+
+The bell rang violently.
+
+"The police!" groaned Mme. Desclavettes, who seemed on the point of
+fainting away.
+
+"I am going to negotiate," said M. Desormeaux.  "Fly, Vincent: do
+not lose a minute."
+
+And he ran to the front-door, whilst Mme. Favoral was hurrying her
+husband towards Mlle. Gilberte's room.
+
+Rapidly and stoutly Maxence had fastened four sheets together by the
+ends, which gave a more than sufficient length.  Then, opening the
+window, he examined carefully the courtyard of the adjoining house.
+
+"No one," said he: "everybody is at dinner.  We'll succeed."
+
+M. Favoral was tottering like a drunken man.  A terrible emotion
+convulsed his features.  Casting a long look upon his wife and
+children:
+
+"O Lord!" he murmured, "what will become of you?"
+
+"Fear nothing, father," uttered Maxence.  "I am here.  Neither my
+mother nor my sister will want for any thing."
+
+"My son!" resumed the cashier, "my children!"
+
+Then, with a choking voice:
+
+"I am worthy neither of your love nor your devotion, wretch that I
+am!  I made you lead a miserable existence, spend a joyless youth.
+I imposed upon you every trial of poverty, whilst I-- And now I leave
+you nothing but ruin and a dishonored name."
+
+"Make haste, father," interrupted Mlle. Gilberte.  It seemed as if he
+could not make up his mind.
+
+"It is horrible to abandon you thus.  What a parting!  Ah! death
+would indeed be far preferable.  What will you think of me?  I am
+very guilty, certainly, but not as you think.  I have been betrayed,
+and I must suffer for all.  If at least you knew the whole truth.
+But will you ever know it?  We will never see each other again."
+
+Desperately his wife clung to him.
+
+"Do not speak thus," she said.  "Wherever you may find an asylum,
+I will join you.  Death alone can separate us.  What do I care what
+you may have done, or what the world will say?  I am your wife.  Our
+children will come with me.  If necessary, we will emigrate to
+America; we'll change our name; we will work."
+
+The knocks on the outer door were becoming louder and louder; and M.
+Desormeaux' voice could be heard, endeavoring to gain a few moments
+more.
+
+"Come," said Maxence, "you cannot hesitate any longer."
+
+And, overcoming his father's reluctance, he fastened one end of the
+sheets around his waist.
+
+"I am going to let you down, father," said he; "and, as soon as you
+touch the ground, you must undo the knot.  Take care of the
+first-story windows; beware of the concierge; and, once in the street,
+don't walk too fast.  Make for the Boulevard, where you will be sooner
+lost in the crowd."
+
+The knocks had now become violent blows; and it was evident that the
+door would soon be broken in, if M. Desormeaux did not make up his
+mind to open it.
+
+The light was put out.  With the assistance of his daughter, M.
+Favoral lifted himself upon the window-sill, whilst Maxence held
+the sheets with both hands.
+
+"I beseech you, Vincent," repeated Mme. Favoral, "write to us.  We
+shall be in mortal anxiety until we hear of your safety."
+
+Maxence let the sheets slip slowly: in two seconds M. Favoral stood
+on the pavement below.
+
+"All right," he said.
+
+The young man drew the sheets back rapidly, and threw them under
+the bed.  But Mlle. Gilberte remained long enough at the window to
+recognize her father's voice asking the concierge to open the door,
+and to hear the heavy gate of the adjoining house closing behind
+him.
+
+"Saved!" she said.
+
+It was none too soon.  M. Desormeaux had just been compelled to
+yield; and the commissary of police was walking in.
+
+
+
+IV
+
+The commissaries of police of Paris, as a general thing, are no
+simpletons; and, if they are ever taken in, it is because it has
+suited them to be taken in.
+
+Their modest title covers the most important, perhaps, of
+magistracies, almost the only one known to the lower classes; an
+enormous power, and an influence so decisive, that the most sensible
+statesman of the reign of Louis Philippe ventured once to say, "Give
+me twenty good commissaries of police in Paris, and I'll undertake
+to suppress any government: net profit, one hundred millions."
+
+Parisian above all, the commissary has had ample time to study his
+ground when he was yet only a peace-officer.  The dark side of the
+most brilliant lives has no mysteries for him.  He has received the
+strangest confidences: he has listened to the most astounding
+confessions.  He knows how low humanity can stoop, and what
+aberrations there are in brains apparently the soundest.  The
+work woman whom her husband beats, and the great lady whom her husband
+cheats, have both come to him.  He has been sent for by the
+shop-keeper whom his wife deceives, and by the millionaire who has
+been blackmailed.  To his office, as to a lay confessional, all
+passions fatally lead.  In his presence the dirty linen of two
+millions of people is washed _en famille_.
+
+A Paris commissary of police, who after ten years' practice, could
+retain an illusion, believe in something, or be astonished at any
+thing in the world, would be but a fool.  If he is still capable
+of some emotion, he is a good man.
+
+The one who had just walked into M. Favoral's apartment was already
+past middle age, colder than ice, and yet kindly, but of that
+commonplace kindliness which frightens like the executioner's
+politeness at the scaffold.
+
+He required but a single glance of his small but clear eyes to
+decipher the physiognomies of all these worthy people standing
+around the disordered table.  And beckoning to the agents who
+accompanied him to stop at the door,--"Monsieur Vincent Favoral?"
+he inquired.  The cashier's guests, M. Desormeaux excepted,
+seemed stricken with stupor.  Each one felt as if he had a share
+of the disgrace of this police invasion.  The dupes who are
+sometimes caught in clandestine "hells" have the same humiliated
+attitudes.
+
+At last, and not without an effort,
+
+"M. Favoral is no longer here," replied M. Chapelain, the old
+lawyer.
+
+The commissary of police started.  Whilst they were discussing with
+him through the door, he had perfectly well understood that they
+were only trying to gain time; and, if he had not at once burst in
+the door, it was solely owing to his respect for M. Desormeaux
+himself, whom he knew personally, and still more for his title of
+head clerk at the Department of Justice.  But his suspicions did
+not extend beyond the destruction of a few compromising papers.
+Whereas, in fact:
+
+"You have helped M. Favoral to escape, gentlemen?" said he.
+
+No one replied.
+
+"Silence means assent," he added.  "Very well: which way did he get
+off?"
+
+Still no answer.  M. Desclavettes would have been glad to add
+something to the forty-five thousand francs he had just lost, to be,
+together with Mme. Desclavettes, a hundred miles away.
+
+"Where is Mme. Favoral?" resumed the commissary, evidently well
+informed. "Where are Mlle. Gilberte and M. Maxence Favoral?"
+
+They continued silent.  No one in the dining-room knew what might
+have taken place in the other room; and a single word might be treason.
+
+The commissary then became impatient.
+
+"Take up a light," said he to one of the agents who had remained at
+the door, "and follow me.  We shall see."
+
+And without a shadow of hesitation, for it seems to be the privilege
+of police-agents to be at home everywhere, he crossed the parlor,
+and reached Mlle. Gilberte's room just as she was withdrawing from
+the window.
+
+"Ah, it is that way he escaped!" he exclaimed.
+
+He rushed to the window, and remained long enough leaning on his
+elbows to thoroughly examine the ground, and understand the situation
+of the apartment.
+
+"It's evident," he said at last, "this window opens on the courtyard
+of the next house."
+
+This was said to one of his agents, who bore an unmistakable
+resemblance to the servant who had been asking so many questions in
+the afternoon.
+
+"Instead of gathering so much useless information," he added, "why
+did you not post yourself as to the outlets of the house?"
+
+He was "sold"; and yet he manifested neither spite nor anger.  He
+seemed in no wise anxious to run after the fugitive.  Upon the
+features of Maxence and of Mlle. Gilberte, and more still in Mme.
+Favoral's eyes, he had read that it would be useless for the present.
+
+"Let us examine the papers, then," said he.
+
+"My husband's papers are all in his study," replied Mme. Favoral.
+
+"Please lead me to it, madame."
+
+The room which M. Favoral called loftily his study was a small room
+with a tile floor, white-washed walls, and meanly lighted through a
+narrow transom.
+
+It was furnished with an old desk, a small wardrobe with grated door,
+a few shelves upon which were piled some bandboxes and bundles of
+old newspapers, and two or three deal chairs.
+
+"Where are the keys?" inquired the commissary of police.
+
+"My father always carries them in his pocket, sir," replied Maxence.
+
+"Then let some one go for a locksmith."  Stronger than fear,
+curiosity had drawn all the guests of the cashier of the Mutual
+Credit Society, M. Desormeaux, M. Chapelain, M. Desclavettes himself;
+and, standing within the door-frame, they followed eagerly every
+motion of the commissary, who, pending the arrival of the locksmith,
+was making a flying examination of the bundles of papers left exposed
+upon the desk.
+
+After a while, and unable to hold in any longer:
+
+"Would it be indiscreet," timidly inquired the old bronze-merchant,
+"to ask the nature of the charges against that poor Favoral?"
+
+"Embezzlement, sir."
+
+"And is the amount large?"
+
+"Had it been small, I should have said theft.  Embezzling commences
+only when the sum has reached a round figure."
+
+Annoyed at the sardonic tone of the commissary:
+
+"The fact is," resumed M. Chapelain, "Favoral was our friend; and,
+if we could get him out of the scrape, we would all willingly
+contribute."
+
+"It's a matter of ten or twelve millions, gentlemen."  Was it
+possible?  Was it even likely?  Could any one imagine so many
+millions slipping through the fingers of M. de Thaller's methodic
+cashier?
+
+"Ah, sir!" exclaimed Mme. Favoral, "if any thing could relieve my
+feelings, the enormity of that sum would.  My husband was a man of
+simple and modest tastes."
+
+The commissary shook his head.
+
+"There are certain passions," he interrupted, "which nothing betrays
+externally.  Gambling is more terrible than fire.  After a fire, some
+charred remnants are found.  What is there left after a lost game?
+Fortunes may be thrown into the vortex of the bourse, without a trace
+of them being left."
+
+The unfortunate woman was not convinced.
+
+"I could swear, sir," she protested, "that I knew how my husband
+spent every hour of his life."
+
+"Do not swear, madame."
+
+"All our friends will tell you how parsimonious my husband was."
+
+"Here, madame, towards yourself and your children, I have no doubt;
+for seeing is believing: but elsewhere--"
+
+He was interrupted by the arrival of the locksmith, who, in less
+than five minutes, had picked all the locks of the old desk.
+
+But in vain did the commissary search all the drawers.  He found
+only those useless papers which are made relics of by people who
+have made order their religious faith,--uninteresting letters,
+grocers' and butchers' bills running back twenty years.
+
+"It is a waste of time to look for any thing here," he growled.
+
+And in fact he was about to give up his perquisitions, when a bundle
+thinner than the rest attracted his attention.  He cut the thread
+that bound it; and almost at once:
+
+"I knew I was right," he said.  And holding out a paper to Mme. Favoral:
+
+"Read, madame, if you please."
+
+It was a bill.  She read thus:
+
+   "Sold to M. Favoral an India Cashmere, fr. 8,500.
+    Received payment,           FORBE & Towler."
+
+"Is it for you, madame," asked the commissary, "that this magnificent
+shawl was bought?"
+
+Stupefied with astonishment, the poor woman still refused to admit
+the evidence.
+
+"Madame de Thaller spends a great deal," she stammered.  "My husband
+often made important purchases for her account."
+
+"Often, indeed!" interrupted the commissary of police; "for here
+are many other receipted bills,--earrings, sixteen thousand francs;
+a bracelet, three thousand francs; a parlor set, a horse, two velvet
+dresses.  Here is a part, at least, if not the whole, of the ten
+millions."
+
+
+
+V
+
+Had the commissary received any information in advance? or was he
+guided only by the scent peculiar to men of his profession, and the
+habit of suspecting every thing, even that which seems most unlikely?
+
+At any rate he expressed himself in a tone of absolute certainty.
+
+The agents who had accompanied and assisted him in his researches
+were winking at each other, and giggling stupidly.  The situation
+struck them as rather pleasant.
+
+The others, M. Desclavettes, M. Chapelain, and the worthy M.
+Desormeaux himself, could have racked their brains in vain to find
+terms wherein to express the immensity of their astonishments.
+Vincent Favoral, their old friend, paying for cashmeres, diamonds,
+and parlor sets!  Such an idea could not enter in their minds.  For
+whom could such princely gifts be intended?  For a mistress, for
+one of those redoubtable creatures whom fancy represents crouching
+in the depths of love, like monsters at the bottom of their caves!
+
+But how could any one imagine the methodic cashier of the Mutual
+Credit Society carried away by one of those insane passions which
+knew no reason?  Ruined by gambling, perhaps, but by a woman!
+
+Could any one picture him, so homely and so plain here, Rue St.
+Gilles, at the head of another establishment, and leading elsewhere
+in one of the brilliant quarters of Paris, a reckless life, such as
+strike terror in the bosom of quiet families?
+
+Could any one understand the same man at once miserly-economical and
+madly-prodigal, storming when his wife spent a few cents, and robbing
+to supply the expenses of an adventuress, and collecting in the same
+drawer the jeweler's accounts and the butcher's bills?
+
+"It is the climax of absurdity," murmured good M. Desormeaux.
+
+Maxence fairly shook with wrath.  Mlle. Gilberte was weeping.
+
+Mme. Favoral alone, usually so timid, boldly defended, and with her
+utmost energy, the man whose name she bore.  That he might have
+embezzled millions, she admitted: that he had deceived and betrayed
+her so shamefully, that he had made a wretched dupe of her for so
+many years, seemed to her insensate, monstrous, impossible.
+
+And purple with shame:
+
+"Your suspicions would vanish at once, sir," she said to the
+commissary, "if I could but explain to you our mode of life."
+
+Encouraged by his first discovery, he was proceeding more minutely
+with his perquisitions, undoing the strings of every bundle.
+
+"It is useless, madame," he answered in that brief tone which made so
+much impression upon M. Desclavettes.  "You can only tell me what you
+know; and you know nothing."
+
+"Never, sir, did a man lead a more regular life than M. Favoral."
+
+"In appearance, you are right.  Besides, to regulate one's disorder
+is one of the peculiarities of our time.  We open credits to our
+passions, and we keep account of our infamies by double entry.  We
+operate with method.  We embezzle millions that we may hang diamonds
+to the ears of an adventuress; but we are careful, and we keep the
+receipted bills."
+
+"But, sir, I have already told you that I never lost sight of my
+husband."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Every morning, precisely at nine o'clock, he left home to go to M.
+de Thaller's office."
+
+"The whole neighborhood knows that, madame."
+
+"At half-past five he came home."
+
+"That, also, is a well-known fact."
+
+"After dinner he went out to play a game, but it was his only
+amusement; and at eleven o'clock he was always in bed."
+
+"Perfectly correct."
+
+"Well, then, sir, where could M. Favoral have found time to abandon
+himself to the excesses of which you accuse him?"
+
+Imperceptibly the commissary of police shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Far from me, madame," he uttered, "to doubt your good faith.  What
+matters it, moreover, whether your husband spent in this way or in
+that way the sums which he is charged with having appropriated?  But
+what do your objections prove?  Simply that M. Favoral was very
+skillful, and very much self-possessed.  Had he breakfasted when he
+left you at nine?  No.  Pray, then, where did he breakfast?  In a
+restaurant?  Which?  Why did he come home only at half-past five,
+when his office actually closed at three o'clock?  Are you quite
+sure that it was to the Cafe Turc that he went every evening?
+Finally, why do not you say anything of the extra work which he
+always had to attend to, as he pretended, once or twice a month?
+Sometimes it was a loan, sometimes a liquidation, or a settlement
+of dividends, which devolved upon him.  Did he come home then?  No.
+He told you that he would dine out, and that it would be more
+convenient for him to have a cot put up in his office; and thus
+you were twenty-four or forty-eight hours without seeing him.
+Surely this double existence must have weighed heavily upon him;
+but he was forbidden from breaking off with you, under penalty of
+being caught the very next day with his hand in the till.  It is
+the respectability of his official life here which made the other
+possible,--that which has absorbed such enormous sums.  The harsher
+and the closer he were here, the more magnificent he could show
+himself elsewhere.  His household in the Rue St. Gilles was for
+him a certificate of impunity.  Seeing him so economical, every one
+thought him rich.  People who seem to spend nothing are always
+trusted.  Every privation which he imposed upon you increased his
+reputation of austere probity, and raised him farther above
+suspicion."
+
+Big tears were rolling down Mme. Favoral's cheeks.
+
+"Why not tell me the whole truth?" she stammered.
+
+"Because I do not know it," replied the commissary; "because these
+are all mere presumptions.  I have seen so many instances of similar
+calculations!"
+
+Then regretting, perhaps, to have said so much,
+
+"But I may be mistaken," he added: "I do not pretend to be
+infallible."  He was just then completing a brief inventory of all
+the papers found in the old desk.  There was nothing left but to
+examine the drawer which was used for a cash drawer.  He found in
+it in gold, notes, and small change, seven hundred and eighteen
+francs.
+
+Having counted this sum, the commissary offered it to Mme. Favoral,
+saying,
+
+"This belongs to you madame."
+
+But instinctively she withdrew her hand.
+
+"Never!" she said.
+
+The commissary went on with a gesture of kindness,--"I understand
+your scruples, madame, and yet I must insist.  You may believe me
+when I tell you that this little sum is fairly and legitimately
+yours.  You have no personal fortune."
+
+The efforts of the poor woman to keep from bursting into loud sobs
+were but too visible.
+
+"I possess nothing in the world, sir," she said in a broken voice.
+"My husband alone attended to our business-affairs.  He never spoke
+to me about them; and I would not have dared to question him.  Alone
+he disposed of our money.  Every Sunday he handed me the amount which
+he thought necessary for the expenses of the week, and I rendered him
+an account of it.  When my children or myself were in need of any
+thing, I told him so, and he gave me what he thought proper.  This
+is Saturday: of what I received last Sunday I have five francs left:
+that, is our whole fortune."
+
+Positively the commissary was moved.
+
+"You see, then, madame," he said, "that you cannot hesitate: you must
+live."
+
+Maxence stepped forward.
+
+"Am I not here, sir?" he said.
+
+The commissary looked at him keenly, and in a grave tone,
+
+"I believe indeed, sir," he replied, "that you will not suffer your
+mother and sister to want for any thing.  But resources are not
+created in a day.  Yours, if I have not been deceived, are more than
+limited just now."
+
+And as the young man blushed, and did not answer, he handed the seven
+hundred francs to Mlle. Gilberte, saying,
+
+"Take this, mademoiselle: your mother permits it."  His work was done.
+To place his seals upon M. Favoral's study was the work of a moment.
+
+Beckoning, then, to his agents to withdraw, and being ready to leave
+himself,
+
+"Let not the seals cause you any uneasiness, madame," said the
+commissary of police to Mme. Favoral.  "Before forty-eight hours,
+some one will come to remove these papers, and restore to you the
+free use of that room."
+
+He went out; and, as soon as the door had closed behind him,
+
+"Well?" exclaimed M. Desormeaux;
+
+But no one had any thing to say.  The guests of that house where
+misfortune had just entered were making haste to leave.  The
+catastrophe was certainly terrible and unforeseen; but did it not
+reach them too?  Did they not lose among them more than three hundred
+thousand francs?
+
+Thus, after a few commonplace protestations, and some of those
+promises which mean nothing, they withdrew; and, as they were going
+down the stairs,
+
+"The commissary took Vincent's escape too easy," remarked M.
+Desormeaux.  "He must know some way to catch him again."
+
+
+
+VI
+
+At last Mme. Favoral found herself alone with her children and free
+to give herself up to the most frightful despair.
+
+She dropped heavily upon a seat; and, drawing to her bosom Maxence
+and Gilberte,
+
+"O my children!" she sobbed, covering them with her kisses and her
+tears,--"my children, we are most unfortunate."
+
+Not less distressed than herself, they strove, nevertheless, to
+mitigate her anguish, to inspire her with sufficient courage to bear
+this crushing trial; and kneeling at her feet, and kissing her hands,
+
+"Are we not with you still, mother?" they kept repeating.
+
+But she seemed not to hear them.
+
+"It is not for myself that I weep," she went on.  "I! what had I
+still to wait or hope for in life?  Whilst you, Maxence, you, my
+poor Gilberte!--If, at least, I could feel myself free from blame!
+But no.  It is my weakness and my want of courage that have brought
+on this catastrophe.  I shrank from the struggle.  I purchased my
+domestic peace at the cost of your future in the world.  I forgot
+that a mother has sacred duties towards her children."
+
+Mme. Favoral was at this time a woman of some forty-three years,
+with delicate and mild features, a countenance overflowing with
+kindness, and whose whole being exhaled, as it were, an exquisite
+perfume of _noblesse_ and distinction.
+
+Happy, she might have been beautiful still,--of that autumnal
+beauty whose maturity has the splendors of the luscious fruits of
+the later season.
+
+But she had suffered so much!  The livid paleness of her complexion,
+the rigid fold of her lips, the nervous shudders that shook her
+frame, revealed a whole existence of bitter deceptions, of exhausting
+struggles, and of proudly concealed humiliations.
+
+And yet every thing seemed to smile upon her at the outset of life.
+
+She was an only daughter; and her parents, wealthy silk-merchants,
+had brought her up like the daughter of an archduchess desired to
+marry some sovereign prince.
+
+But at fifteen she had lost her mother.  Her father, soon tired of
+his lonely fireside, commenced to seek away from home some diversion
+from his sorrow.
+
+He was a man of weak mind,--one of those marked in advance to play
+the part of eternal dupes.  Having money, he found many friends.
+Having once tasted the cup of facile pleasures, he yielded readily
+to its intoxication.  Suppers, cards, amusements, absorbed his
+time, to the utter detriment of his business.  And, eighteen months
+after his wife's death, he had already spent a large portion of his
+fortune, when he fell into the hands of an adventuress, whom, without
+regard for his daughter, he audaciously brought beneath his own roof.
+
+In provincial cities, where everybody knows everybody else, such
+infamies are almost impossible.  They are not quite so rare in Paris,
+where one is, so to speak, lost in the crowd, and where the
+restraining power of the neighbor's opinion is lacking.
+
+For two years the poor girl, condemned to bear this illegitimate
+stepmother, endured nameless sufferings.
+
+She had just completed her eighteenth year, when, one evening, her
+father took her aside.
+
+"I have made up my mind to marry again," he said;  "but I wish first
+to provide you with a husband.  I have looked for one, and found him.
+He is not very brilliant perhaps; but he is, it seems, a good,
+hard-working, economical fellow, who'll make his way in the world.
+I had dreamed of something better for you; but times are hard, trade
+is dull: in short, having only a dowry of twenty thousand francs to
+give you, I have no right to be very particular.  To-morrow I'll
+bring you my candidate."
+
+And, sure enough, the next day that excellent father introduced M.
+Vincent Favoral to his daughter.
+
+She was not pleased with him; but she could hardly have said that
+she was displeased.
+
+He was, at the age of twenty-five, which he had just reached, a man
+so utterly lacking in individuality, that he could scarcely have
+excited any feeling either of sympathy or affection.
+
+Suitably dressed, he seemed timid and awkward, reserved, quite
+diffident, and of mediocre intelligence.  He confessed to have
+received a most imperfect education, and declared himself quite
+ignorant of life.  He had scarcely any means outside his profession.
+He was at this time chief accountant in a large factory of the
+Faubourg St. Antoine, with a salary of four thousand Francs a year.
+
+The young girl did not hesitate a moment.  Any thing appeared to
+her preferable to the contact of a woman whom she abhorred and
+despised.
+
+She gave her consent; and, twenty days after the first interview,
+she had become Mme. Favoral.
+
+Alas!  six weeks had not elapsed, before she knew that she had but
+exchanged her wretched fate for a more wretched one still.
+
+Not that her husband was in any way unkind to her (he dared not, as
+yet); but he had revealed himself enough to enable her to judge him.
+He was one of those formidably selfish men who wither every thing
+around them, like those trees within the shadow of which nothing can
+grow.  His coldness concealed a stupid obstinacy; his mildness, an
+iron will.
+
+If he had married, 'twas because he thought a wife a necessary
+adjunct, because he desired a home wherein to command, because, above
+all, he had been seduced by the dowry of twenty thousand francs.
+
+For the man had one passion,--money.  Under his placid countenance
+revolved thoughts of the most burning covetousness.  He wished to
+be rich.
+
+Now, as he had no illusion whatever upon his own merits, as he knew
+himself to be perfectly incapable of any of those daring conceptions
+which lead to rapid fortune, as he was in no wise enterprising, he
+conceived but one means to achieve wealth, that is, to save, to
+economize, to stint himself, to pile penny upon penny.
+
+His profession of accountant had furnished him with a number of
+instances of the financial power of the penny daily saved, and
+invested so as to yield its maximum of interest.
+
+If ever his blue eye became animated, it was when he calculated what
+would be at the present time the capital produced by a simple penny
+placed at five per cent interest the year of the birth of our Saviour.
+
+For him this was sublime.  He conceived nothing beyond.  One penny!
+He wished, he said, he could have lived eighteen hundred years, to
+follow the evolutions of that penny, to see it grow tenfold, a
+hundred-fold, produce, swell, enlarge, and become, after centuries,
+millions and hundreds of millions.
+
+In spite of all, he had, during the early months of his marriage,
+allowed his wife to have a young servant.  He gave her from time to
+time, a five-franc-piece, and took her to the country on Sundays.
+
+This was the honeymoon; and, as he declared himself, this life of
+prodigalities could not last.
+
+Under a futile pretext, the little servant was dismissed.  He
+tightened the strings of his purse.  The Sunday excursions were
+suppressed.
+
+To mere economy succeeded the niggardly parsimony which counts the
+grains of salt in the _pot-au-feu_, which weighs the soap for the
+washing, and measures the evening's allowance of candle.
+
+Gradually the accountant took the habit of treating his young wife
+like a servant, whose honesty is suspected; or like a child, whose
+thoughtlessness is to be feared.  Every morning he handed her the
+money for the expenses of the day; and every evening he expressed
+his surprise that she had not made better use of it.  He accused her
+of allowing herself to be grossly cheated, or even to be in collusion
+with the dealers.  He charged her with being foolishly extravagant;
+which fact, however, he added, did not surprise him much on the part
+of the daughter of a man who had dissipated a large fortune.
+
+To cap the climax, Vincent Favoral was on the worst possible terms
+with his father-in-law.  Of the twenty thousand francs of his wife's
+dowry, twelve thousand only had been paid, and it was in vain that he
+clamored for the balance.  The silk-merchant's business had become
+unprofitable; he was on the verge of bankruptcy.  The eight thousand
+francs seemed in imminent danger.
+
+His wife alone he held responsible for this deception.  He repeated
+to her constantly that she had connived with her father to "take
+him in," to fleece him, to ruin him.
+
+What an existence!  Certainly, had the unhappy woman known where to
+find a refuge, she would have fled from that home where each of her
+days was but a protracted torture.  But where could she go?  Of whom
+could she beg a shelter?
+
+She had terrible temptations at this time, when she was not yet
+twenty, and they called her the beautiful Mme. Favoral.
+
+Perhaps she would have succumbed, when she discovered that she was
+about to become a mother.  One year, day for day, after her marriage,
+she gave birth to a son, who received the name of Maxence.
+
+The accountant was but indifferently pleased at the coming of this
+son.  It was, above all, a cause of expense.  He had been compelled
+to give some thirty francs to a nurse, and almost twice as much for
+the baby's clothes.  Then a child breaks up the regularity of one's
+habits; and he, as he affirmed, was attached to his as much as to
+life itself.  And now he saw his household disturbed, the hours of
+his meals altered, his own importance reduced, his authority even
+ignored.
+
+But what mattered now to his young wife the ill-humor which he no
+longer took the trouble to conceal?  Mother, she defied her tyrant.
+
+Now, at least, she had in this world a being upon whom she could
+lavish all her caresses so brutally repelled.  There existed a soul
+within which she reigned supreme.  What troubles would not a smile
+of her son have made her forget?
+
+With the admirable instinct of an egotist, M. Favoral understood so
+well what passed in the mind of his wife, that he dared not complain
+too much of what the little fellow cost.  He made up his mind bravely;
+and when four years later, his daughter Gilberte was born, instead
+of lamenting:
+
+"Bash!" said he: "God blesses large families."
+
+
+
+VII
+
+But already, at this time, M. Vincent Favoral's situation had been
+singularly modified.
+
+The revolution of 1848 had just taken place.  The factory in the
+Faubourg St. Antoine, where he was employed, had been compelled to
+close its doors.
+
+One evening, as he came home at the usual hour, he announced that
+he had been discharged.
+
+Mme. Favoral shuddered at the thought of what her husband might be,
+without work, and deprived of his salary.
+
+"What is to become of us?" she murmured.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.  Visibly he was much excited.  His cheeks
+were flushed; his eyes sparkled.
+
+"Bash!" he said: "we shan't starve for all that."  And, as his wife
+was gazing at him in astonishment:
+
+"Well," he went on, "what are you looking at?  It is so: I know many a one
+who affects to live on his income, and who are not as well off as
+we are."
+
+It was, for over six years since he was married, the first time that
+he spoke of his business otherwise than to groan and complain, to
+accuse fate, and curse the high price of living.  The very day before,
+he had declared himself ruined by the purchase of a pair of shoes
+for Maxence.  The change was so sudden and so great, that she hardly
+knew what to think, and wondered if grief at the loss of his situation
+had not somewhat disturbed his mind.
+
+"Such are women," he went on with a giggle.  "Results astonish them,
+because they know nothing of the means used to bring them about.  Am
+I a fool, then?  Would I impose upon myself privations of all sorts,
+if it were to accomplish nothing?  Parbleu!  I love fine living
+too, I do, and good dinners at the restaurant, and the theatre, and
+the nice little excursions in the country.  But I want to be rich.
+At the price of all the comforts which I have not had, I have saved
+a capital, the income of which will support us all.  Eh, eh!  That's
+the power of the little penny put out to fatten!"
+
+As she went to bed that night, Mme. Favoral felt more happy than she
+had done since her mother's death.  She almost forgave her husband
+his sordid parsimony, and the humiliations he had heaped upon her.
+
+"Well, be it so," she thought.  "I shall have lived miserably, I shall
+have endured nameless sufferings; but my children shall be rich, their
+life shall be easy and pleasant."
+
+The next day M. Favoral's excitement had completely abated.
+Manifestly he regretted his confidences.
+
+"You must not think on that account that you can waste and pillage
+every thing," he declared rudely.  "Besides, I have greatly
+exaggerated."
+
+And he started in search of a situation.
+
+To find one was likely to be difficult.  Times of revolution are not
+exactly propitious to industry.  Whilst the parties discussed in the
+Chamber, there were on the street twenty thousand clerks, who, every
+morning as they rose, wondered where they would dine that day.
+
+For want of any thing better, Vincent Favoral undertook to keep
+books in various places,--an hour here, an hour there, twice a week
+in one house, four times in another.
+
+In this way he earned as much and more than he did at the factory;
+but the business did not suit him.
+
+What he liked was the office from which one does not stir, the
+stove-heated atmosphere, the elbow-worn desk, the leather-cushioned
+chair, the black alpaca sleeves over the coat.  The idea that he
+should on one and the same day have to do with five or six different
+houses, and be compelled to walk an hour, to go and work another hour
+at the other end of Paris, fairly irritated him.  He found himself
+out of his reckoning, like a horse who has turned a mill for ten
+years; if he is made to trot straight before him.
+
+So, one morning, he gave up the whole thing, swearing that he would
+rather remain idle until he could find a place suited to his taste
+and his convenience; and, in the mean time, all they would have to
+do would be to put a little less butter in the soup, and a little
+more water in the wine.
+
+He went out, nevertheless, and remained until dinner-time.  And he
+did the same the next and the following days.
+
+He started off the moment he had swallowed the last mouthful of his
+breakfast, came home at six o'clock, dined in haste, and disappeared
+again, not to return until about midnight.  He had hours of delirious
+joy, and moments of frightful discouragement.  Sometimes he seemed
+horribly uneasy.
+
+"What can he be doing?" thought Mme. Favoral.
+
+She ventured to ask him the question one morning, when he was in
+fine humor.
+
+"Well," he answered, "am I not the master?  I am operating at the
+bourse, that's all!"
+
+He could hardly have owned to any thing that would have frightened
+the poor woman as much.
+
+"Are you not afraid," she objected, "to lose all we have so
+painfully accumulated?  We have children--"
+
+He did not allow her to proceed.
+
+"Do you take me for a child?" he exclaimed; "or do I look to you
+like a man so easy to be duped?  Mind to economize in your household
+expenses, and don't meddle with my business."
+
+And he continued.  And he must have been lucky in his operations;
+for he had never been so pleasant at home.  All his ways had changed.
+He had had clothes made at a first-class tailor's, and was evidently
+trying to look elegant.  He gave up his pipe, and smoked only cigars.
+He got tired of giving every morning the money for the house, and
+took the habit of handing it to his wife every week, on Sunday.  A
+mark of vast confidence, as he observed to her.  And so, the first
+time:
+
+"Be careful," he said, "that you don't find yourself penniless
+before Thursday."
+
+He became also more communicative.  Often during the dinner, he
+would tell what he had heard during the day, anecdotes, gossip.
+He enumerated the persons with whom he had spoken.  He named a
+number of people whom he called his friends, and whose names Mme.
+Favoral carefully stored away in her memory.
+
+There was one especially, who seemed to inspire him with a profound
+respect, a boundless admiration, and of whom he never tired of
+talking.  He was, said he, a man of his age,--M. de Thaller, the
+Baron de Thaller.
+
+"This one," he kept repeating, "is really mad: he is rich, he has
+ideas, he'll go far.  It would be a great piece of luck if I could
+get him to do something for me!"
+
+Until at last one day:
+
+"Your parents were very rich once?" he asked his wife.
+
+"I have heard it said," she answered.
+
+"They spent a good deal of money, did they not?  They had friends:
+they gave dinner-parties."
+
+"Yes, they received a good deal of company."
+
+"You remember that time?"
+
+"Surely I do."
+
+"So that if I should take a fancy to receive some one here, some
+one of note, you would know how to do things properly?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+He remained silent for a moment, like a man who thinks before taking
+an important decision, and then:
+
+"I wish to invite a few persons to dinner," he said.  She could
+scarcely believe her ears.  He had never received at his table any
+one but a fellow-clerk at the factory, named Desclavettes, who had
+just married the daughter of a dealer in bronzes, and succeeded to
+his business.
+
+"Is it possible?" exclaimed Mme. Favoral.
+
+"So it is.  The question is now, how much would a first-class dinner
+cost, the best of every thing?"
+
+"That depends upon the number of guests."
+
+"Say three or four persons."
+
+The poor woman set herself to figuring diligently for some time;
+and then timidly, for the sum seemed formidable to her:
+
+"I think," she began, "that with a hundred francs--"
+
+Her husband commenced whistling.
+
+"You'll need that for the wines alone;" he interrupted.  "Do you
+take me for a fool?  But here, don't let us go into figures.  Do as
+your parents did when they did their best; and, if it's well, I
+shall not complain of the expense.  Take a good cook, hire a waiter
+who understands his business well."
+
+She was utterly confounded; and yet she was not at the end of her
+surprises.
+
+Soon M. Favoral declared that their table-ware was not suitable, and
+that he must buy a new set.  He discovered a hundred purchases to
+be made, and swore that he would make them.  He even hesitated a
+moment about renewing the parlor furniture, although it was in
+tolerably good condition still, and was a present from his
+father-in-law.
+
+And, having finished his inventory:
+
+"And you," he asked his wife: "what dress will you wear?"
+
+"I have my black silk dress--"
+
+He stopped her.
+
+"Which means that you have none at all," he said.  "Very well.  You
+must go this very day and get yourself one,--a very handsome, a
+magnificent one; and you'll send it to be made to a fashionable
+dressmaker.  And at the same time you had better get some little
+suits for Maxence and Gilberte.  Here are a thousand francs."
+
+Completely bewildered:
+
+"Who in the world are you going to invite, then?" she asked.
+
+"The Baron and the Baroness de Thaller," he replied with an emphasis
+full of conviction.  "So try and distinguish yourself.  Our fortune
+is at stake."
+
+That this dinner was a matter of considerable import, Mme. Favoral
+could not doubt when she saw her husband's fabulous liberality
+continue without flinching for a number of days.
+
+Ten times of an afternoon he would come home to tell his wife the
+name of some dish that had been mentioned before him, or to consult
+her on the subject of some exotic viand he had just noticed in some
+shop-window.  Daily he brought home wines of the most fantastic
+vintages,--those wines which dealers manufacture for the special
+use of verdant fools, and which they sell in odd-shaped bottles
+previously overlaid with secular dust and cobwebs.
+
+He subjected to a protracted cross-examination the cook whom Mme.
+Favoral had engaged, and demanded that she should enumerate the
+houses where she had cooked.  He absolutely required the man who was
+to wait at the table to exhibit the dress-coat he was to wear.
+
+The great day having come, he did not stir from the house, going
+and coming from the kitchen to the dining-room, uneasy, agitated,
+unable to stay in one place.  He breathed only when he had seen the
+table set and loaded with the new china he had purchased and the
+magnificent silver he had gone to hire in person.  And when his
+young wife made her appearance, looking lovely in her new dress,
+and leading by the hands the two children, Maxence and Gilberte, in
+their new suits:
+
+"That's perfect," he exclaimed, highly delighted.  "Nothing could be
+better.  Now, let our four guests come!"
+
+They arrived a few minutes before seven, in two carriages, the
+magnificence of which astonished the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+And, the presentations over, Vincent Favoral had at last the
+ineffable satisfaction to see seated at his table the Baron and
+Baroness de Thaller, M. Saint Pavin, who called himself a financial
+editor, and M. Jules Jottras, of the house of Jottras & Brother.
+
+It was with an eager curiosity that Mme. Favoral observed these
+people whom her husband called his friends, and whom she saw herself
+for the first time.
+
+M. de Thaller, who could not then have been much over thirty, was
+already a man without any particular age.
+
+Cold, stiff, aping evidently the English style, he expressed
+himself in brief sentences, and with a strong foreign accent.
+Nothing to surprise on his countenance.  He had the forehead
+prominent, the eyes of a dull blue, and the nose very thin.  His
+scanty hair was spread over the top of his head with labored
+symmetry; and his red, thick, and carefully-trimmed whiskers seemed
+to engross much of his attention.
+
+M. Saint Pavin had not the same stiff manner.  Careless in his
+dress, he lacked breeding.  He was a robust fellow, dark and bearded,
+with thick lips, the eye bright and prominent, spreading upon the
+table-cloth broad hands ornamented at the joints with small tufts of
+hair, speaking loud, laughing noisily, eating much and drinking more.
+
+By the side of him, M. Jules Jottras, although looking like a
+fashion-plate, did not show to much advantage.  Delicate, blonde,
+sallow, almost beardless, M. Jottras distinguished himself only by
+a sort of unconscious impudence, a harmless cynicism, and a sort of
+spasmodic giggle, that shook the eye-glasses which he wore stuck
+over his nose.
+
+But it was above all Mme. de Thaller who excited Mme. Favoral's
+apprehensions.
+
+Dressed with a magnificence of at least questionable taste, very
+much _decolletee_, wearing large diamonds at her ears, and rings on
+all her fingers, the young baroness was insolently handsome, of a
+beauty sensuous even to coarseness.  With hair of a bluish black,
+twisted over the neck in heavy ringlets, she had skin of a pearly
+whiteness, lips redder than blood, and great eyes that threw flames
+from beneath their long, curved lashes.  It was the poetry of flesh;
+and one could not help admiring.  Did she speak, however, or make
+a gesture, all admiration vanished.  The voice was vulgar, the motion
+common.  Did M. Jottras venture upon a double-entendre, she would
+throw herself back upon her chair to laugh, stretching her neck, and
+thrusting her throat forward.
+
+Wholly absorbed in the care of his guests, M. Favoral remarked
+nothing.  He only thought of loading the plates, and filling the
+glasses, complaining that they ate and drank nothing, asking
+anxiously if the cooking was not good, if the wines were bad, and
+almost driving the waiter out of his wits with questions and
+suggestions.
+
+It is a fact, that neither M. de Thaller nor M. Jottras had much
+appetite.  But M. Saint Pavin officiated for all; and the sole task
+of keeping up with him caused M. Favoral to become visibly animated.
+
+His cheeks were much flushed, when, having passed the champagne all
+around, he raised his froth-tipped glass, exclaiming:
+
+"I drink to the success of the business."
+
+"To the success of the business," echoed the others, touching his
+glass.
+
+And a few moments later they passed into the parlor to take coffee.
+
+This toast had caused Mme. Favoral no little uneasiness.  But she
+found it impossible to ask a single question; Mme. de Thaller
+dragging her almost by force to a seat by her side on the sofa,
+pretending that two women always have secrets to exchange, even when
+they see each other for the first time.
+
+The young baroness was fully _au fait_ in matters of bonnets and
+dresses; and it was with giddy volubility that she asked Mme.
+Favoral the names of her milliner and her dressmaker, and to what
+jeweler she intrusted her diamonds to be reset.
+
+This looked so much like a joke, that the poor housekeeper of the
+Rue St. Gilles could not help smiling whilst answering that she had
+no dressmaker, and that, having no diamonds, she had no possible
+use for the services of a jeweler.
+
+The other declared she could not get over it.  No diamonds!  That
+was a misfortune exceeding all.  And quick she seized the opportunity
+charitably to enumerate the parures in her jewel-case, and laces in
+her drawers, and the dresses in her wardrobes.  In the first place, it
+would have been impossible for her, she swore, to live with a husband
+either miserly or poor.  Hers had just presented her with a lovely
+coupe, lined with yellow satin, a perfect bijou.  And she made good
+use of it too; for she loved to go about.  She spent her days
+shopping, or riding in the Bois.  Every evening she had the choice
+of the theatre or a ball, often both.  The genre theatres were those
+she preferred.  To be sure, the opera and the Italiens were more
+stylish; but she could not help gaping there.
+
+Then she wished to kiss the children; and Gilberte and Maxence had
+to be brought in.  She adored children, she vowed: it was her
+weakness, her passion.  She had herself a little girl, eighteen
+months old, called Cesarine, to whom she was devoted; and certainly
+she would have brought her, had she not feared she would have been
+in the way.
+
+All this verbiage sounded like a confused murmur to Mme. Favoral's
+ears.  "Yes, no," she answered, hardly knowing to what she did answer.
+
+Her head heavy with a vague apprehension, it required her utmost
+attention to observe her husband and his guests.
+
+Standing by the mantel-piece, smoking their cigars, they conversed
+with considerable animation, but not loud enough to enable her to
+hear all they said.  It was only when M. Saint Pavin spoke that she
+understood that they were still discussing the "business;" for he
+spoke of articles to publish, stocks to sell, dividends to distribute,
+sure profits to reap.
+
+They all, at any rate, seemed to agree perfectly; and at a certain
+moment she saw her husband and M. de Thaller strike each other's
+hand, as people do who exchange a pledge.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck.
+
+M. Favoral was insisting to make his guests accept a cup of tea or
+a glass of punch; but M. de Thaller declared that he had some work
+to do, and that, his carriage having come, he must go.
+
+And go he did, taking with him the baroness, followed by M. Saint
+Pavin and M. Jottras.  And when, the door having closed upon them,
+M. Favoral found himself alone with his wife,
+
+"Well," he exclaimed, swelling with gratified vanity, "what do you
+think of our friends?"
+
+"They surprised me," she answered.
+
+He fairly jumped at that word.
+
+"I should like to know why?"
+
+Then, timidly, and with infinite precautions, she commenced
+explaining that M. de Thaller's face inspired her with no confidence;
+that M. Jottras had seemed to her a very impudent personage; that M.
+Saint Pavin appeared low and vulgar; and that, finally, the young
+baroness had given her of herself the most singular idea.
+
+M. Favoral refused to hear more.
+
+"It's because you have never seen people of the best society," he
+exclaimed.
+
+"Excuse me.  Formerly, during my mother's life--"
+
+"Eh!  Your mother never received but shop-keepers."
+
+The poor woman dropped her head.
+
+"I beg of you, Vincent," she insisted, "before doing any thing with
+these new friends, think well, consult--"
+
+He burst out laughing.
+
+"Are you not afraid that they will cheat me?" he said,--"people ten
+times as rich as we are.  Here, don't let us speak of it any more,
+and let us go to bed.  You'll see what this dinner will bring us, and
+whether I ever have reason to regret the money we have spent."
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+When, on the morning after this dinner, which was to form an era in
+her life, Mme. Favoral woke up, her husband was already up, pencil
+in hand, and busy figuring.
+
+The charm had vanished with the fumes of the champagne; and the
+clouds of the worst days were gathering upon his brow.
+
+Noticing that his wife was looking at him,
+
+"It's expensive work," he said in a bluff tone, "to set a business
+going; and it wouldn't do to commence over again every day."
+
+To hear him speak, one would have thought that Mme. Favoral alone,
+by dint of hard begging, had persuaded him into that expense which
+he now seemed to regret so much.  She quietly called his attention
+to the fact, reminding him that, far from urging, she had endeavored
+to hold him back; repeating that she augured ill of that business
+over which he was so enthusiastic, and that, if he would believe her,
+he would not venture.
+
+"Do you even know what the project is?" he interrupted rudely.
+
+"You have not told me."
+
+"Very well, then: leave me in peace with your presentiments.  You
+dislike my friends; and I saw very well how you treated Mme. de
+Thaller.  But I am the master; and what I have decided shall be.
+Besides, I have signed.  Once for all, I forbid you ever speaking
+to me again on that subject."
+
+Whereupon, having dressed himself with much care, he started off,
+saying that he was expected at breakfast by Saint Pavin, the
+financial editor, and by M. Jottras, of the house of Jottras
+& Brother.
+
+A shrewd woman would not have given it up so easy, and, in the end,
+would probably have mastered the despot, whose intellect was far
+from brilliant.  But Mme. Favoral was too proud to be shrewd; and
+besides, the springs of her will had been broken by the successive
+oppression of an odious stepmother and a brutal master.  Her
+abdication of all was complete.  Wounded, she kept the secret of
+her wound, hung her head, and said nothing.
+
+She did not, therefore, venture a single allusion; and nearly a
+week elapsed, during which the names of her late guests were not
+once mentioned.
+
+It was through a newspaper, which M. Favoral had forgotten in the
+parlor, that she learned that the Baron de Thaller had just founded
+a new stock company, the Mutual Credit Society, with a capital of
+several millions.
+
+Below the advertisement, which was printed in enormous letters,
+came a long article, in which it was demonstrated that the new
+company was, at the same time, a patriotic undertaking and an
+institution of credit of the first class; that it supplied a great
+public want; that it would be of inestimable benefit to industry;
+that its profits were assured; and that to subscribe to its stock
+was simply to draw short bills upon fortune.
+
+Already somewhat re-assured by the reading of this article, Mme.
+Favoral became quite so when she read the names of the board of
+directors.  Nearly all were titled, and decorated with many foreign
+orders; and the remainder were bankers, office-holders, and even
+some ex-ministers.
+
+"I must have been mistaken," she thought, yielding unconsciously to
+the influence of printed evidence.
+
+And no objection occurred to her, when, a few days later, her
+husband told her,
+
+"I have the situation I wanted.  I am head cashier of the company
+of which M. de Thaller is manager."
+
+That was all.  Of the nature of this society, of the advantages
+which it offered him, not one word.
+
+Only by the way in which he expressed himself did Mme. Favoral judge
+that he must have been well treated; and he further confirmed her in
+that opinion by granting her, of his own accord, a few additional
+francs for the daily expenses of the house.
+
+"We must," he declared on this memorable occasion, "do honor to our
+social position, whatever it may cost."
+
+For the first time in his life, he seemed heedful of public opinion.
+He recommended his wife to be careful of her dress and of that of
+the children, and re-engaged a servant.  He expressed the wish of
+enlarging their circle of acquaintances, and inaugurated his Saturday
+dinners, to which came assiduously, M. and Mme. Desclavettes, M.
+Chapelain the attorney, the old man Desormeaux, and a few others.
+
+As to himself he gradually settled down into those habits from
+which he was nevermore to depart, and the chronometric regularity
+of which had secured him the nickname of Old Punctuality, of which
+he was proud.
+
+In all other respects never did a man, to such a degree, become so
+utterly indifferent to his wife and children.  His house was for him
+but a mere hotel, where he slept, and took his evening meal.  He
+never thought of questioning his wife as to the use of her time, and
+what she did in his absence.  Provided she did not ask him for money,
+and was there when he came home, he was satisfied.
+
+Many women, at Mme. Favoral's age, might have made a strange use of
+that insulting indifference and of that absolute freedom.
+
+If she did avail herself of it, it was solely to follow one of those
+inspirations which can only spring in a mother's heart.
+
+The increase in the budget of the household was relatively large, but
+so nicely calculated, that she had not one cent more that she could
+call her own.
+
+With the most intense sorrow, she thought that her children might
+have to endure the humiliating privations which had made her own
+life wretched.  They were too young yet to suffer from the paternal
+parsimony; but they would grow; their desires would develop; and it
+would be impossible for her to grant them the most innocent
+satisfactions.
+
+Whilst turning over and over in her mind this distressing thought,
+she remembered a friend of her mother's, who kept, in the Rue St.
+Denis, a large establishment for the sale of hosiery and woollen
+goods.  There, perhaps, lay the solution of the problem.  She called
+to see the worthy woman, and, without even needing to confess the
+whole truth to her, she obtained sundry pieces of work, ill paid
+as a matter of course, but which, by dint of close application,
+might be made to yield from eight to twelve francs a week.
+
+From this time she never lost a minute, concealing her work as if
+it were an evil act.
+
+She knew her husband well enough to feel certain that he would
+break out, and swear that he spent money enough to enable his wife
+to live without being reduced to making a work woman of herself.
+
+But what joy, the day when she hid way down at the bottom of a
+drawer the first twenty-franc-piece she had earned, a beautiful
+gold-piece, which belonged to her without contest, and which she
+might spend as she pleased, without having to render any account
+to any one!
+
+And with what pride, from week to week, she saw her little treasure
+swell, despite the drafts she made upon it, sometimes to buy a toy
+for Maxence, sometimes to add a few ribbons or trinkets to Gilberte's
+toilet!
+
+This was the happiest time of her life, a halt in that painful
+journey through which she had been dragging herself for so many
+years.  Between her two children, the hours flew light and rapid
+as so many seconds.  If all the hopes of the young girl and of the
+woman had withered before they had blossomed, the mother's joys
+at least should not fail her.  Because, whilst the present sufficed
+to her modest ambition, the future had ceased to cause her any
+uneasiness.
+
+No reference had ever been made, between herself and her husband,
+to that famous dinner-party: he never spoke to her of the Mutual
+Credit Society; but now and then he allowed some words or exclamations
+to escape, which she carefully recorded, and which betrayed a
+prosperous state of affairs.
+
+"That Thaller is a tough fellow!" he would exclaim, "and he has the
+most infernal luck!"
+
+And at other times,
+
+"Two or three more operations like the one we have just successfully
+wound up, and we can shut up shop!"
+
+From all this, what could she conclude, if not that he was marching
+with rapid strides towards that fortune, the object of all his
+ambition?
+
+Already in the neighborhood he had that reputation to be very rich,
+which is the beginning of riches itself.  He was admired for keeping
+his house with such rigid economy; for a man is always esteemed who
+has money, and does not spend it.
+
+"He is not the man ever to squander what he has," the neighbors
+repeated.
+
+The persons whom he received on Saturdays believed him more than
+comfortably off.  When M. Desclavettes and M. Chapelain had
+complained to their hearts' contents, the one of the shop, the
+other of his office, they never failed to add,
+
+"You laugh at us, because you are engaged in large operations, where
+people make as much money as they like."
+
+They seemed to hold his financial capacities in high estimation.
+They consulted him, and followed his advice.
+
+M. Desormeaux was wont to say,
+
+"Oh! he knows what he is about."
+
+And Mme. Favoral tried to persuade herself, that, in this respect
+at least, her husband was a remarkable man.  She attributed his
+silence and his distractions to the grave cares that filled his mind.
+In the same manner that he had once announced to her that they had
+enough to live on, she expected him, some fine morning, to tell her
+that he was a millionaire.
+
+
+
+IX
+
+But the respite granted by fate to Mme. Favoral was drawing to an
+end: her trials were about to return more poignant than ever,
+occasioned, this time, by her children, hitherto her whole happiness
+and her only consolation.
+
+Maxence was nearly twelve.  He was a good little fellow, intelligent,
+studious at times, but thoughtless in the extreme, and of a
+turbulence which nothing could tame.
+
+At the Massin School, where he had been sent, he made his teachers'
+hair turn white; and not a week went by that he did not signalize
+himself by some fresh misdeed.
+
+A father like any other would have paid but slight attention to the
+pranks of a schoolboy, who, after all, ranked among the first of his
+class, and of whom the teachers themselves, whilst complaining, said,
+
+"Bash!  What matters it, since the heart is sound and the mind sane?"
+
+But M. Favoral took every thing tragically.  If Maxence was kept in,
+or otherwise punished, he pretended that it reflected upon himself,
+and that his son was disgracing him.
+
+If a report came home with this remark, "execrable conduct," he fell
+into the most violent passion, and seemed to lose all control of
+himself.
+
+"At your age," he would shout to the terrified boy, "I was working
+in a factory, and earning my livelihood.  Do you suppose that I
+will not tire of making sacrifices to procure you the advantages
+of an education which I lacked myself?  Beware.  Havre is not far
+off; and cabin-boys are always in demand there."
+
+If, at least, he had confined himself to these admonitions, which,
+by their very exaggeration, failed in their object!  But he favored
+mechanical appliances as a necessary means of sufficiently impressing
+reprimands upon the minds of young people; and therefore, seizing
+his cane, he would beat poor Maxence most unmercifully, the more so
+that the boy, filled with pride, would have allowed himself to be
+chopped to pieces rather than utter a cry, or shed a tear.
+
+The first time that Mme. Favoral saw her son struck, she was seized
+with one of those wild fits of anger which do not reason, and never
+forgive.  To be beaten herself would have seemed to her less
+atrocious, less humiliating.  Hitherto she had found it impossible
+to love a husband such as hers: henceforth, she took him in utter
+aversion: he inspired her with horror.  She looked upon her son as
+a martyr for whom she could hardly ever do enough.
+
+And so, after these harrowing scenes, she would press him to her
+heart in the most passionate embrace; she would cover with her kisses
+the traces of the blows; and she would strive, by the most delirious
+caresses, to make him forget the paternal brutalities.  With him she
+sobbed.  Like him, she would shake her clinched fists in the vacant
+space; exclaiming, "Coward, tyrant, assassin!"  The little Gilberte
+mingled her tears with theirs; and, pressed against each other, they
+deplored their destiny, cursing the common enemy, the head of the
+family.
+
+Thus did Maxence spend his boyhood between equally fatal
+exaggerations, between the revolting brutalities of his father, and
+the dangerous caresses of his mother; the one depriving him of every
+thing, the other refusing him nothing.
+
+For Mme. Favoral had now found a use for her humble savings.
+
+If the idea had never come to the cashier of the Mutual Credit
+Society to put a few sous in his son's pocket, the too weak mother
+would have suggested to him the want of money in order to have the
+pleasure of gratifying it.
+
+She who had suffered so many humiliations in her life, she could not
+bear the idea of her son having his pride wounded, and being unable
+to indulge in those little trifling expenses which are the vanity
+of schoolboys.
+
+"Here, take this," she would tell him on holidays, slipping a few
+francs into his hands.
+
+Unfortunately, to her present she joined the recommendation not to
+allow his father to know any thing about it; forgetting that she was
+thus training Maxence to dissimulate, warping his natural sense of
+right, and perverting his instincts.
+
+No, she gave; and, to repair the gaps thus made in her treasure, she
+worked to the point of ruining her sight, with such eager zeal, that
+the worthy shop-keeper of the Rue St. Denis asked her if she did not
+employ working girls.  In truth, the only help she received was from
+Gilberte, who, at the age of eight, already knew how to make herself
+useful.
+
+And this is not all.  For this son, in anticipation of growing
+expenses, she stooped to expedients which formerly would have seemed
+to her unworthy and disgraceful.  She robbed the household, cheating
+on her own marketing.  She went so far as to confide to her servant,
+and to make of the girl the accomplice of her operations.  She
+applied all her ingenuity to serve to M. Favoral dinners in which
+the excellence of the dressing concealed the want of solid substance.
+And on Sunday, when she rendered her weekly accounts, it was without
+a blush that she increased by a few centimes the price of each object,
+rejoicing when she had thus scraped a dozen francs, and finding, to
+justify herself to her own eyes, those sophisms which passion never
+lacks.
+
+At first Maxence was too young to wonder from what sources his mother
+drew the money she lavished upon his schoolboy fancies.  She
+recommended him to hide from his father: he did so, and thought it
+perfectly natural.
+
+As he grew older, he learned to discern.
+
+The moment came when he opened his eyes upon the system under which
+the paternal household was managed.  He noticed there that anxious
+economy which seems to betray want, and the acrimonious discussions
+which arose upon the inconsiderate use of a twenty-franc-piece.  He
+saw his mother realize miracles of industry to conceal the shabbiness
+of her toilets, and resort to the most skillful diplomacy when she
+wished to purchase a dress for Gilberte.
+
+And, despite all this, he had at his disposition as much money as
+those of his comrades whose parents had the reputation to be the
+most opulent and the most generous.
+
+Anxious, he questioned his mother.
+
+"Eh, what does it matter?" she answered, blushing
+and confused.  "Is that any thing to worry you?"
+
+And, as he insisted,
+
+"Go ahead," she said: "we are rich enough."  But he could hardly
+believe her, accustomed as he was to hear every one talk of poverty;
+and, as he fixed upon her his great astonished eyes,
+
+"Yes," she resumed, with an imprudence which fatally was to bear its
+fruits, "we are rich; and, if we live as you see, it is because it
+suits your father, who wishes to amass a still greater fortune."
+
+This was hardly an answer; and yet Maxence asked no further question.
+But he inquired here and there, with that patient shrewdness of young
+people possessed with a fixed idea.
+
+Already, at this time, M. Favoral had in the neighborhood, and ever
+among his friends, the reputation to be worth at least a million.
+The Mutual Credit Society had considerably developed itself: he must,
+they thought, have benefitted largely by the circumstance; and the
+profits must have swelled rapidly in the hands of so able a man,
+and one so noted for his rigid economy.
+
+Such is the substance of what Maxence heard; and people did not fail
+to add ironically, that he need not rely upon the paternal fortune
+to amuse himself.
+
+M. Desormeaux himself, whom he had "pumped" rather cleverly, had
+told him, whilst patting him amicably on the shoulder,
+
+"If you ever need money for your frolics, young man, try and earn
+it; for I'll be hanged if it's the old man who'll ever supply it."
+
+Such answers complicated, instead of explaining, the problem which
+occupied Maxence.
+
+He observed, he watched; and at last he acquired the certainty that
+the money he spent was the fruit of the joint labor of his mother
+and sister.
+
+"Ah! why not have told me so?" he exclaimed, throwing his arms
+around his mother's neck.  "Why have exposed me to the bitter regrets
+which I feel at this moment?"
+
+By this sole word the poor woman found herself amply repaid.  She
+admired the _noblesse_ of her son's feelings and the kindness of his
+heart.
+
+"Do you not understand," she told him, shedding tears of joy, "do
+you not see, that the labor which can promote her son's pleasure is
+a happiness for his mother?"
+
+But he was dismayed at his discovery.
+
+"No matter!" he said.  "I swear that I shall no longer scatter to
+the winds, as I have been doing, the money that you give me."
+
+For a few weeks, indeed, he was faithful to his pledge.  But at
+fifteen resolutions are not very stanch.  The impressions he had
+felt wore off.  He became tired of the small privations which he had
+to impose upon himself.
+
+He soon came to take to the letter what his mother had told him, and
+to prove to his own satisfaction that to deprive himself of a
+pleasure was to deprive her.  He asked for ten francs one day, then
+ten francs another, and gradually resumed his old habits.
+
+He was at this time about leaving school.
+
+"The moment has come," said M. Favoral, "for him to select a career,
+and support himself."
+
+
+
+X
+
+To think of a profession, Maxence Favoral had not waited for the
+paternal warnings.
+
+Modern schoolboys are precocious: they know the strong and the weak
+side of life; and, when they take their degree, they already have
+but few illusions left.
+
+And how could it be otherwise?  In the interior of the colleges is
+fatally found the echo of the thoughts, and the reflex of the manners,
+of the time.  Neither walls nor keepers can avail.  At the same time,
+as the city mud that stains their boots, the scholars bring back on
+their return from holidays their stock of observations and of facts.
+
+And what have they seen during the day in their families, or among
+their friends?
+
+Ardent cravings, insatiable appetites for luxuries, comforts,
+enjoyments, pleasures, contempt for patient labor, scorn for austere
+convictions, eager longing for money, the will to become rich at any
+cost, and the firm resolution to ravish fortune on the first
+favorable occasion.
+
+To be sure, they have dissembled in their presence; but their
+perceptions are keen.
+
+True, their father has told them in a grave tone, that there is
+nothing respectable in this world except labor and honesty; but they
+have caught that same father scarcely noticing a poor devil of an
+honest man, and bowing to the earth before some clever rascal bearing
+the stigma of three judgments, but worth six millions.
+
+Conclusion?  Oh! they know very well how to conclude; for there are
+none such as young people to be logical, and to deduce the utmost
+consequences of a fact.
+
+They know, the most of them, that they will have to do something or
+other; but what?  And it is then, that, during the recreations,
+their imagination strives to find that hitherto unknown profession
+which is to give them fortune without work, and freedom at the same
+time as a brilliant situation.
+
+They discuss and criticise freely all the careers which are open to
+youthful ambition.  And how they laugh, if some simple fellow
+ventures upon suggesting some of those modest situations where they
+earn one hundred and fifty francs a month at the start!  One hundred
+and fifty francs!--why, it's hardly as much as many a boy spends
+for his cigars, and his cab-fares when he is late.
+
+Maxence was neither better nor worse than the rest.  Like the rest
+he strove to discover the ideal profession which makes a man rich,
+and amuses him at the same time.
+
+Under the pretext that he drew nicely, he spoke of becoming a painter,
+calculating coolly what painting may yield, and reckoning, according
+to some newspaper, the earnings of Corot or Geroine, Ziem, Bouguereau,
+and some others, who are reaping at last the fruits of unceasing
+efforts and crushing labors.
+
+But, in the way of pictures, M. Vincent Favoral appreciated only the
+blue vignettes of the Bank of France.
+
+"I wish no artists in my family," he said, in a tone that admitted
+of no reply.
+
+Maxence would willingly have become an engineer, for it's rather
+the style to be an engineer now-a-days; but the examinations for
+the Polytechnic School are rather steep.  Or else a cavalry officer;
+but the two years at Saint Cyr are not very gay.  Or chief clerk,
+like M. Desormeaux; but he would have to begin by being supernumerary.
+
+Finally after hesitating for a long time between law and medicine,
+he made up his mind to become a lawyer, influenced above all, by
+the joyous legends of the Latin quarter.
+
+That was not exactly M. Vincent Favoral's dream.
+
+"That's going to cost money again," he growled.
+
+The fact is, he had indulged in the fallacious hope that his son,
+as soon as he left college, would enter at once some business-house,
+where he would earn enough to take care of himself.
+
+He yielded at last, however, to the persistent entreaties of his
+wife, and the solicitations of his friends.
+
+"Be it so," he said to Maxence: "you will study law.  Only, as it
+cannot suit me that you should waste your days lounging in the
+billiard-rooms of the left bank, you shall at the same time work
+in an attorney's office.  Next Saturday I shall arrange with my
+friend Chapelain."
+
+Maxence had not bargained for such an arrangement; and he came near
+backing out at the prospect of a discipline which he foresaw must
+be as exacting as that of the college.
+
+Still, as he could think of nothing better, he persevered.  And,
+vacations over, he was duly entered at the law-school, and settled
+at a desk in M. Chapelain's office, which was then in the Rue St.
+Antoine.
+
+The first year every thing went on tolerably.  He enjoyed as much
+freedom as he cared to.  His father did not allow him one centime
+for his pocket-money; but the attorney, in his capacity of an old
+friend of the family, did for him what he had never done before for
+an amateur clerk, and allowed him twenty francs a month.  Mme.
+Favoral adding to this a few five-franc pieces, Maxence declared
+himself entirely satisfied.
+
+Unfortunately, with his lively imagination and his impetuous temper,
+no one was less fit than himself for that peaceful existence, that
+steady toil, the same each day, without the stimulus of difficulties
+to overcome, or the satisfaction of results obtained.
+
+Before long he became tired of it.
+
+He had found at the law-school a number of his old schoolmates whose
+parents resided in the provinces, and who, consequently, lived as
+they pleased in the Latin quarter, less assiduous to the lectures
+than to the Spring Brewery and the Closerie des Lilas.[*]
+   [ * A noted dancing-garden. ]
+
+He envied them their joyous life, their freedom without control,
+their facile pleasures, their furnished rooms, and even the low
+eating-house where they took their meals.  And, as much as possible,
+he lived with them and like them.
+
+But it is not with M. Chapelain's twenty francs that it would have
+been possible for him to keep up with fellows, who, with superb
+recklessness, took on credit everything they could get, reserving
+the amount of their allowance for those amusements which had to be
+paid for in cash.
+
+But was not Mme. Favoral here?
+
+She had worked so much, the poor woman, especially since Mlle.
+Gilberte had become almost a young lady; she had so much saved, so
+much stinted, that her reserve, notwithstanding repeated drafts,
+amounted to a good round sum.
+
+When Maxence wanted two or three napoleons, he had but a word to
+say; and he said it often.  Thus, after a while, he became an
+excellent billiard-player; he kept his colored meerschaum in the
+rack of a popular brewery; he took absinthe before dinner, and
+spent his evenings in the laudable effort to ascertain how many mugs
+of beer he could "put away."  Gaining in audacity, he danced at
+Bullier's, dined at Foyd's, and at last had a mistress.
+
+So much so, that one afternoon, M. Favoral having to visit on
+business the other side of the water, found himself face to face
+with his son, who was coming along, a cigar in his mouth, and having
+on his arm a young lady, painted in superior style, and harnessed
+with a toilet calculated to make the cab-horses rear.
+
+He returned to the Rue St. Gilles in a state of indescribable rage.
+
+"A woman!" he exclaimed in a tone of offended modesty.  "A woman!
+--he, my son!"
+
+And when that son made his appearance, looking quite sheepish, his
+first impulse was to resort to his former mode of correction.
+
+But Maxence was now over nineteen years of age.
+
+At the sight of the uplifted cane, he became whiter than his shirt;
+and, wrenching it from his father's hands, he broke it across his
+knees, threw the pieces violently upon the floor, and sprang out
+of the house.
+
+"He shall never again set his foot here!" screamed the cashier of
+the Mutual Credit, thrown beside himself by an act of resistance
+which seemed to him unheard of.  "I banish him.  Let his clothes be
+packed up, and taken to some hotel: I never want to see him again."
+
+For a long time Mme. Favoral and Gilberte fairly dragged themselves
+at his feet, before he consented to recall his determination.
+
+"He will disgrace us all!" he kept repeating, seeming unable to
+understand that it was himself who had, as it were, driven Maxence
+on to the fatal road which he was pursuing, forgetting that the
+absurd severities of the father prepared the way for the perilous
+indulgence of the mother, unwilling to own that the head of a
+family has other duties besides providing food and shelter for his
+wife and children, and that a father has but little right to
+complain who has not known how to make himself the friend and the
+adviser of his son.
+
+At last, after the most violent recriminations, he forgave, in
+appearance at least.
+
+But the scales had dropped from his eyes.  He started in quest of
+information, and discovered startling enormities.
+
+He heard from M. Chapelain that Maxence remained whole weeks at a
+time without appearing at the office.  If he had not complained
+before, it was because he had yielded to the urgent entreaties of
+Mme. Favoral; and he was now glad, he added, of an opportunity to
+relieve his conscience by a full confession.
+
+Thus the cashier discovered, one by one, all his son's tricks.  He
+heard that he was almost unknown at the law-school, that he spent
+his days in the cafes, and that, in the evening, when he believed
+him in bed and asleep, he was in fact running out to theatres and
+to balls.
+
+"Ah! that's the way, is it?" he thought.  "Ah, my wife and children
+are in league against me,--me, the master.  Very well, we'll see."
+
+
+
+XI
+
+From that morning war was declared.
+
+From that day commenced in the Rue St. Gilles one of those domestic
+dramas which are still awaiting their Moliere,--a drama of
+distressing vulgarity and sickening realism, but poignant,
+nevertheless; for it brought into action tears, blood, and a savage
+energy.
+
+M. Favoral thought himself sure to win; for did he not have the key
+of the cash, and is not the key of the cash the most formidable
+weapon in an age where every thing begins and ends with money?
+
+Nevertheless, he was filled with irritating anxieties.
+
+He who had just discovered so many things which he did not even
+suspect a few days before, he could not discover the source whence
+his son drew the money which flowed like water from his prodigal
+hands.
+
+He had made sure that Maxence had no debts; and yet it could not be
+with M. Chapelain's monthly twenty francs that he fed his frolics.
+
+Mme. Favoral and Gilberte, subjected separately to a skillful
+interrogatory, had managed to keep inviolate the secret of their
+mercenary labor.  The servant, shrewdly questioned, had said nothing
+that could in any way cause the truth to be suspected.
+
+Here was, then, a mystery; and M. Favoral's constant anxiety could
+be read upon his knitted brows during his brief visits to the house;
+that is, during dinner.
+
+From the manner in which he tasted his soup, it was easy to see that
+he was asking himself whether that was real soup, and whether he was
+not being imposed upon.  From the expression of his eyes, it was
+easy to guess this question constantly present to his mind.
+
+"They are robbing me evidently; but how do they do it?"
+
+And he became distrustful, fussy, and suspicious, to an extent that
+he had never been before.  It was with the most insulting precautions
+that he examined every Sunday his wife's accounts.  He took a look at
+the grocer's, and settled it himself every month: he had the butcher's
+bills sent to him in duplicate.  He would inquire the price of an
+apple as he peeled it over his plate, and never failed to stop at the
+fruiterer's and ascertain that he had not been deceived.
+
+But it was all in vain.
+
+And yet he knew that Maxence always had in his pocket two or three
+five-franc pieces.
+
+"Where do you steal them?" he asked him one day.
+
+"I save them out of my salary," boldly answered the young man.
+
+Exasperated, M. Favoral wished to make the whole world take an
+interest in his investigations.  And one Saturday evening, as he
+was talking with his friends, M. Chapelain, the worthy Desclavettes,
+and old man Desormeaux, pointing to his wife and daughter:
+
+"Those d---d women rob me," he said, "for the benefit of my son;
+and they do it so cleverly that I can't find out how.  They have
+an understanding with the shop-keepers, who are but licensed thieves;
+and nothing is eaten here that they don't make me pay double its
+value."
+
+M. Chapelain made an ill-concealed grimace; whilst M. Desclavettes
+sincerely admired a man who had courage enough to confess his
+meanness.
+
+But M. Desormeaux never minced things.
+
+"Do you know, friend Vincent," he said, "that it requires a strong
+stomach to take dinner with a man who spends his time calculating
+the cost of every mouthful that his guests swallow?"
+
+M. Favoral turned red in the face.
+
+"It is not the expense that I deplore," he replied, "but the
+duplicity.  I am rich enough, thank Heaven! not to begrudge a few
+francs; and I would gladly give to my wife twice as much as she takes,
+if she would only ask it frankly."
+
+But that was a lesson.
+
+Hereafter he was careful to dissimulate, and seemed exclusively
+occupied in subjecting his son to a system of his invention, the
+excessive rigor of which would have upset a steadier one than he.
+
+He demanded of him daily written attestations of his attendance both
+at the law-school and at the lawyer's office.  He marked out the
+itinerary of his walks for him, and measured the time they required,
+within a few minutes.  Immediately after dinner he shut him up in
+his room, under lock and key, and never failed, when he came home
+at ten o'clock to make sure of his presence.
+
+He could not have taken steps better calculated to exalt still more
+Mme. Favoral's blind tenderness.
+
+When she heard that Maxence had a mistress, she had been rudely
+shocked in her most cherished feelings.  It is never without a secret
+jealousy that a mother discovers that a woman has robbed her of her
+son's heart.  She had retained a certain amount of spite against him
+on account of disorders, which, in her candor, she had never
+suspected.  She forgave him every thing when she saw of what
+treatment he was the object.
+
+She took sides with him, believing him to be the victim of a most
+unjust persecution.  In the evening, after her husband had gone out,
+Gilberte and herself would take their sewing, sit in the hall outside
+his room, and converse with him through the door.  Never had they
+worked so hard for the shop-keeper in the Rue St. Denis.  Some weeks
+they earned as much as twenty-five or thirty francs.
+
+But Maxence's patience was exhausted; and one morning he declared
+resolutely that he would no longer attend the law-school, that he
+had been mistaken in his vocation, and that there was no human power
+capable to make him return to M. Chapelain's.
+
+"And where will you go?" exclaimed his father.  "Do you expect me
+eternally to supply your wants?"
+
+He answered that it was precisely in order to support himself, and
+conquer his independence, that he had resolved to abandon a
+profession, which, after two years, yielded him twenty francs a month.
+
+"I want some business where I have a chance to get rich," he replied.
+"I would like to enter a banking-house, or some great financial
+establishment."
+
+Mme. Favoral jumped at the idea.
+
+"That's a fact," she said to her husband.  "Why couldn't you find
+a place for our son at the Mutual Credit?  There he would be under
+your own eyes.  Intelligent as he is, backed by M. de Thaller and
+yourself, he would soon earn a good salary."
+
+M. Favoral knit his brows.
+
+"That I shall never do," he uttered.  "I have not sufficient
+confidence in my son.  I cannot expose myself to have him compromise
+the consideration which I have acquired for myself."
+
+And, revealing to a certain extent the secret of his conduct:
+
+"A cashier," he added, "who like me handles immense sums cannot be
+too careful of his reputation.  Confidence is a delicate thing in
+these times, when there are so many cashiers constantly on the road
+to Belgium.  Who knows what would be thought of me, if I was known
+to have such a son as mine?"
+
+Mme. Favoral was insisting, nevertheless, when he seemed to make up
+his mind suddenly.
+
+"Enough," he said.  "Maxence is free.  I allow him two years to
+establish himself in some position.  That delay over, good-by: he
+can find board and lodging where he please.  That's all.  I don't
+want to hear any thing more about it."
+
+It was with a sort of frenzy that Maxence abused that freedom; and
+in less than two weeks he had dissipated three months' earnings of
+his mother and sister.
+
+That time over, he succeeded, thanks to M. Chapelain, in finding a
+place with an architect.
+
+This was not a very brilliant opening; and the chances were, that
+he might remain a clerk all his life.  But the future did not trouble
+him much.  For the present, he was delighted with this inferior
+position, which assured him each month one hundred and seventy-five
+francs.
+
+One hundred and seventy-five francs!  A fortune.  And so he rushed
+into that life of questionable pleasures, where so many wretches have
+left not only the money which they had, which is nothing, but the
+money which they had not, which leads straight to the police-court.
+
+He made friends with those shabby fellows who walk up and down in
+front of the Cafe Riche, with an empty stomach, and a tooth-pick
+between their teeth.  He became a regular customer at those low cafes
+of the Boulevards, where plastered girls smile to the men.  He
+frequented those suspicious table d'hotes where they play baccarat
+after dinner on a wine-stained table-cloth, and where the police make
+periodical raids.  He ate suppers in those night restaurants where
+people throw the bottles at each other's heads after drinking their
+contents.
+
+Often he remained twenty-four hours without coming to the Rue St.
+Gilles; and then Mme. Favoral spent the night in the most fearful
+anxiety.  Then, suddenly, at some hour when he knew his father to be
+absent, he would appear, and, taking his mother to one side:
+
+"I very much want a few louis," he would say in a sheepish tone.
+
+She gave them to him; and she kept giving them so long as she had
+any, not, however, without observing timidly to him that Gilberte
+and herself could not earn very much.
+
+Until finally one evening, and to a last demand:
+
+"Alas!" she answered sorrowfully, "I have nothing left, and it is
+only on Monday that we are to take our work back.  Couldn't you
+wait until then?"
+
+He could not wait: he was expected for a game.  Blind devotion begets
+ferocious egotism.  He wanted his mother to go out and borrow the
+money from the grocer or the butcher.  She was hesitating.  He spoke
+louder.
+
+Then Mlle. Gilberte appeared.
+
+"Have you, then, really no heart?" she said.  "It seems to me, that,
+if I were a man, I would not ask my mother and sister to work for me."
+
+
+
+XII
+
+Gilberte Favoral had just completed her eighteenth year.  Rather
+tall, slender, her every motion betrayed the admirable proportions
+of her figure, and had that grace which results from the harmonious
+blending of litheness and strength.  She did not strike at first
+sight; but soon a penetrating and indefinable charm arose from her
+whole person; and one knew not which to admire most,--the exquisite
+perfections of her figure, the divine roundness of her neck, her
+aerial carriage, or the placid ingenuousness of her attitudes.  She
+could not be called beautiful, inasmuch as her features lacked
+regularity; but the extreme mobility of her countenance, upon which
+could be read all the emotions of her soul, had an irresistible
+seduction.  Her large eyes, of velvety blue, had untold depths and
+an incredible intensity of expression; the imperceptible quiver of
+her rosy nostrils revealed an untamable pride; and the smile that
+played upon her lips told her immense contempt for every thing mean
+and small.  But her real beauty was her hair,--of a blonde so
+luminous that it seemed powdered with diamond-dust; so thick and
+so long, that to be able to twist and confine it, she had to cut off
+heavy locks of it to the very root.
+
+Alone, in the house, she did not tremble at her father's voice.  The
+studied despotism which had subdued Mme. Favoral had revolted her,
+and her energy had become tempered under the same system of
+oppression which had unnerved Maxence.
+
+Whilst her mother and her brother lied with that quiet impudence of
+the slave, whose sole weapon is duplicity, Gilberte preserved a
+sullen silence.  And if complicity was imposed upon her by
+circumstances, if she had to maintain a falsehood, each word cost
+her such a painful effort, that her features became visibly altered.
+
+Never, when her own interests were alone at stake, had she stooped
+to an untruth.  Fearlessly, and whatever might be the result,
+
+"That is the fact," she would say.
+
+Accordingly, M. Favoral could not help respecting her to a degree;
+and, when he was in fine humor, he called her the Empress Gilberte.
+For her alone he had some deference and some attentions.  He
+moderated, when she looked at him, the brutality of his language.
+He brought her a few flowers every Saturday.
+
+He had even allowed her a professor of music; though he was wont to
+declare that a woman needs but two accomplishments,--to cook and
+to sew.  But she had insisted so much, that he had at last
+discovered for her, in an attic of the Rue du Pas-de-la-Mule, an
+old Italian master, the Signor Gismondo Pulei, a sort of unknown
+genius, for whom thirty francs a month were a fortune, and who
+conceived a sort of religious fanaticism for his pupil.
+
+Though he had always refused to write a note, he consented, for her
+sake, to fix the melodies that buzzed in his cracked brain; and some
+of them proved to be admirable.  He dreamed to compose for her an
+opera that would transmit to the most remote generations the name
+of Gismondo Pulei.
+
+"The Signora Gilberte is the very goddess of music," he said to M.
+Favoral, with transports of enthusiasm, which intensified still his
+frightful accent.
+
+The cashier of the Mutual Credit Society shrugged his shoulders,
+answering that there is no harmony for a man who spends his days
+listening to the exciting music of golden coins.  In spite of which
+his vanity seemed highly gratified, when on Saturday evenings, after
+dinner, Mlle. Gilberte sat at the piano, and Mme. Desclavettes,
+suppressing a yawn, would exclaim,
+
+"What remarkable talent the dear child has!"
+
+The young girl had, then, a positive influence; and it was to her
+entreaties alone, and not to those of his wife, that he had several
+times forgiven Maxence.  He would have done much more for her, had
+she wished it; but she would have been compelled to ask, to insist,
+to beg.
+
+"And it's humiliating," she used to say.
+
+Sometimes Mme. Favoral scolded her gently, saying that her father
+would certainly not refuse her one of those pretty toilets which are
+the ambition and the joy of young girls.
+
+But she:
+
+"It is much less mortification to me to wear these rags than to meet
+with a refusal," she replied.  "I am satisfied with my dresses."
+
+With such a character, surrounded, however, by a meek resignation,
+and an unalterable _sang-froid_, she inspired a certain respect to
+both her mother and her brother, who admired in her an energy of
+which they felt themselves incapable.
+
+And when she appeared, and commenced reproaching him in an indignant
+tone of voice, with the baseness of his conduct, and his insatiate
+demands, Maxence was almost stunned.
+
+"I did not know," he commenced, turning as red as fire.
+
+She crushed him with a look of mingled contempt and pity; and, in
+an accent of haughty irony:
+
+"Indeed," she said, "you do not know whence the money comes that
+you extort from our mother!"
+
+And holding up her hand, still remarkably handsome, though slightly
+deformed by the constant handling of the needle; the fourth finger
+of the right hand bent by the thread, and the fore-finger of the
+left tattooed and lacerated by the needle:
+
+"Indeed," she repeated, "you do not know that my mother and myself,
+we spend all our days, and the greater part of our nights, working?"
+
+Hanging his head, he said nothing.
+
+"If it were for myself alone," she continued, "I would not speak to
+you thus.  But look at our mother!  See her poor eyes, red and weak
+from her ceaseless labor!  If I have said nothing until now, it is
+because I did not as yet despair of your heart; because I hoped that
+you would recover some feeling of decency.  But no, nothing.  With
+time, your last scruples seem to have vanished.  Once you begged
+humbly; now you demand rudely.  How soon will you resort to blows?"
+
+"Gilberte!" stammered the poor fellow, "Gilberte!"
+
+She interrupted him:
+
+"Money!" she went on, "always, and without time, you must have money;
+no matter whence it comes, nor what it costs.  If, at least, you
+had to justify your expenses, the excuse of some great passion, or
+of some object, were it absurd, ardently pursued!  But I defy you
+to confess upon what degrading pleasures you lavish our humble
+economies.  I defy you to tell us what you mean to do with the sum
+that you demand to-night,--that sum for which you would have our
+mother stoop to beg the assistance of a shop-keeper, to whom we
+would be compelled to reveal the secret of our shame."
+
+Touched by the frightful humiliation of her son:
+
+"He is so unhappy!" stammered Mme. Favoral.
+
+"He unhappy!" she exclaimed.  "What, then, shall
+we say of us? and, above all, what shall you say of yourself, mother?
+Unhappy!--he, a man, who has liberty and strength, who may undertake
+every thing, attempt any thing, dare any thing.  Ah, I wish I were
+a man!  I!  I would be a man as there are some, as I know some; and
+I would have avenged you, O beloved mother! long, long ago, from
+father; and I would have begun to repay you all the good you have
+done me."
+
+Mme. Favoral was sobbing.
+
+"I beg of you," she murmured, "spare him."
+
+"Be it so," said the young girl.  "But you must allow me to tell him
+that it is not for his sake that I devote my youth to a mercenary
+labor.  It is for you, adored mother, that you may have the joy to
+give him what he asks, since it is your only joy."
+
+Maxence shuddered under the breath of that superb indignation.  That
+frightful humiliation, he felt that he deserved it only too much.
+He understood the justice of these cruel reproaches.  And, as his
+heart had not yet spoiled with the contact of his boon companions,
+as he was weak, rather than wicked, as the sentiments which are the
+honor and pride of a man were not dead within him.
+
+"Ah! you are a brave sister, Gilberte," he exclaimed; "and what you
+have just done is well.  You have been harsh, but not as much as I
+deserve.  Thanks for your courage, which will give me back mine.
+Yes, it is a shame for me to have thus cowardly abused you both."
+
+And, raising his mother's hand to his lips:
+"Forgive, mother," he continued, his eyes overflowing with tears;
+"forgive him who swears to you to redeem his past, and to become
+your support, instead of being a crushing burden--"
+
+He was interrupted by the noise of steps on the stairs, and the
+shrill sound of a whistle.
+
+"My husband!" exclaimed Mme. Favoral,--"your father, my children!"
+
+"Well," said Mlle. Gilberte coldly.
+
+"Don't you hear that he is whistling? and do you forget that it is
+a proof that he is furious?  What new trial threatens us again?"
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+Mme. Favoral spoke from experience.  She had learned, to her cost,
+that the whistle of her husband, more surely than the shriek of the
+stormy petrel, announces the storm.--And she had that evening more
+reasons than usual to fear.  Breaking from all his habits, M. Favoral
+had not come home to dinner, and had sent one of the clerks of the
+Mutual Credit Society to say that they should not wait for him.
+
+Soon his latch-key grated in the lock; the door swung open; he came
+in; and, seeing his son:
+
+"Well, I am glad to find you here," he exclaimed with a giggle, which
+with him was the utmost expression of anger.
+
+Mme. Favoral shuddered.  Still under the impression of the scene
+which had just taken place, his heart heavy, and his eyes full of
+tears, Maxence did not answer.
+
+"It is doubtless a wager," resumed the father, "and you wish to know
+how far my patience may go."
+
+"I do not understand you," stammered the young man.
+
+"The money that you used to get, I know not where, doubtless fails
+you now, or at least is no longer sufficient, and you go on making
+debts right and left--at the tailor's, the shirt maker's, the
+jeweler's.  Of course, it's simple enough.  We earn nothing; but
+we wish to dress in the latest style, to wear a gold chain across
+our vest, and then we make dupes."
+
+"I have never made any dupes, father."
+
+"Bah!  And what, then, do you call all these people who came this
+very day to present me their bills?  For they did dare to come to
+my office!  They had agreed to come together, expecting thus to
+intimidate me more easily.  I told them that you were of age, and
+that your business was none of mine.  Hearing this, they became
+insolent, and commenced speaking so loud, that their voices could
+be heard in the adjoining rooms.  At that very moment, the manager,
+M. de Thaller, happened to be passing through the hall.  Hearing
+the noise of a discussion, he thought that I was having some
+difficulty with some of our stockholders, and he came in, as he
+had a right to.  Then I was compelled to confess everything."
+
+He became excited at the sound of his words, like a horse at the
+jingle of his bells.  And, more and more beside himself:
+
+"That is just what your creditors wished," he pursued.  "They
+thought I would be afraid of a row, and that I would 'come down.'
+It is a system of blackmailing, like any other.  An account is
+opened to some young rascal; and, when the amount is reasonably
+large, they take it to the family, saying, 'Money, or I make row.'
+Do you think it is to you, who are penniless, that they give credit?
+It's on my pocket that they were drawing,--on my pocket, because
+they believed me rich.  They sold you at exorbitant prices every
+thing they wished; and they relied on me to pay for trousers at
+ninety francs, shirts at forty francs, and watches at six hundred
+francs."
+
+Contrary to his habit, Maxence did not offer any denial.
+
+"I expect to pay all I owe," he said.
+
+"You!"
+
+"I give my word I will!"
+
+"And with what, pray?"
+
+"With my salary."
+
+"You have a salary, then?"
+
+Maxence blushed.
+
+"I have what I earn at my employer's."
+
+"What employer?"
+
+"The architect in whose office M. Chapelain helped me to find a
+place."
+
+With a threatening gesture, M. Favoral interrupted him.
+
+"Spare me your lies," he uttered.  "I am better posted than you
+suppose.  I know, that, over a month ago, your employer, tired of
+your idleness, dismissed you in disgrace."
+
+Disgrace was superfluous.  The fact was, that Maxence, returning
+to work after an absence of five days, had found another in his
+place.
+
+"I shall find another place," he said.
+
+M. Favoral shrugged his shoulders with a movement of rage.
+
+"And in the mean time," he said, "I shall have to pay.  Do you know
+what your creditors threaten to do?--to commence a suit against me.
+They would lose it, of course, they know it; but they hope that I
+would yield before a scandal.  And this is not all: they talk of
+entering a criminal complaint.  They pretend that you have
+audaciously swindled them; that the articles you purchased of them
+were not at all for your own use, but that you sold them as fast as
+you got them, at any price you could obtain, to raise ready money.
+The jeweler has proofs, he says, that you went straight from his
+shop to the pawnbroker's, and pledged a watch and chain which he
+had just sold you.  It is a police matter.  They said all that in
+presence of my superior officer--in presence of M. de Thaller.  I
+had to get the janitor to put them out.  But, after they had left,
+M. de Thaller gave me to understand that he wished me very much to
+settle everything.  And he is right.  My consideration could not
+resist another such scene.  What confidence can be placed in a
+cashier whose son behaves in this manner?  How can a key of a safe
+containing millions be left with a man whose son would have been
+dragged into the police-courts?  In a word, I am at your mercy.
+In a word, my honor, my position, my fortune, rest upon you.  As
+often as it may please you to make debts, you can make them, and
+I shall be compelled to pay."
+
+Gathering all his courage:
+
+"You have been sometimes very harsh with me, father," commenced
+Maxence; "and yet I will not try to justify my conduct.  I swear to
+you, that hereafter you shall have nothing to fear from me."
+
+"I fear nothing," uttered M. Favoral with a sinister smile.  "I
+know the means of placing myself beyond the reach of your follies
+--and I shall use them."
+
+"I assure you, father, that I have taken a firm resolution."
+
+"Oh! you may dispense with your periodical repentance."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte stepped forward.
+
+"I'll stand warrant," she said, "for Maxence's resolutions."
+
+Her father did not permit her to proceed.
+
+"Enough," he interrupted somewhat harshly.  "Mind your own business,
+Gilberte!  I have to speak to you too."
+
+"To me, father?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He walked up and down three or four times through the parlor, as if
+to calm his irritation.  Then planting himself straight before his
+daughter, his arms folded across his breast:
+
+"You are eighteen years of age," he said; "that is to say, it is
+time to think of your marriage.  An excellent match offers itself."
+
+She shuddered, stepped back, and, redder than a peony:
+
+"A match!" she repeated in a tone of immense surprise.
+
+"Yes, and which suits me."
+
+"But I do not wish to marry, father."
+
+"All young girls say the same thing; and, as soon as a pretender
+offers himself, they are delighted.  Mine is a fellow of twenty-six,
+quite good looking, amiable, witty, and who has had the greatest
+success in society."
+
+"Father, I assure you that I do not wish to leave mother."
+
+"Of course not.  He is an intelligent, hard-working man, destined,
+everybody says, to make an immense fortune.  Although he is rich
+already, for he holds a controlling interest in a stock-broker's
+firm, he works as hard as any poor devil.  I would not be surprised
+to hear that he makes half a million of francs a year.  His wife
+will have her carriage, her box at the opera, diamonds, and dresses
+as handsome as Mlle. de Thaller's."
+
+"Eh!  What do I care for such things?"
+
+"It's understood.  I'll present him to you on Saturday."
+
+But Mlle. Gilberte was not one of those young girls who allow
+themselves, through weakness or timidity, to become engaged, and so
+far engaged, that later, they can no longer withdraw.  A discussion
+being unavoidable, she preferred to have it out at once.
+
+"A presentation is absolutely useless, father," she declared
+resolutely.
+
+"Because?"
+
+"I have told you that I did not wish to marry."
+
+"But if it is my will?"
+
+"I am ready to obey you in every thing except that."
+
+"In that as in every thing else," interrupted the cashier of the
+Mutual Credit in a thundering voice.
+
+And, casting upon his wife and children a glance full of defiance
+and threats:
+
+"In that, as in every thing else," he repeated, "because I am the
+master; and I shall prove it.  Yes, I will prove it; for I am tired
+to see my family leagued against my authority."
+
+And out he went, slamming the door so violently, that the partitions
+shook.
+
+"You are wrong to resist your father thus," murmured the weak Mme.
+Favoral.
+
+The fact is, that the poor woman could not understand why her
+daughter refused the only means at her command to break off with
+her miserable existence.
+
+"Let him present you this young man," she said.  "You might like
+him."
+
+"I am sure I shall not like him."
+
+She said this in such a tone, that the light suddenly flashed upon
+Mme. Favoral's mind.
+
+"Heavens!" she murmured.  "Gilberte, my darling child, have you then
+a secret which your mother does not know?"
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+Yes, Mlle. Gilberte had her secret--a very simple one, though,
+chaste, like herself, and one of those which, as the old women say,
+must cause the angels to rejoice.
+
+The spring of that year having been unusually mild, Mme. Favoral
+and her daughter had taken the habit of going daily to breathe the
+fresh air in the Place Royale.  They took their work with them,
+crotchet or knitting; so that this salutary exercise did not in any
+way diminish the earnings of the week.  It was during these walks
+that Mlle. Gilberte had at last noticed a young man, unknown to her,
+whom she met every day at the same place.
+
+Tall and robust, he had a grand look, notwithstanding his modest
+clothes, the exquisite neatness of which betrayed a sort of
+respectable poverty.  He wore his full beard; and his proud and
+intelligent features were lighted up by a pair of large black eyes,
+of those eyes whose straight and clear look disconcerts hypocrites
+and knaves.
+
+He never failed, as he passed by Mlle. Gilberte, to look down, or
+turn his head slightly away; and in spite of this, in spite of the
+expression of respect which she had detected upon his face, she
+could not help blushing.
+
+"Which is absurd," she thought; "for after all, what on earth do I
+care for that young man?"
+
+The infallible instinct, which is the experience of inexperienced
+young girls, told her that it was not chance alone that brought
+this stranger in her way.  But she wished to make sure of it.  She
+managed so well, that each day of the following week, the hour of
+their walk was changed.  Sometimes they went out at noon, sometimes
+after four o'clock.
+
+But, whatever the hour, Mlle. Gilberte, as she turned the corner of
+the Rue des Minimes, noticed her unknown admirer under the arcades,
+looking in some shop-window, and watching out of the corner of his
+eye.  As soon as she appeared, he left his post, and hurried fast
+enough to meet her at the gate of the Place.
+
+"It is a persecution," thought Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+How, then, had she not spoken of it to her mother?  Why had she not
+said any thing to her the day, when, happening, to look out of the
+window, she saw her "persecutor" passing before the house, or,
+evidently looking in her direction?
+
+"Am I losing my mind?" she thought, seriously irritated against
+herself.  "I will not think of him any more."
+
+And yet she was thinking of him, when one afternoon, as her mother
+and herself were working, sitting upon a bench, she saw the stranger
+come and sit down not far from them.  He was accompanied by an
+elderly man with long white mustaches, and wearing the rosette
+of the Legion of Honor.
+
+"This is an insolence," thought the young girl, whilst seeking a
+pretext to ask her mother to change their seats.
+
+But already had the young man and his elderly friend seated
+themselves, and so arranged their chairs, that Mlle. Gilberte could
+not miss a word of what they were about to say.  It was the young
+man who spoke first.
+
+"You know me as well as I know myself, my dear count," he commenced
+--"you who were my poor father's best friend, you who dandled me
+upon your knees when I was a child, and who has never lost sight of
+me."
+
+"Which is to say, my boy, that I answer for you as for myself," put
+in the old man.  "But go on."
+
+"I am twenty-six years old.  My name is Yves-Marius-Genost de Tregars.
+My family, which is one of the oldest of Brittany, is allied to all
+the great families."
+
+"Perfectly exact," remarked the old gentleman.
+
+"Unfortunately, my fortune is not on a par with my nobility.  When
+my mother died, in 1856, my father, who worshiped her, could no
+longer bear, in the intensity of his grief, to remain at the Chateau
+de Tregars where he had spent his whole life.  He came to Paris,
+which he could well afford, since we were rich then, but
+unfortunately, made acquaintances who soon inoculated him with the
+fever of the age.  They proved to him that he was mad to keep lands
+which barely yielded him forty thousand francs a year, and which he
+could easily sell for two millions; which amount, invested merely
+at five per cent, would yield him an income of one hundred thousand
+francs.  He therefore sold every thing, except our patrimonial
+homestead on the road from Quimper to Audierne, and rushed into
+speculations.  He was rather lucky at first.  But he was too honest
+and too loyal to be lucky long.  An operation in which he became
+interested early in 1869 turned out badly.  His associates became
+rich; but he, I know not how, was ruined, and came near being
+compromised.  He died of grief a month later."
+
+The old soldier was nodding his assent.
+
+"Very well, my boy," he said.  "But you are too modest; and there's
+a circumstance which you neglect.  You had a right, when your father
+became involved in these troubles, to claim and retain your mother's
+fortune; that is, some thirty thousand francs a year.  Not only you
+did not do so; but you gave up every thing to his creditors.  You
+sold the domain of Tregars, except the old castle and its park, and
+paid over the proceeds to them; so that, if your father did die
+ruined, at least he did not owe a cent.  And yet you knew, as well
+as myself, that your father had been deceived and swindled by a lot
+of scoundrels who drive their carriages now, and who, perhaps, if
+the courts were applied to, might still be made to disgorge their
+ill-gotten plunder."
+
+Her head bent upon her tapestry, Mlle. Gilberte seemed to be working
+with incomparable zeal.  The truth is, she knew not how to conceal
+the blushes on her cheeks, and the trembling of her hands.  She had
+something like a cloud before her eyes; and she drove her needle at
+random.  She scarcely preserved enough presence of mind to reply to
+Mme. Favoral, who, not noticing any thing, spoke to her from time to
+time.
+
+Indeed, the meaning of this scene was too clear to escape her.
+
+"They have had an understanding," she thought, "and it is for me
+alone that they are speaking."
+
+Meantime, Marius de Tregars was going on:
+
+"I should lie, my old friend, were I to say that I was indifferent
+to our ruin.  Philosopher though one may be, it is not without some
+pangs that one passes from a sumptuous hotel to a gloomy garret.
+But what grieved me most of all was that I saw myself compelled
+to give up the labors which had been the joy of my life, and upon
+which I had founded the most magnificent hopes.  A positive vocation,
+stimulated further by the accidents of my education, had led me to
+the study of physical sciences.  For several years, I had applied all
+I have of intelligence and energy to certain investigations in
+electricity.  To convert electricity into an incomparable
+motive-power which would supersede steam,--such was the object I
+pursued without pause.  Already, as you know, although quite young,
+I had obtained results which had attracted some attention in the
+scientific world.  I thought I could see the last of a problem, the
+solution of which would change the face of the globe.  Ruin was the
+death of my hopes, the total loss of the fruits of my labors; for
+my experiments were costly, and it required money, much money, to
+purchase the products which were indispensable to me, and to
+construct the machines which I contrived.
+
+"And I was about being compelled to earn my daily bread.
+
+"I was on the verge of despair, when I met a man whom I had formerly
+seen at my father's, and who had seemed to take some interest in my
+researches, a speculator named Marcolet.  But it is not at the bourse
+that he operates.  Industry is the field of his labors.  Ever on the
+lookout for those obstinate inventors who are starving to death in
+their garrets, he appears to them at the hour of supreme crisis: he
+pities them, encourages them, consoles them, helps them, and almost
+always succeeds in becoming the owner of their discovery.  Sometimes
+he makes a mistake; and then all he has to do is to put a few
+thousand francs to the debit of profit or loss.  But, if he has
+judged right, then he counts his profits by hundreds of thousands;
+and how many patents does he work thus!  Of how many inventions does
+he reap the results which are a fortune, and the inventors of
+which have no shoes to wear!  Every thing is good to him; and he
+defends with the same avidity a cough-sirup, the formula of
+which he has purchased of some poor devil of a druggist, and an
+improvement to the steam-engine, the patent for which has been sold
+to him by an engineer of genius.  And yet Marcolet is not a bad man.
+Seeing my situation, he offered me a certain yearly sum to undertake
+some studies of industrial chemistry which he indicated to me.  I
+accepted; and the very next day I hired a small basement in the Rue
+des Tournelles, where I set up my laboratory, and went to work at
+once.  That was a year ago.  Marcolet must be satisfied.  I have
+already found for him a new shade for dyeing silk, the cost price
+of which is almost nothing.  As to me, I have lived with the
+strictest economy, devoting all my surplus earnings to the
+prosecution of the problem, the solution of which would give me
+both glory and fortune."
+
+Palpitating with inexpressible emotion, Mlle. Gilberte was listening
+to this young man, unknown to her a few moments since, and whose
+whole history she now knew as well as if she had always lived near
+him; for it never occurred to her to suspect his sincerity.
+
+No voice had ever vibrated to her ear like this voice, whose grave
+sonorousness stirred within her strange sensations, and legions of
+thoughts which she had never suspected.  She was surprised at the
+accent of simplicity with which he spoke of the illustriousness of
+his family, of his past opulence, of his obscure labors, and of his
+exalted hopes.
+
+She admired the superb disregard for money which beamed forth in his
+every word.  Here was then one man, at least, who despised that
+money before which she had hitherto seen all the people she knew
+prostrated in abject worship.
+
+After a pause of a few moments, Marius de Tregars, still addressing
+himself apparently to his aged companion, went on:
+
+"I repeat it, because it is the truth, my old friend, this life of
+labor and privation, so new to me, was not a burden.  Calm, silence,
+the constant exercise of all the faculties of the intellect, have
+charms which the vulgar can never suspect.  I was happy to think,
+that, if I was ruined, it was through an act of my own will.  I found
+a positive pleasure in the fact that I, the Marquis de Tregars, who
+had had a hundred thousand a year--I must the next moment go out in
+person to the baker's and the green-grocer's to purchase my supplies
+for the day.  I was proud to think that it was to my labor alone, to
+the work for which I was paid by Marcolet, that I owed the means of
+prosecuting my task.  And, from the summits where I was carried on
+the wings of science, I took pity on your modern existence, on that
+ridiculous and tragical medley of passions, interests, and cravings;
+that struggle without truce or mercy, whose law is, woe to the weak,
+in which whosoever falls is trampled under feet.
+
+"Sometimes, however, like a fire that has been smouldering under
+the ashes, the flame of youthful passions blazed up within me.  I
+had hours of madness, of discouragement, of distress, during which
+solitude was loathsome to me.  But I had the faith which raises
+mountains--faith in myself and my work.  And soon, tranquilized, I
+would go to sleep in the purple of hope, beholding in the vista of
+the distant future the triumphal arches erected to my success.
+
+"Such was my situation, when, one afternoon in the month of February
+last, after an experiment upon which I had founded great hopes, and
+which had just miserably failed, I came here to breathe a little
+fresh air.
+
+"It was a beautiful spring day, warm and sunny.  The sparrows were
+chirping on the branches, swelled with sap: bands of children were
+running along the alleys, filling the air with their joyous screams.
+
+"I was sitting upon a bench, ruminating over the causes of my failure,
+when two ladies passed by me; one somewhat aged, the other quite
+young.  They were walking so rapidly, that I hardly had time to
+see them.
+
+"But the young lady's step, the noble simplicity of her carriage,
+had struck me so much, that I rose to follow her with the intention
+of passing her, and then walking back to have a good view of her
+face.  I did so; and I was fairly dazzled.  At the moment when my
+eyes met hers, a voice rose within me, crying that it was all over
+now, and that my destiny was fixed."
+
+"I remember, my dear boy," remarked the old soldier in a tone of
+friendly raillery; "for you came to see me that night, and I had
+not seen you for months before."
+
+Marius proceeded without heeding the remark.
+
+"And yet you know that I am not the man to yield to first impression.
+I struggled: with determined energy I strove to drive off that
+radiant image which I carried within my soul, which left me no more,
+which haunted me in the midst of my studies.
+
+"Vain efforts.  My thoughts obeyed me no longer--my will escaped
+my control.  It was indeed one of those passions that fill the whole
+being, overpower all, and which make of life an ineffable felicity
+or a nameless torture, according that they are reciprocated, or not.
+How many days I spent there, waiting and watching for her of whom I
+had thus had a glimpse, and who ignored my very existence!  And what
+insane palpitations, when, after hours of consuming anxiety, I saw
+at the corner of the street the undulating folds of her dress!  I
+saw her thus often, and always with the same elderly person, her
+mother.  They had adopted in this square a particular bench, where
+they sat daily, working at their sewing with an assiduity and zeal
+which made me think that they lived upon the product of their labor."
+
+Here he was suddenly interrupted by his companion.  The old gentleman
+feared that Mme. Favoral's attention might at last be attracted by
+too direct allusions.
+
+"Take care, boy!" he whispered, not so low, however, but what
+Gilberte overheard him.
+
+But it would have required much more than this to draw Mme. Favoral
+from her sad thoughts.  She had just finished her band of tapestry;
+and, grieving to lose a moment:
+
+"It is perhaps time to go home," she said to her daughter.  "I have
+nothing more to do."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte drew from her basket a piece of canvas, and, handing
+it to her mother:
+
+"Here is enough to go on with, mamma," she said in a troubled voice.
+"Let us stay a little while longer."
+
+And, Mme. Favoral having resumed her work, Marius proceeded:
+
+"The thought that she whom I loved was poor delighted me.  Was not
+this similarity of positions a link between us?  I felt a childish
+joy to think that I would work for her and for her mother, and that
+they would be indebted to me for their ease and comfort in life.
+
+"But I am not one of those dreamers who confide their destiny to the
+wings of a chimera.  Before undertaking any thing, I resolved to
+inform myself.  Alas! at the first words that I heard, all my fine
+dreams took wings.  I heard that she was rich, very rich.  I was
+told that her father was one of those men whose rigid probity
+surrounds itself with austere and harsh forms.  He owed his fortune,
+I was assured, to his sole labor, but also to prodigies of economy
+and the most severe privations.  He professed a worship, they said,
+for that gold that had cost him so much; and he would never give the
+hand of his daughter to a man who had no money.  This last comment
+was useless.  Above my actions, my thoughts, my hopes, higher than
+all, soars my pride.  Instantly I saw an abyss opening between me
+and her whom I love more than my life, but less than my dignity.
+When a man's name is Genost de Tregars, he must support his wife,
+were it by breaking stones.  And the thought that I owed my fortune
+to the woman I married would make me execrate her.
+
+"You must remember, my old friend, that I told you all this at the
+time.  You thought, too, that it was singularly impertinent, on my
+part, thus to flare up in advance, because, certainly a millionaire
+does not give his daughter to a ruined nobleman in the pay of
+Marcolet, the patent-broker, to a poor devil of an inventor, who is
+building the castles of his future upon the solution of a problem
+which has been given up by the most brilliant minds.
+
+"It was then that I determined upon an extreme resolution, a
+foolish one, no doubt, and yet to which you, the Count de Villegre,
+my father's old friend, you have consented to lend yourself.
+
+"I thought that I would address myself to her, to her alone, and
+that she would at least know what great, what immense love she had
+inspired.  I thought I would go to her and tell her, 'This is who
+I am, and what I am.  For mercy's sake, grant me a respite of three
+years.  To a love such as mine there is nothing impossible.  In
+three years I shall be dead, or rich enough to ask your hand.  From
+this day forth, I give up my task for work of more immediate profit.
+The arts of industry have treasures for successful inventors.  If
+you could only read in my soul, you would not refuse me the delay I
+am asking.  Forgive me!  One word, for mercy's sake, only one!  It
+is my sentence that I am awaiting.'"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte's thoughts were in too great a state of confusion
+to permit her to think of being offended at this extraordinary
+proceeding.  She rose, quivering, and addressing herself to Mme.
+Favoral:
+
+"Come, mother," she said, "come: I feel that I have taken cold.
+I must go home and think.  To-morrow, yes, to-morrow, we will come
+again."
+
+Deep as Mme. Favoral was plunged in her meditations, and a thousand
+miles as she was from the actual situation, it was impossible that
+she should not notice the intense excitement under which her daughter
+labored, the alteration of her features, and the incoherence of her
+words.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked, somewhat alarmed.  "What are you
+saying?"
+
+"I feel unwell," answered her daughter in a scarcely audible voice,
+"quite unwell.  Come, let us go home."
+
+As soon as they reached home, Mlle. Gilberte took refuge in her own
+room.  She was in haste to be alone, to recover her self-possession,
+to collect her thoughts, more scattered than dry leaves by a storm
+wind.
+
+It was a momentous event which had just suddenly fallen in her life
+so monotonous and so calm--an inconceivable, startling event, the
+consequences of which were to weigh heavily upon her entire future.
+
+Staggering still, she was asking herself if she was not the victim
+of an hallucination, and if really there was a man who had dared to
+conceive and execute the audacious project of coming thus under the
+eyes of her mother, of declaring his love, and of asking her in
+return a solemn engagement.  But what stupefied her more still, what
+confused her, was that she had actually endured such an attempt.
+
+Under what despotic influence had she, then, fallen?  To what
+undefinable sentiments had she obeyed?  And if she had only
+tolerated!  But she had done more: she had actually encouraged.
+By detaining her mother when she wished to go home (and she had
+detained her), had she not said to this unknown?--"Go on, I allow
+it: I am listening."
+
+And he had gone on.  And she, at the moment of returning home, she
+had engaged herself formally to reflect, and to return the next day
+at a stated hour to give an answer.  In a word, she had made an
+appointment with him.
+
+It was enough to make her die of shame.  And, as if she had needed
+the sound of her own words to convince herself of the reality of the
+fact, she kept repeating loud,
+
+"I have made an appointment--I, Gilberte, with a man whom my parents
+do not know, and of whose name I was still ignorant yesterday."
+
+And yet she could not take upon herself to be indignant at the
+imprudent boldness of her conduct.  The bitterness of the reproaches
+which she was addressing to herself was not sincere.  She felt it so
+well, that at last:
+
+"Such hypocrisy is unworthy of me," she exclaimed, "since now,
+still, and without the excuse of being taken by surprise, I would
+not act otherwise."
+
+The fact is, the more she pondered, the less she could succeed in
+discovering even the shadow of any offensive intention in all that
+Marius de Tregars had said.  By the choice of his confidant, an old
+man, a friend of his family, a man of the highest respectability,
+he had done all in his power to make his step excusable.  It was
+impossible to doubt his sincerity, to suspect the fairness of
+his intentions.
+
+Mlle. Gilberte, better than almost any other young girl, could
+understand the extreme measure resorted to by M. de Tregars.  By her
+own pride she could understand his.  No more than he, in his place,
+would she have been willing to expose herself to a certain refusal.
+What was there, then, so extraordinary in the fact of his coming
+directly to her, in his exposing to her frankly and loyally his
+situation, his projects, and his hopes?
+
+"Good heavens!" she thought, horrified at the sentiments which she
+discovered in the deep recesses of her soul, "good heavens!  I
+hardly know myself any more.  Here I am actually approving what he
+has done!"
+
+Well, yes, she did approve him, attracted, fascinated, by the very
+strangeness of the situation.  Nothing seemed to her more admirable
+than the conduct of Marius de Tregars sacrificing his fortune and
+his most legitimate aspirations to the honor of his name, and
+condemning himself to work for his living.
+
+"That one," she thought, "is a man; and his wife will have just
+cause to be proud of him."
+
+Involuntarily she compared him to the only men she knew: to M.
+Favoral, whose miserly parsimony had made his whole family wretched;
+to Maxence, who did not blush to feed his disorders with the fruits
+of his mother's and his sister's labor.
+
+How different was Marius!  If he was poor, it was of his own will.
+Had she not seen what confidence he had in himself.  She shared it
+fully.  She felt certain that, within the required delay, he would
+conquer that indispensable fortune.  Then he might present himself
+boldly.  He would take her, away from the miserable surroundings
+among which she seemed fated to live: she would become the
+Marchioness de Tregars.
+
+"Why, then, not answer, Yes!" thought she, with the harrowing
+emotions of the gambler who is about to stake his all upon one card.
+And what a game for Mlle. Gilberte, and what a stake!
+
+Suppose she had been mistaken.  Suppose that Marius should be one
+of those villains who make of seduction a science.  Would she still
+be her own mistress, after answering?  Did she know to what hazards
+such an engagement would expose her?  Was she not about rushing
+blindfolded towards those deceiving perils where a young girl
+leaves her reputation, even when she saves her honor?
+
+She thought, for a moment, of consulting her mother.  But she knew
+Mme. Favoral's shrinking timidity, and that she was as incapable
+of giving any advice as to make her will prevail.  She would be
+frightened; she would approve all; and, at the first alarm, she
+would confess all.
+
+"Am I, then, so weak and so foolish," she thought, "that I cannot
+take a determination which affects me personally?"
+
+She could not close her eyes all night; but in the morning her
+resolution was settled.
+
+And toward one o'clock:
+
+"Are we not going out mother?" she said.
+
+Mme. Favoral was hesitating.
+
+"These early spring days are treacherous," she objected: "you
+caught cold yesterday."
+
+"My dress was too thin.  To-day I have taken my precautions."
+
+They started, taking their work with them, and came to occupy their
+accustomed seats.
+
+Before they had even passed the gates, Mlle. Gilberte had recognized
+Marius de Tregars and the Count de Villegre, walking in one of the
+side alleys.  Soon, as on the day before, they took two chairs, and
+settled themselves within hearing.
+
+Never had the young girl's heart beat with such violence.  It is
+easy enough to take a resolution; but it is not always quite so easy
+to execute it, and she was asking herself if she would have strength
+enough to articulate a word.  At last, gathering her whole courage:
+
+"You don't believe in dreams, do you mother?" she asked.
+
+Upon this subject, as well as upon many others, Mme. Favoral had no
+particular opinion.
+
+"Why do you ask the question?" said she.
+
+"Because I have had such a strange one."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"It seemed to me that suddenly a young man, whom I did not know,
+stood before me.  He would have been most happy, said he to me, to
+ask my hand, but he dared not, being very poor.  And he begged me
+to wait three years, during which he would make his fortune."
+
+Mme. Favoral smiled.
+
+"Why it's quite a romance," said she.
+
+"But it wasn't a romance in my dream," interrupted Mlle. Gilberte.
+"This young man spoke in a tone of such profound conviction, that
+it was impossible for me, as it were, to doubt him.  I thought to
+myself that he would be incapable of such an odious villainy as to
+abuse the confiding credulity of a poor girl."
+
+"And what did you answer him?"
+
+Moving her seat almost imperceptibly, Mlle. Gilberte could, from
+the corner of her eye, have a glimpse of M. de Tregars.  Evidently
+he was not missing a single one of the words which she was addressing
+to her mother.  He was whiter than a sheet; and his face betrayed the
+most intense anxiety.
+
+This gave her the energy to curb the last revolts of her conscience.
+
+"To answer was painful," she uttered; "and yet I--dared to answer
+him.  I said to him, 'I believe you, and I have faith in you.
+Loyally and faithfully I shall await your success; but until then
+we must be strangers to one another.  To resort to ruse, deceit,
+and falsehood would be unworthy of us.  You surely would not expose
+to a suspicion her who is to be your wife.'"
+
+"Very well," approved Mme. Favoral; "only I did not know you were
+so romantic."
+
+She was laughing, the good lady, but not loud enough to prevent
+Gilberte from hearing M. de Tregars' answer.
+
+"Count de Villegre," said he, "my old friend, receive the oath which
+I take to devote my life to her who has not doubted me.  It is to-day
+the 4th of May, 1870--on the 4th of May, 1873, I shall have
+succeeded: I feel it, I will it, it must be!"
+
+
+
+XV
+
+It was done: Gilberte Favoral had just irrevocably disposed of
+herself.  Prosperous or wretched, her destiny henceforth was linked
+with another.  She had set the wheel in motion; and she could no
+longer hope to control its direction, any more than the will can
+pretend to alter the course of the ivory ball upon the surface of
+the roulette-table.  At the outset of this great storm of passion
+which had suddenly surrounded her, she felt an immense surprise,
+mingled with unexplained apprehensions and vague terrors.
+
+Around her, apparently, nothing was changed.  Father, mother,
+brother, friends, gravitated mechanically in their accustomed orbits.
+The same daily facts repeated themselves monotonous and regular as
+the tick-tack of the clock.
+
+And yet an event had occurred more prodigious for her than the moving
+of a mountain.
+
+Often during the weeks that followed, she would repeat to herself,
+"Is it true, is it possible even?"
+
+Or else she would run to a mirror to make sure once more that nothing
+upon her face or in her eyes betrayed the secret that palpitated
+within her.
+
+The singularity of the situation was, moreover, well calculated to
+trouble and confound her mind.
+
+Mastered by circumstances, she had in utter disregard of all accepted
+ideas, and of the commonest propriety, listened to the passionate
+promises of a stranger, and pledged her life to him.  And, the pact
+concluded and solemnly sworn, they had parted without knowing when
+propitious circumstances might bring them together again.
+
+"Certainly," thought she, "before God, M. de Tregars is my betrothed
+husband; and yet we have never exchanged a word.  Were we to meet in
+society, we should be compelled to meet as strangers: if he passes by
+me in the street, he has no right to bow to me.  I know not where he
+is, what becomes of him, nor what he is doing."
+
+And in fact she had not seen him again: he had given no sign of life,
+so faithfully did he conform to her expressed wish.  And perhaps
+secretly, and without acknowledging it to herself, had she wished him
+less scrupulous.  Perhaps she would not have been very angry to see
+him sometimes gliding along at her passage under the old Arcades of
+the Rue des Vosges.
+
+But, whilst suffering from this separation, she conceived for the
+character of Marius the highest esteem; for she felt sure that he
+must suffer as much and more than she from the restraint which he
+imposed upon himself.
+
+Thus he was ever present to her thoughts.  She never tired of
+turning over in her mind all he had said of his past life: she
+tried to remember his words, and the very tone of his voice.
+
+And by living constantly thus with the memory of Marius de Tregars,
+she made herself familiar with him, deceived to that extent, by
+the illusion of absence, that she actually persuaded herself that
+she knew him better and better every day.
+
+Already nearly a month had elapsed, when one afternoon, as she
+arrived on the Place Royal; she recognized him, standing near that
+same bench where they had so strangely exchanged their pledges.
+
+He saw her coming too: she knew it by his looks.  But, when she
+had arrived within a few steps of him, he walked off rapidly,
+leaving on the bench a folded newspaper.
+
+Mme. Favoral wished to call him back and return it; but Mlle.
+Gilberte persuaded her not to.
+
+"Never mind, mother," said she, "it isn't worth while; and, besides,
+the gentleman is too far now."
+
+But while getting out her embroidery, with that dexterity which never
+fails even the most naive girls, she slipped the newspaper in her
+work-basket.
+
+Was she not certain that it had been left there for her?
+
+As soon as she had returned home, she locked herself up in her own
+room, and, after searching for some time through the columns, she
+read at last:
+
+"One of the richest and most intelligent manufacturers in Paris,
+M. Marcolet, has just purchased in Grenelle the vast grounds
+belonging to the Lacoche estate.  He proposes to build upon them
+a manufacture of chemical products, the management of which is to
+be placed in the hands of M. de T--.
+
+"Although still quite young, M. de T--  is already well known in
+connection with his remarkable studies on electricity.  He was,
+perhaps, on the eve of solving the much controverted problem of
+electricity as a motive-power, when his father's ruin compelled him
+to suspend his labors.  He now seeks to earn by his personal industry
+the means of prosecuting his costly experiments.
+
+"He is not the first to tread this path.  Is it not to the invention
+of the machine bearing his name, that the engineer Giffard owes the
+fortune which enables him to continue to seek the means of steering
+balloons?  Why should not M. de T--, who has as much skill and energy,
+have as much luck?"
+
+"Ah! he does not forget me," thought Mlle. Gilberte, moved to tears
+by this article, which, after all, was but a mere puff, written by
+Marcolet himself, without the knowledge of M. de Tregars.
+
+She was still under that impression, thinking that Marius was already
+at work, when her father announced to her that he had discovered a
+husband, and enjoined her to find him to her liking, as he, the
+master, thought it proper that she should.
+
+Hence the energy of her refusal.
+
+But hence also, the imprudent vivacity which had enlightened Mme.
+Favoral, and which made her say:
+
+"You hide something from me, Gilberte?"
+
+Never had the young girl been so cruelly embarrassed as she was at
+this moment by this sudden and unforeseen perspicacity.
+
+Would she confide to her mother?
+
+She felt, indeed, no repugnance to do so, certain as she was, in
+advance, of the inexhaustible indulgence of the poor woman; and,
+besides, she would have been delighted to have some one at last
+with whom she could speak of Marius.
+
+But she knew that her father was not the man to give up a project
+conceived by himself.  She knew that he would return to the charge
+obstinately, without peace, and without truce.  Now, as she was
+determined to resist with a no less implacable obstinacy, she
+foresaw terrible struggles, all sorts of violence and persecutions.
+
+Informed of the truth, would Mme. Favoral have strength enough to
+resist these daily storms?  Would not a time come, when, called upon
+by her husband to explain the refusals of her daughter, threatened,
+terrified, she would confess all?
+
+At one glance Mlle. Gilberte estimated the danger; and, drawing from
+necessity an audacity which was very foreign to her nature:
+
+"You are mistaken, dear mother," said she, "I have concealed nothing
+from you."
+
+Not quite convinced, Mme. Favoral shook her head.
+
+"Then," said she, "you will yield."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"Then there must be some reason you do not tell me."
+
+"None, except that I do not wish to leave you.  Have you ever
+thought what would be your existence if I were no longer here?  Have
+you ever asked yourself what would become of you, between my father,
+whose despotism will grow heavier with age, and my brother?"
+
+Always prompt to defend her son:
+
+"Maxence is not bad," she interrupted: "he will know how to
+compensate me for the sorrows he has inflicted upon me."
+
+The young girl made a gesture of doubt:
+
+"I wish it, dear mother," said she, "with all my heart; but I dare
+not hope for it.  His repentance to-night was great and sincere; but
+will he remember it to-morrow?  Besides, don't you know that father
+has fully resolved to separate himself from Maxence?  Think of
+yourself alone here with father."
+
+Mme. Favoral shuddered at the mere idea.
+
+"I would not suffer very long," she murmured.  Mlle. Gilberte
+kissed her.
+
+"It is because I wish you to live to be happy that I refuse to
+marry," she exclaimed.  "Must you not have your share of happiness
+in this world?  Let me manage.  Who knows what compensations the
+future may have in store for you?  Besides, this person whom father
+has selected for me does not suit me.  A stock-jobber, who would
+think of nothing but money,--who would examine my house-accounts
+as papa does yours, or else who would load me with cashmeres and
+diamonds, like Mme. de Thaller, to make of me a sign for his shop?
+No, no!  I want no such man.  So, mother dear, be brave, take sides
+boldly with your daughter, and we shall soon be rid of this would-be
+husband."
+
+"Your father will bring him to you: he said he would."
+
+"Well, he is a man of courage, if he returns three times."
+
+At this moment the parlor-door opened suddenly.
+
+"What are you plotting here again?" cried the irritated voice of
+the master.  "And you, Mme. Favoral, why don't you go to bed?"
+
+The poor slave obeyed, without saying a word.  And, whilst making
+her way to her room:
+
+"There is trouble ahead," thought Mlle. Gilberte.  "But bash!  If I
+do have to suffer some, it won't be great harm, after all.  Surely
+Marius does not complain, though he gives up for me his dearest
+hopes, becomes the salaried employe of M. Marcolet, and thinks of
+nothing but making money,--he so proud and so disinterested!"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte's anticipations were but too soon realized.  When M.
+Favoral made his appearance the next morning, he had the sombre brow
+and contracted lips of a man who has spent the night ruminating a
+plan from which he does not mean to swerve.
+
+Instead of going to his office, as usual, without saying a word to
+any one, he called his wife and children to the parlor; and, after
+having carefully bolted all the doors, he turned to Maxence.
+
+"I want you," he commenced, "to give me a list of your creditors.
+See that you forget none; and let it be ready as soon as possible."
+
+But Maxence was no longer the same man.  After the terrible and
+well-deserved reproaches of his sister, a salutary revolution had
+taken place in him.  During the preceding night, he had reflected
+over his conduct for the past four years; and he had been dismayed
+and terrified.  His impression was like that of the drunkard, who,
+having become sober, remembers the ridiculous or degrading acts
+which he has committed under the influence of alcohol, and, confused
+and humiliated, swears never more to drink.
+
+Thus Maxence had sworn to himself to change his mode of life,
+promising that it would be no drunkard's oath, either.  And his
+attitude and his looks showed the pride of great resolutions.
+
+Instead of lowering his eyes before the irritated glance of M.
+Favoral, and stammering excuses and vague promises:
+
+"It is useless, father," he replied, "to give you the list you ask
+for.  I am old enough to bear the responsibility of my acts.  I
+shall repair my follies: what I owe, I shall pay.  This very day I
+shall see my creditors, and make arrangements with them."
+
+"Very well, Maxence," exclaimed Mme. Favoral, delighted.
+
+But there was no pacifying the cashier of the Mutual Credit.
+
+"Those are fine-sounding words," he said with a sneer; "but I doubt
+if the tailors and the shirt-makers will take them in payment.
+That's why I want that list."
+
+"Still--"
+
+"It's I who shall pay.  I do not mean to have another such scene
+as that of yesterday in my office.  It must not be said that my
+son is a sharper and a cheat at the very moment when I find for my
+daughter a most unhoped-for match."
+
+And, turning to Mlle. Gilberte:
+
+"For I suppose you have got over your foolish ideas," he uttered.
+
+The young girl shook her head.
+
+"My ideas are the same as they were last night."
+
+"Ah, ah!"
+
+"And so, father, I beg of you, do not insist.  Why wrangle and
+quarrel?  You must know me well enough to know, that, whatever may
+happen, I shall never yield."
+
+Indeed, M. Favoral was well aware of his daughter's firmness; for
+he had already been compelled on several occasions, as he expressed
+it himself, "to strike his flag" before her.  But he could not
+believe that she would resist when he took certain means of
+enforcing his will.
+
+"I have pledged my word," he said.
+
+"But I have not pledged mine, father."
+
+He was becoming excited: his cheeks were flushed; and his little
+eyes sparkled.
+
+"And suppose I were to tell you," he resumed, doing at least to his
+daughter the honor of controlling his anger: "suppose I were to
+tell you that I would derive from this marriage immense, positive,
+and immediate advantages?"
+
+"Oh!" she interrupted with a look of disgust, "oh, for mercy's sake!"
+
+"Suppose I were to tell you that I have a powerful interest in it;
+that it is indispensable to the success of vast combinations?"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte looked straight at him.
+
+"I would answer you," she exclaimed, "that it does not suit me to
+be made use of as an earnest to your combinations.  Ah! it's an
+operation, is it? an enterprise, a big speculation? and you throw
+in your daughter in the bargain as a bonus.  Well, no!  You can
+tell your partner that the thing has fallen through."
+
+M. Favoral's anger was growing with each word.
+
+"I'll see if I can't make you yield," he said.
+
+"You may crush me, perhaps.  Make me yield, never!"
+
+"Well, we shall see.  You will see--Maxence and you--whether there
+are no means by which a father can compel his rebellious children to
+submit to his authority."
+
+And, feeling that he was no longer master of himself, he left,
+swearing loud enough to shake the plaster from the stair-walls.
+
+Maxence shook with indignation.
+
+"Never," he uttered, "never until now, had I understood the infamy
+of my conduct.  With a father such as ours, Gilberte, I should be
+your protector.  And now I am debarred even of the right to
+interfere.  But never mind, I have the will; and all will soon be
+repaired."
+
+Left alone, a few moments after, Mlle. Gilberte was congratulating
+herself upon her firmness.
+
+"I am sure," she thought, "Marius would approve, if he knew."
+
+She had not long to wait for her reward.  The bell rang: it was her
+old professor, the Signor Gismondo Pulei, who came to give her his
+daily lesson.
+
+The liveliest joy beamed upon his face, more shriveled than an
+apple at Easter; and the most magnificent anticipations sparkled in
+his eyes.
+
+"I knew it, signora!" he exclaimed from the threshold: "I knew that
+angels bring good luck.  As every thing succeeds to you, so must
+every thing succeed to those who come near you."
+
+She could not help smiling at the appropriateness of the compliment.
+
+"Something fortunate has happened to you, dear master?" she asked.
+
+"That is to say, I am on the high-road to fortune and glory," he
+replied.  "My fame is extending; pupils dispute the privilege of
+my lesson."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte knew too well the thoroughly Italian exaggeration of
+the worthy maestro to be surprised.
+
+"This morning," he went on, "visited by inspiration, I had risen
+early, and I was working with marvelous facility, when there was a
+knock at my door.  I do not remember such an occurrence since the
+blessed day when your worthy father called for me.  Surprised, I
+nevertheless said, 'Come in;' when there appeared a tall and robust
+young man, proud and intelligent-looking."
+
+The young girl started.
+
+"Marius!" cried a voice within her.
+
+"This young man," continued the old Italian, "had heard me spoken
+of, and came to apply for lessons.  I questioned him; and from the
+first words I discovered that his education had been frightfully
+neglected, that he was ignorant of the most vulgar notions of the
+divine art, and that he scarcely knew the difference between a
+sharp and a quaver.  It was really the A, B, C, which he wished me
+to teach him.  Laborious task, ungrateful labor!  But he manifested
+so much shame at his ignorance, and so much desire to be instructed,
+that I felt moved in his favor.  Then his countenance was most
+winning, his voice of a superior tone; and finally he offered me
+sixty francs a month.  In short, he is now my pupil."
+
+As well as she could, Mlle. Gilberte was hiding her blushes behind
+a music-book.
+
+"We remained over two hours talking," said the good and simple
+maestro, "and I believe that he has excellent dispositions.
+Unfortunately, he can only take two lessons a week.  Although a
+nobleman, he works; and, when he took off his glove to hand me a
+month in advance, I noticed that one of his hands was blackened,
+as if burnt by some acid.  But never mind, signora, sixty francs,
+together with what your father gives me, it's a fortune.  The end
+of my career will be spared the privations of its beginning.  This
+young man will help making me known.  The morning has been dark;
+but the sunset will be glorious."
+
+The young girl could no longer have any doubts: M. de Tregars had
+found the means of hearing from her, and letting her hear from him.
+
+The impression she felt contributed no little to give her the
+patience to endure the obstinate persecution of her father, who,
+twice a day, never failed to repeat to her:
+
+"Get ready to properly receive my protege on Saturday.  I have not
+invited him to dinner: he will only spend the evening with us."
+
+And he mistook for a disposition to yield the cold tone in which
+she answered:
+
+"I beg you to believe that this introduction is wholly unnecessary."
+
+Thus, the famous day having come, he told his usual Saturday guests,
+M. and Mme. Desclavettes, M. Chapelain, and old man Desormeaux:
+
+"Eh, eh!  I guess you are going to see a future son-in-law!"
+
+At nine o'clock, just as they had passed into the parlor, the sound
+of carriage-wheels startled the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+"There he is!" exclaimed the cashier of the Mutual Credit.
+
+And, throwing open a window:
+
+"Come, Gilberte," he added, "come and see his carriage and horses."
+
+She never stirred; but M. Desclavettes and M. Chapelain ran.  It was
+night, unfortunately; and of the whole equipage nothing was visible
+but the two lanterns that shone like stars.  Almost at the same time
+the parlor-door flew open; and the servant, who had been properly
+trained in advance, announced:
+
+"Monsieur Costeclar."
+
+Leaning toward Mme. Favoral, who was seated by her side on the sofa,
+
+"A nice-looking man, isn't he?  a really nice-looking man," whispered
+Mme. Desclavettes.
+
+And indeed he really thought so himself.  Gesture, attitude, smile,
+every thing in M. Costeclar, betrayed the satisfaction of self, and
+the assurance of a man accustomed to success.  His head, which was
+very small, had but little hair left; but it was artistically drawn
+towards the temples, parted in the middle, and cut short around
+the forehead.  His leaden complexion, his pale lips, and his dull
+eye, did not certainly betray a very rich blood; he had a great long
+nose, sharp and curved like a sickle; and his beard, of undecided
+color, trimmed in the Victor Emmanuel style, did the greatest honor
+to the barber who cultivated it.  Even when seen for the first time,
+one might fancy that he recognized him, so exactly was he like three
+or four hundred others who are seen daily in the neighborhood of
+the Cafe Riche, who are met everywhere where people run who pretend
+to amuse themselves,--at the bourse or in the bois; at the first
+representations, where they are just enough hidden to be perfectly
+well seen at the back of boxes filled with young ladies with
+astonishing chignons; at the races; in carriages, where they drink
+champagne to the health of the winner.
+
+He had on this occasion hoisted his best looks, and the full dress
+_de rigueur_--dress-coat with wide sleeves, shirt cut low in the neck,
+and open vest, fastened below the waist by a single button.
+
+"Quite the man of the world," again remarked Mme. Desclavettes.
+
+M. Favoral rushed toward him; and the latter, hastening, met him
+half way, and, taking both his hands into his--"I cannot tell you,
+dear friend," he commenced, "how deeply I feel the honor you do me
+in receiving me in the midst of your charming family and your
+respectable friends."
+
+And he bowed all around during this speech, which he delivered in
+the condescending tone of a lord visiting his inferiors.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my wife," interrupted the cashier.  And,
+leading him towards Mme. Favoral--"Monsieur Costeclar, my dear,"
+said he: "the friend of whom we have spoken so often."
+
+M. Costeclar bowed, rounding his shoulders, bending his lean form
+in a half-circle, and letting his arms hang forward.
+
+"I am too much the friend of our dear Favoral, madame," he uttered,
+"not to have heard of you long since, nor to know your merits, and
+the fact that he owes to you that peaceful happiness which he enjoys,
+and which we all envy him."
+
+Standing by the mantel-piece, the usual Saturday evening guests
+followed with the liveliest interest the evolutions of the pretender.
+Two of them, M. Chapelain and old Desormeaux, were perfectly able
+to appreciate him at his just value; but, in affirming that he made
+half a million a year, M. Favoral had, as it were, thrown over his
+shoulders that famous ducal cloak which concealed all deformities.
+
+Without waiting for his wife's answer, M. Favoral brought his
+protege in front of Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+"Dear daughter," said he, "Monsieur Costeclar, the friend of whom
+I have spoken."
+
+M. Costeclar bowed still lower, and rounded off his shoulders again;
+but the young lady looked at him from head to foot with such a
+freezing glance, that his tongue remained as if paralyzed in his
+mouth, and he could only stammer out:
+
+"Mademoiselle! the honor, the humblest of your admirers."
+
+Fortunately Maxence was standing three steps off--he fell back in
+good order upon him, and seizing his hand, which he shook vigorously:
+
+"I hope, my dear sir, that we shall soon be quite intimate friends.
+Your excellent father, whose special concern you are, has often
+spoken to me of you.  Events, so he has confided to me, have not
+hitherto responded to your expectations.  At your age, this is not
+a very grave matter.  People, now-a-days, do not always find at the
+first attempt the road that leads to fortune.  You will find yours.
+From this time forth I place at your command my influence and my
+experience; and, if you will consent to take me for your guide--"
+
+Maxence had withdrawn his hand.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, sir," he answered coldly; "but I am
+content with my lot, and I believe myself old enough to walk alone."
+
+Almost any one would have lost countenance.  But M. Costeclar was
+so little put out, that it seemed as though he had expected just
+such a reception.  He turned upon his heels, and advanced towards
+M. Favoral's friends with a smile so engaging as to make it evident
+that he was anxious to conquer their suffrages.
+
+This was at the beginning of the month of June, 1870.  No one as
+yet could foresee the frightful disasters which were to mark the
+end of that fatal year.  And yet there was everywhere in France
+that indefinable anxiety which precedes great social convulsions.
+The plebiscitum had not succeeded in restoring confidence.  Every
+day the most alarming rumors were put in circulation and it was with
+a sort of passion that people went in quest of news.
+
+Now, M. Costeclar was a wonderfully well-posted man.  He had,
+doubtless, on his way, stopped on the Boulevard des Italiens, that
+blessed ground where nightly the street-brokers labor for the
+financial prosperity of the country.  He had gone through the Passage
+de l'Opera, which is, as is well known, the best market for the most
+correct and the most reliable news.  Therefore he might safely be
+believed.
+
+Placing his back to the chimney, he had taken the lead in the
+conversation; and he was talking, talking, talking.  Being a "bull,"
+he took a favorable view of every thing.  He believed in the
+eternity of the second empire.  He sang the praise of the new
+cabinet: he was ready to pour out his blood for Emile Ollivier.
+True, some people complained that business was dull and slow; but
+those people, he thought, were merely "bears."  Business had never
+been so brilliant.  At no time had prosperity been greater.  Capital
+was abundant.  The institutions of credit were flourishing.
+Securities were rising.  Everybody's pockets were full to bursting.
+And the others listened in astonishment to this inexhaustible
+prattle, this "gab," more filled with gold spangles than Dantzig
+cordial, with which the commercial travelers of the bourse catch
+their customers.
+
+Suddenly:
+
+"But you must excuse me," he said, rushing towards the other end of
+the parlor.
+
+Mme. Favoral had just left the room to order tea to be brought in;
+and, the seat by Mlle. Gilberte being vacant, M. Costeclar occupied
+it promptly.
+
+"He understands his business," growled M. Desormeaux.
+
+"Surely," said M. Desclavettes, "if I had some funds to dispose of
+just now."
+
+"I would be most happy to have him for my son-in-law," declared M.
+Favoral.
+
+He was doing his best.  Somewhat intimidated by Mlle. Gilberte's
+first look, he had now fully recovered his wits.
+
+He commenced by sketching his own portrait.
+
+He had just turned thirty, and had experienced the strong and the
+weak side of life.  He had had "successes," but had tired of them.
+Having gauged the emptiness of what is called pleasure, he only
+wished now to find a partner for life, whose graces and virtues
+would secure his domestic happiness.
+
+He could not help noticing the absent look of the young girl; but
+he had, thought he, other means of compelling her attention.  And
+he went on, saying that he felt himself cast of the metal of which
+model husbands are made.  His plans were all made in advance.  His
+wife would be free to do as she pleased.  She would have her own
+carriage and horses, her box at the Italiens and at the Opera, and
+an open account at Worth's and Van Klopen's.  As to diamonds, he
+would take care of that.  He meant that his wife's display of
+wealth should be noticed; and even spoken of in the newspapers.
+
+Was this the terms of a bargain that he was offering?
+
+If so, it was so coarsely, that Mlle. Gilberte, ignorant of life as
+she was, wondered in what world it might be that he had met with so
+many "successes."  And, somewhat indignantly:
+
+"Unfortunately," she said, "the bourse is perfidious; and the man
+who drives his own carriage to-day, to-morrow may have no shoes to
+wear."
+
+M. Costeclar nodded with a smile.
+
+"Exactly so," said he.  "A marriage protects one against such
+reverses.
+
+"Every man in active business, when he marries, settles upon his
+wife reasonable fortune.  I expect to settle six hundred thousand
+francs upon mine."
+
+"So that, if you were to meet with an--accident?"
+
+"We should enjoy our thirty thousand a year under the very nose of
+the creditors."
+
+Blushing with shame, Mlle. Gilberte rose.
+
+"But then," said she, "it isn't a wife that you are looking for: it
+is an accomplice."
+
+He was spared the embarrassment of an answer, by the servant, who
+came in, bringing in tea.  He accepted a cup; and after two or
+three anecdotes, judging that he had done enough for a first visit,
+he withdrew, and a moment later they heard his carriage driving off
+at full gallop.
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+It was not without mature thought that M. Costeclar had determined
+to withdraw, despite M. Favoral's pressing overtures.  However
+infatuated he might be with his own merits, he had been compelled
+to surrender to evidence, and to acknowledge that he had not exactly
+succeeded with Mlle. Gilberte.  But he also knew that he had the
+head of the house on his side; and he flattered himself that he
+had produced an excellent impression upon the guests of the house.
+
+"Therefore," had he said to himself, "if I leave first, they will
+sing my praise, lecture the young person, and make her listen to
+reason."
+
+He was not far from being right.  Mme. Desclavettes had been
+completely subjugated by the grand manners of this pretender; and
+M. Desclavettes did not hesitate to affirm that he had rarely met
+any one who pleased him more.
+
+The others, M. Chapelain and old Desormeaux, did not, doubtless,
+share this optimism; but M. Costeclar's annual half-million
+obscured singularly their clear-sightedness.
+
+They thought perhaps, they had discovered in him some alarming
+features; but they had full and entire confidence in their friend
+Favoral's prudent sagacity.
+
+The particular and methodic cashier of the Mutual Credit was not
+apt to be enthusiastic; and, if he opened the doors of his house to
+a young man, if he was so anxious to have him for his son-in-law,
+he must evidently have taken ample information.
+
+Finally there are certain family matters from which sensible people
+keep away as they would from the plague; and, on the question of
+marriage especially, he is a bold man who would take side for or
+against.
+
+Thus Mme. Desclavettes was the only one to raise her voice.  Taking
+Mlle. Gilberte's hands within hers:
+
+"Let me scold you, my dear," said she, "for having received thus a
+poor young man who was only trying to please you."
+
+Excepting her mother, too weak to take her defence, and her brother,
+who was debarred from interfering, the young girl understood readily,
+that, in that parlor, every one, overtly or tacitly, was against her.
+The idea came to her mind to repeat there boldly what she had already
+told her father that she was resolved not to marry, and that she
+would not marry, not being one of those weak girls, without energy,
+whom they dress in white, and drag to church against their will.
+
+Such a bold declaration would be in keeping with her character.
+But she feared a terrible, and perhaps degrading scene.  The most
+intimate friends of the family were ignorant of its most painful
+sores.  In presence of his friends, M. Favoral dissembled, speaking
+in a mild voice, and assuming a kindly smile.  Should she suddenly
+reveal the truth?
+
+"It is childish of you to run the risk of discouraging a clever
+fellow who makes half a million a year," continued the wife of the
+old bronze-merchant, to whom such conduct seemed an abominable crime
+of _lese-money_.  Mlle. Gilberte had withdrawn her hands.
+
+"You did not hear what he said, madame."
+
+"I beg your pardon: I was quite near, and involuntarily--"
+
+"You have heard his--propositions?"
+
+"Perfectly.  He was promising you a carriage, a box at the opera,
+diamonds, freedom.  Isn't that the dream of all young ladies?"
+
+"It is not mine, madame!"
+
+"Dear me!  What better can you wish?  You must not expect more from
+a husband than he can possibly give."
+
+"That is not what I shall expect of him."
+
+In a tone of paternal indulgence, which his looks belied:
+
+"She is mad," suggested M. Favoral.
+
+Tears of indignation filled Mlle. Gilberte's eyes.
+
+"Mme. Desclavettes," she exclaimed, "forgets something.  She forgets
+that this gentleman dared to tell me that he proposed to settle upon
+the woman he marries a large fortune, of which his creditors would
+thus be cheated in case of his failure in business."
+
+She thought, in her simplicity, that a cry of indignation would rise
+at these words.  Instead of which:
+
+"Well, isn't it perfectly natural?" said M. Desclavettes.
+
+"It seems to me more than natural," insisted Mme. Desclavettes,
+"that a man should be anxious to preserve from ruin his wife and
+children."
+
+"Of course," put in M. Favoral.
+
+Stepping resolutely toward her father:
+
+"Have you, then, taken such precautions yourself?" demanded Mlle.
+Gilberte.
+
+"No," answered the cashier of the Mutual Credit.  And, after a
+moment of hesitation:
+
+"But I am running no risks," he added.  "In business, and when a
+man may be ruined by a mere rise or fall in stocks, he would be
+insane indeed who did not secure bread for his family, and, above
+all, means for himself, wherewith to commence again.  The Baron de
+Thaller did not act otherwise; and, should he meet with a disaster,
+Mme. de Thaller would still have a handsome fortune."
+
+M. Desormeaux was, perhaps, the only one not to admit freely that
+theory, and not to accept that ever-decisive reason, "Others do it."
+
+But he was a philosopher, and thought it silly not to be of his time.
+He therefore contented himself with saying:
+
+"Hum!  M. de Thaller's creditors might not think that mode of
+proceeding entirely regular."
+
+"Then they might sue," said M. Chapelain, laughing.  "People can
+always sue; only when the papers are well drawn--"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte stood dismayed.  She thought of Marius de Tregars
+giving up his mother's fortune to pay his father's debts.
+
+"What would he say," thought she, "should he hear such opinions!"
+
+The cashier of the Mutual Credit resumed:
+
+"Surely I blame every species of fraud.  But I pretend, and I
+maintain, that a man who has worked twenty years to give a handsome
+dowry to his daughter has the right to demand of his son-in-law
+certain conservative measures to guarantee the money, which, after
+all, is his own, and which is to benefit no one but his own family."
+
+This declaration closed the evening.  It was getting late.  The
+Saturday guests put on their overcoats; and, as they were walking
+home,
+
+"Can you understand that little Gilberte?" said Mme. Desclavettes.
+"I'd like to see a daughter of mine have such fancies!  But her
+poor mother is so weak!"
+
+"Yes; but friend Favoral is firm enough for both," interrupted M.
+Desormeaux; "and it is more than probable that at this very moment
+he is correcting his daughter of the sin of sloth."
+
+Well, not at all.  Extremely angry as M. Favoral must have been,
+neither that evening, nor the next day, did he make the remotest
+allusion to what had taken place.
+
+The following Monday only, before leaving for his office, casting
+upon his wife and daughter one of his ugliest looks:
+
+"M. Costeclar owes us a visit," said he; "and it is possible that
+he may call in my absence.  I wish him to be admitted; and I forbid
+you to go out, so that you can have no pretext to refuse him the
+door.  I presume there will not be found in my house any one bold
+enough to ill receive a man whom I like, and whom I have selected
+for my son-in-law."
+
+But was it probable, was it even possible, that M. Costeclar could
+venture upon such a step after Mlle. Gilberte's treatment of him on
+the previous Saturday evening?
+
+"No, a thousand times no!" affirmed Maxence to his mother and sister.
+"So you may rest easy."
+
+Indeed they tried to be, until that very afternoon the sound of
+rapidly-rolling wheels attracted Mme. Favoral to the window.  A
+coupe, drawn by two gray horses, had just stopped at the door.
+
+"It must be he," she said to her daughter.
+
+Mlle. Gilberte had turned slightly pale.
+
+"There is no help for it, mother," she said: "You must receive him."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I shall remain in my room."
+
+"Do you suppose he won't ask for you?"
+
+"You will answer that I am unwell.  He will understand."
+
+"But your father, unhappy child, your father?"
+
+"I do not acknowledge to my father the right of disposing of my
+person against my wishes.  I detest that man to whom he wishes to
+marry me.  Would you like to see me his wife, to know me given up
+to the most intolerable torture?  No, there is no violence in the
+world that will ever wring my consent from me.  So, mother dear,
+do what I ask you.  My father can say what he pleases: I take the
+whole responsibility upon myself."
+
+There was no time to argue: the bell rang.  Mlle. Gilberte had
+barely time to escape through one of the doors of the parlor,
+whilst M. Costeclar was entering at the other.
+
+If he did have enough perspicacity to guess what had just taken
+place, he did not in any way show it.  He sat down; and it was
+only after conversing for a few moments upon indifferent subjects,
+that he asked how Mlle. Gilberte was.
+
+"She is somewhat--unwell," stammered Mme. Favoral.
+
+He did not appear surprised; only,
+
+"Our dear Favoral," he said, "will be still more pained than I am
+when he hears of this mishap."
+
+Better than any other mother, Mme. Favoral must have understood and
+approved Mlle. Gilberte's invincible repugnance.  To her also, when
+she was young, her father had come one day, and said, "I have
+discovered a husband for you."  She had accepted him blindly.  Bruised
+and wounded by daily outrages, she had sought refuge in marriage as
+in a haven of safety.
+
+And since, hardly a day had elapsed that she had not thought it
+would have been better for her to have died rather then to have
+riveted to her neck those fetters that death alone can remove.  She
+thought, therefore, that her daughter was perfectly right.  And yet
+twenty years of slavery had so weakened the springs of her energy,
+that under the glance of Costeclar, threatening her with her
+husband's name, she felt embarrassed, and could scarcely stammer
+some timid excuses.  And she allowed him to prolong his visit, and
+consequently her torment, for over an half an hour; then, when he
+had gone,
+
+"He and your father understand each other," said she to her daughter,
+"that is but too evident.  What is the use of struggling?"
+
+A fugitive blush colored the pale cheeks of Mlle. Gilberte.  For
+the past forty-eight hours she had been exhausting herself, seeking
+an issue to an impossible situation; and she had accustomed her mind
+to the worst eventualities.
+
+"Do you wish me, then, to desert the paternal roof?" she exclaimed.
+
+Mme. Favoral almost dropped on the floor.
+
+"You would run away," she stammered, "you!"
+
+"Rather than become that man's wife, yes!"
+
+"And where would you go, unfortunate child?  what would you do?"
+
+"I can earn my living."
+
+Mme. Favoral shook her head sadly.  The same suspicions were reviving
+within her that she had felt once before.
+
+"Gilberte," she said in a beseeching tone, "am I, then, no longer
+your best friend?  and will you not tell me from what sources you
+draw your courage and your resolution?"
+
+And, as her daughter said nothing:
+
+"God alone knows what may happen!" sighed the poor woman.
+
+Nothing happened, but what could have been easily foreseen.  When
+M. Favoral came home to dinner, he was whistling a perfect storm
+on the stairs.  He abstained at first from all recrimination; but
+towards the end of the meal, with the most sarcastic look he could
+assume:
+
+"It seems," he said to his daughter, "that you were unwell this
+afternoon?"
+
+Bravely, and without flinching, she sustained his look; and, in a
+firm voice:
+
+"I shall always be indisposed," she replied, "when M. Costeclar
+calls.  You hear me, don't you, father--always!"
+
+But the cashier of the Credit Mutual was not one of those men whose
+wrath finds vent in mere sarcasms.  Rising suddenly to his feet:
+
+"By the holy heavens!" he screamed forth, "you are wrong to trifle
+thus with my will; for, all of you here, I shall crush you as I do
+this glass."
+
+And, with a frenzied gesture, he dashed the glass he held in his
+hand against the wall, where it broke in a thousand pieces.
+Trembling like a leaf, Mme. Favoral staggered upon her chair.
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+"Better kill her at once," said Mlle. Gilberte coldly.  "She would
+suffer less."
+
+It was by a torrent of invective that M. Favoral replied.  His rage,
+dammed up for the past four days, finding at last an outlet, flowed
+in gross insults and insane threats.  He spoke of throwing out in
+the street his wife and children, or starving them out, or shutting
+up his daughter in a house of correction; until at last, language
+failing his fury, beside himself, he left, swearing that he would
+bring M. Costeclar home himself, and then they would see.
+
+"Very well, we shall see," said Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+Motionless in his place, and white as a plaster cast, Maxence had
+witnessed this lamentable scene.  A gleam of common-sense had
+enabled him to control his indignation, and to remain silent.  He
+had understood, that, at the first word, his father's fury would
+have turned against him; and then what might have happened?  The
+most frightful dramas of the criminal courts have often had no
+other origin.
+
+"No, this is no longer bearable!" he exclaimed.
+
+Even at the time of his greatest follies, Maxence had always had
+for his sister a fraternal affection.  He admired her from the day
+she had stood up before him to reproach him for his misconduct.  He
+envied her her quiet determination, her patient tenacity, and that
+calm energy that never failed her.
+
+"Have patience, my poor Gilberte," he added: "the day is not far,
+I hope, when I may commence to repay you all you have done for me.
+I have not lost my time since you restored me my reason.  I have
+arranged with my creditors.  I have found a situation, which, if
+not brilliant, is at least sufficiently lucrative to enable me
+before long to offer you, as well as to our mother, a peaceful
+retreat."
+
+"But it is to-morrow," interrupted Mme. Favoral, "to-morrow that
+your father is to bring M. Costeclar.  He has said so, and he will
+do it."
+
+And so he did.  About two o'clock in the afternoon M. Favoral and
+his protege arrived in the Rue St. Gilles, in that famous coupe
+with the two horses, which excited the wonder of the neighbors.
+
+But Mlle. Gilberte had her plan ready.  She was on the lookout;
+and, as soon as she heard the carriage stop, she ran to her room,
+undressed in a twinkling, and went to bed.
+
+When her father came for her, and saw her in bed, he remained
+surprised and puzzled on the threshold of the door.
+
+"And yet I'll make you come into the parlor!" he said in a hoarse
+voice.
+
+"Then you must carry me there as I am," she said in a tone of
+defiance; "for I shall certainly not get up."
+
+For the first time since his marriage, M. Favoral met in his own
+house a more inflexible will than his own, and a more unyielding
+obstinacy.  He was baffled.  He threatened his daughter with his
+clinched fists, but could discover no means of making her obey.
+He was compelled to surrender, to yield.
+
+"This will be settled with the rest," he growled, as he went out.
+
+"I fear nothing in the world, father," said the girl.
+
+It was almost true, so much did the thought of Marius de Tregars
+inflame her courage.  Twice already she had heard from him through
+the Signor Gismondo Pulei, who never tired talking of this new pupil,
+to whom he had already given two lessons.
+
+"He is the most gallant man in the world," he said, his eye sparkling
+with enthusiasm, "and the bravest, and the most generous, and the
+best; and no quality that can adorn one of God's creatures shall be
+wanting in him when I have taught him the divine art.  It is not
+with a little contemptible gold that he means to reward my zeal.
+To him I am as a second father; and it is with the confidence of a
+son that he explains to me his labors and his hopes."
+
+Thus Mlle. Gilberte learned through the old maestro, that the
+newspaper article she had read was almost exactly true, and that
+M. de Tregars and M. Marcolet had become associated for the purpose
+of working, in joint account, certain recent discoveries, which bid
+fair to yield large profits in a near future.
+
+"And yet it is for my sake alone that he has thus thrown himself
+into the turmoil of business, and has become as eager for gain as
+that M. Marcolet himself."
+
+And, at the height of her father's persecutions, she felt glad of
+what she had done, and of her boldness in placing her destiny in the
+hands of a stranger.  The memory of Marius had become her refuge,
+the element of all her dreams and of all her hopes; in a word, her
+life.
+
+It was of Marius she was thinking, when her mother, surprising her
+gazing into vacancy, would ask her, "What are you thinking of?"  And,
+at every new vexation she had to endure, her imagination decked him
+with a new quality, and she clung to him with a more desperate grasp.
+
+"How much he would grieve," thought she, "if he knew of what
+persecution I am the object!"
+
+And very careful was she not to allow the Signor Gismondo Pulei to
+suspect any thing of it, affecting, on the contrary, in his presence,
+the most cheerful serenity.
+
+And yet she was a prey to the most cruel anxiety, since she observed
+a new and most incredible transformation in her father.
+
+That man so violent and so harsh, who flattered himself never to
+have been bent, who boasted never to have forgotten or forgiven any
+thing, that domestic tyrant, had become quite a debonair personage.
+He had referred to the expedient imagined by Mlle. Gilberte only to
+laugh at it, saying that it was a good trick, and he deserved it;
+for he repented bitterly, he protested, his past brutalities.
+
+He owned that he had at heart his daughter's marriage with M.
+Costeclar; but he acknowledged that he had made use of the surest
+means for making it fail.  He should, he humbly confessed, have
+expected every thing of time and circumstances, of M. Costeclar's
+excellent qualities, and of his beautiful, darling daughter's
+good sense.
+
+More than of all his violence, Mme. Favoral was terrified at this
+affected good nature.
+
+"Dear me!" she sighed, "what does it all mean?"
+
+But the cashier of the Mutual Credit was not preparing any new
+surprise to his family.  If the means were different, it was still
+the same object that he was pursuing with the tenacity of an insect.
+When severity had failed, he hoped to succeed by gentleness, that's
+all.  Only this assumption of hypocritical meekness was too new
+to him to deceive any one.  At every moment the mask fell off, the
+claws showed, and his voice trembled with ill-suppressed rage in
+the midst of his most honeyed phrases.
+
+Moreover, he entertained the strangest illusions.  Because for
+forty-eight hours he had acted the part of a good-natured man,
+because one Sunday he had taken his wife and daughter out riding in
+the Bois de Vincennes, because he had given Maxence a hundred-franc
+note, he imagined that it was all over, that the past was obliterated,
+forgotten, and forgiven.
+
+And, drawing Gilberte upon his knees,
+
+"Well, daughter," he said, "you see that I don't importune you any
+more, and I leave you quite free.  I am more reasonable than you are."
+
+But on the other hand, and according to an expression which escaped
+him later, he tried to turn the enemy.
+
+He did every thing in his power to spread in the neighborhood the
+rumor of Mlle. Gilberte's marriage with a financier of colossal
+wealth,--that elegant young man who came in a coupe with two horses.
+Mme. Favoral could not enter a shop without being covertly
+complimented upon having found such a magnificent establishment for
+her daughter.
+
+Loud, indeed, must have been the gossip; for its echo reached even
+the inattentive ears of the Signor Gismondo Pulei.
+
+One day, suddenly interrupting his lesson,--"You are going to be
+married, signora?" he inquired.
+
+Mlle. Gilberte started.
+
+What the old Italian had heard, he would surely ere long repeat to
+Marius.  It was therefore urgent to undeceive him.
+
+"It is true," she replied, "that something has been said about a
+marriage, dear maestro."
+
+"Ah, ah!"
+
+"Only my father had not consulted me.  That marriage will never
+take place: I swear it."
+
+She expressed herself in a tone of such ardent conviction, that the
+old gentleman was quite astonished, little dreaming that it was not
+to him that this energetic denial was addressed.
+
+"My destiny is irrevocably fixed," added Mlle. Gilberte.  "When I
+marry, I will consult the inspirations of my heart only."
+
+In the mean time, it was a veritable conspiracy against her.  M.
+Favoral had succeeded in interesting in the success of his designs
+his habitual guests, not M. and Mme. Desclavettes, who had been
+seduced from the first, but M. Chapelain and old Desormeaux himself.
+So that they all vied with each other in their efforts to bring the
+"dear child" to reason, and to enlighten her with their counsels.
+
+"Father must have a still more considerable interest in this alliance
+than he has allowed us to think," she remarked to her brother.
+Maxence was also absolutely of the same opinion.
+
+"And then," he added, "our father must be terribly rich; for, do not
+deceive yourself, it isn't solely for your pretty blue eyes that
+this Costeclar persists in coming here twice a week to pocket a new
+mortification.  What enormous dowry can he be hoping for?  I am
+going to speak to him myself, and try to find out what he is after."
+
+But Mlle. Gilberte had but slight confidence in her brother's
+diplomacy.
+
+"I beg of you," she said, "don't meddle with that business!"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will!  Fear nothing, I'll be prudent."
+
+Having taken his resolution, Maxence placed himself on the lookout;
+and the very next day, as M. Costeclar was stepping out of his
+carriage at the door, he walked straight up to him.
+
+"I wish to speak to you, sir," he said.  Self-possessed as he was,
+the brilliant financier succeeded but poorly in concealing a surprise
+that looked very much like fright.
+
+"I am going in to call on your parents, sir," he replied; "and whilst
+waiting for your father, with whom I have an appointment, I shall be
+at your command."
+
+"No, no!" interrupted Maxence.  "What I have to say must be heard by
+you alone.  Come along this way, and we shall not be interrupted."
+
+And he led M. Costeclar away as far as the Place Royal.  Once there,
+
+"You are very anxious to marry my sister, sir," he commenced.
+
+During their short walk M. Costeclar had recovered himself.  He had
+resumed all his impertinent assurance.  Looking at Maxence from head
+to foot with any thing but a friendly look,
+
+"It is my dearest and my most ardent wish, sir," he replied.
+
+"Very well.  But you must have noticed the very slight success, to
+use no harsher word, of your assiduities."
+
+"Alas!"
+
+"And, perhaps, you will judge, like myself, that it would be the act
+of a gentleman to withdraw in presence of such positive repugnance?"
+
+An ugly smile was wandering upon M. Costeclar's pale lips.
+
+"Is it at the request of your sister, sir, that you make me this
+communication?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Are you aware whether your sister has some inclination that may be
+an obstacle to the realization of my hopes?"
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"Excuse me!  What I say has nothing to offend.  It might very well
+be that your sister, before I had the honor of being introduced to
+her, had already fixed her choice."
+
+He spoke so loud, that Maxence looked sharply around to see whether
+there was not some one within hearing.  He saw no one but a young
+man, who seemed quite absorbed reading a newspaper.
+
+"But, sir," he resumed, "what would you answer, if I, the brother
+of the young lady whom you wish to marry against her wishes,--I
+called upon you to cease your assiduities?"
+
+M. Costeclar bowed ceremoniously,
+
+"I would answer you, sir," he uttered, "that your father's assent
+is sufficient for me.  My suit has nothing but is honorable.  Your
+sister may not like me: that is a misfortune; but it is not
+irreparable.  When she knows me better, I venture to hope that she
+will overcome her unjust prejudices.  Therefore I shall persist."
+
+Maxence insisted no more.  He was irritated at M. Costeclar's
+coolness; but it was not his intention to push things further.
+
+"There will always be time," he thought, "to resort to violent
+measures."
+
+But when he reported this conversation to his sister,
+
+"It is clear," he said, "that, between our father and that man,
+there is a community of interests which I am unable to discover.
+What business have they together?  In what respect can your marriage
+either help or injure them?  I must see, try and find out exactly
+who is this Costeclar: the deuse take him!"
+
+He started out the same day, and had not far to go.
+
+M. Costeclar was one of those personalities which only bloom in
+Paris, and are only met in Paris,--the same as cab-horses, and
+young ladies with yellow chignons.
+
+He knew everybody, and everybody knew him.
+
+He was well known at the bourse, in all the principal restaurants,
+where he called the waiters by their first names, at the box-office
+of the theatres, at all the pool-rooms, and at the European Club,
+otherwise called the Nomadic Club, of which he was a member.
+
+He operated at the bourse: that was sure.  He was said to own a
+third interest in a stock-broker's office.  He had a good deal of
+business with M. Jottras, of the house of Jottras and Brother, and
+M. Saint Pavin, the manager of a very popular journal, "The Financial
+Pilot."
+
+It was further known that he had on Rue Vivienne, a magnificent
+apartment, and that he had successively honored with his liberal
+protection Mlle. Sidney of the Varieties, and Mme. Jenny Fancy, a
+lady of a certain age already, but so situated as to return to her
+lovers in notoriety what they gave her in good money.  So much did
+Maxence learn without difficulty.  As to any more precise details,
+it was impossible to obtain them.  To his pressing questions upon
+M. Costeclar's antecedents,
+
+"He is a perfectly honest man," answered some.
+
+"He is simply a speculator," affirmed others.
+
+But all agreed that he was a sharp one; who would surely make his
+fortune, and without passing through the police-courts, either.
+
+"How can our father and such a man be so intimately connected?"
+wondered Maxence and his sister.
+
+And they were lost in conjectures, when suddenly, at an hour when
+he never set his foot in the house, M. Favoral appeared.
+
+Throwing a letter upon his daughter's lap,
+
+"See what I have just received from Costeclar," he said in a hoarse
+voice.  "Read."
+
+She read, "Allow me, dear friend, to release you from your engagement.
+Owing to circumstances absolutely beyond my control, I find myself
+compelled to give up the honor of becoming a member of your family."
+
+What could have happened?
+
+Standing in the middle of the parlor, the cashier of the Mutual Credit
+held, bowed down beneath his glance, his wife and children, Mme.
+Favoral trembling, Maxence starting in mute surprise, and Mlle.
+Gilberte, who needed all the strength of her will to control the
+explosion of her immense joy.
+
+Every thing in M. Favoral betrayed, nevertheless, much more the
+excitement of a disaster than the rage of a deception.
+
+Never had his family seen him thus,--livid, his cravat undone, his
+hair wet with perspiration, and clinging to his temples.
+
+"Will you please explain this letter?" he asked at last.
+
+And, as no one answered him, he took up that letter again from the
+table where Mlle. Gilberte had laid it, and commenced reading it
+again, scanning each syllable, as if in hopes of discovering in each
+word some hidden meaning.
+
+"What did you say to Costeclar?" he resumed, "what did you do to
+him to make him take such a determination?"
+
+"Nothing," answered Maxence and Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+The hope of being at last rid of that man inspired Mme. Favoral with
+something like courage.
+
+"He has doubtless understood," she meekly suggested, "that he could
+not triumph over our daughter's repugnance."
+
+But her husband interrupted her,
+
+"No," he uttered, "Costeclar is not the man to trouble himself about
+the ridiculous caprices of a little girl.  There is something else.
+But what is it?  Come, if you know it, any of you, if you suspect it
+even, speak, say it.  You must see that I am in a state of fearful
+anxiety."
+
+It was the first time that he thus allowed something to appear of
+what was passing within him, the first time that he ever complained.
+
+"M. Costeclar alone, father, can give you the explanation you ask of
+us," said Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+The cashier of the Mutual Credit shook his head.  "Do you suppose,
+then, that I have not questioned him?  I found his letter this
+morning at the office.  At once I ran to his apartments, Rue
+Vivienne.  He had just gone out; and it is in vain that I called
+for him at Jottras', and at the office of 'The Financial Pilot.'
+I found him at last at the bourse, after running three hours.  But
+I could only get from him evasive answers and vague explanations.
+Of course he did not fail to say, that, if he does withdraw, it is
+because he despairs of ever succeeding in pleasing Gilberte.  But
+it isn't so: I know it; I am sure of it; I read it in his eyes.
+Twice his lips moved as if he were about to confess all; and then
+he said nothing.  And the more I insisted, the more he seemed ill
+at ease, embarrassed, uneasy, troubled, the more he appeared to me
+like a man who has been threatened, and dares not brave the threat."
+
+He directed upon his children one of those obstinate looks which
+search the inmost depths of the conscience.
+
+"If you have done any thing to drive him off," he resumed, "confess
+it frankly, and I swear I will not reproach you."
+
+"We did not."
+
+"You did not threaten him?"
+
+"No!"
+
+M. Favoral seemed appalled.
+
+"Doubtless you deceive me," he said, "and I hope you do.  Unhappy
+children! you do not know what this rupture may cost you."
+
+And, instead of returning to his office, he shut himself up in that
+little room which he called his study, and only came out of it at
+about five o'clock, holding under his arm an enormous bundle of
+papers, and saying that it was useless to wait for him for dinner,
+as he would not come home until late in the night, if he came home
+at all, being compelled to make up for his lost day.
+
+"What is the matter with your father, my poor children?" exclaimed
+Mme. Favoral.  "I have never seen him in such a state."
+
+"Doubtless," replied Maxence, "the rupture with Costeclar is going
+to break up some combination."
+
+But that explanation did not satisfy him any more than it did his
+mother.  He, too, felt a vague apprehension of some impending
+misfortune.  But what?  He had nothing upon which to base his
+conjectures.  He knew nothing, any more than his mother, of his
+father's affairs, of his relations, of his interests, or even of
+his life, outside the house.
+
+And mother and son lost themselves in suppositions as vain as if
+they had tried to find the solution of a problem, without possessing
+its terms.
+
+With a single word Mlle. Gilberte thought she might have enlightened
+them.
+
+In the unerring certainty of the blow, in the crushing promptness
+of the result, she thought she could recognize the hand of Marius
+de Tregars.
+
+She recognized the hand of the man who acts, and does not talk.
+And the girl's pride felt flattered by this victory, by this proof
+of the powerful energy of the man whom, unknown to all, she had
+selected.  She liked to imagine Marius de Tregars and M. Costeclar
+in presence of each other,--the one as imperious and haughty as
+she had seen him meek and trembling; the other more humble still
+than he was arrogant with her.
+
+"One thing is certain," she repeated to herself; "and that is, I
+am saved."
+
+And she wished the morrow to come, that she might announce her
+happiness to the very involuntary and very unconscious accomplice
+of Marius, the worthy Maestro Gismondo Pulei.
+
+The next day M. Favoral seemed to have resigned himself to the
+failure of his projects; and, the following Saturday, he told as a
+pleasant joke, how Mlle. Gilberte had carried the day, and had
+managed to dismiss her lover.
+
+But a close observer could discover in him symptoms of devouring
+cares.  Deep wrinkles showed along his temples; his eyes were sunken;
+a continued tension of mind contracted his features.  Often during
+the dinner he would remain motionless for several minutes, his
+fork aloft; and then he would murmur, "How is it all going to end?"
+
+Sometimes in the morning, before his departure for his office, M.
+Jottras, of the house of Jottras and Brother, and M. Saint Pavin,
+the manager of "The Financial Pilot," came to see him.  They
+closeted themselves together, and remained for hours in conference,
+speaking so low, that not even a vague murmur could be heard
+outside the door.
+
+"Your father has grave subjects of anxiety, my children," said Mme.
+Favoral: "you may believe me,--me, who for twenty years have been
+trying to guess our fate upon his countenance."
+
+But the political events were sufficient to explain any amount of
+anxiety.  It was the second week of July, 1870; and the destinies
+of France trembled, as upon a cast of the dice, in the hands of a
+few presumptuous incapables.  Was it war with Prussia, or was it
+peace, that was to issue from the complications of a childishly
+astute policy?
+
+The most contradictory rumors caused daily at the bourse the most
+violent oscillations, which endangered the safest fortunes.  A few
+words uttered in a corridor by Emile Ollivier had made a dozen heavy
+operators rich, but had ruined five hundred small ones.  On all
+hands, credit was trembling.
+
+Until one evening when he came home,
+
+"War is declared," said M. Favoral.
+
+It was but too true; and no one then had any fears of the result
+for France.  They had so much exalted the French army, they had
+so often said that it was invincible, that every one among the
+public expected a series of crushing victories.
+
+Alas! the first telegram announced a defeat.  People refused to
+believe it at first.  But there was the evidence.  The soldiers had
+died bravely; but the chiefs had been incapable of leading them.
+
+From that time, and with a vertiginous rapidity, from day to day,
+from hour to hour, the fatal news came crowding on.  Like a river
+that overflows its banks, Prussia was overrunning France.  Bazaine
+was surrounded at Metz; and the capitulation of Sedan capped the
+climax of so many disasters.
+
+At last, on the 4th of September, the republic was proclaimed.
+
+On the 5th, when the Signor Gismondo Pulei presented himself at Rue
+St. Gilles, his face bore such an expression of anguish, that Mlle.
+Gilberte could not help asking what was the matter.
+
+He rose on that question, and, threatening heaven with his clinched
+fist,
+
+"Implacable fate does not tire to persecute me," he replied.  "I
+had overcome all obstacles: I was happy: I was looking forward to
+a future of fortune and glory.  No, the dreadful war must break out."
+
+For the worthy maestro, this terrible catastrophe was but a new
+caprice of his own destiny.
+
+"What has happened to you?" inquired the young girl, repressing a
+smile.
+
+"It happens to me, signora, that I am about to lose my beloved
+pupil.  He leaves me; he forsakes me.  In vain have I thrown myself
+at his feet.  My tears have not been able to detain him.  He is going
+to fight; he leaves; he is a soldier!"
+
+Then it was given to Mlle. Gilberte to see clearly within her soul.
+Then she understood how absolutely she had given herself up, and to
+what extent she had ceased to belong to herself.
+
+Her sensation was terrible, such as if her whole blood had suddenly
+escaped through her open arteries.  She turned pale, her teeth
+chattered; and she seemed so near fainting, that the Signor Gismondo
+sprang to the door, crying, "Help, help! she is dying."
+
+Mme. Favoral, frightened, came running in.  But already, thanks to
+an all-powerful projection of will, Mlle. Gilberte had recovered,
+and, smiling a pale smile,
+
+"It's nothing, mamma," she said.  "A sudden pain in the head; but
+it's gone already."
+
+The worthy maestro was in perfect agony.  Taking Mme. Favoral aside,
+
+"It is my fault," he said.  "It is the story of my unheard-of
+misfortunes that has upset her thus.  Monstrous egotist that I am!
+I should have been careful of her exquisite sensibility."
+
+She insisted, nevertheless, upon taking her lesson as usual, and
+recovered enough presence of mind to extract from the Signor Gismondo
+everything that his much-regretted pupil had confided to him.
+
+That was not much.  He knew that his pupil had gone, like anyone
+else, to Rue de Cherche Midi; that he had signed an engagement;
+and had been ordered to join a regiment in process of formation
+near Tours.  And, as he went out,
+
+"That is nothing," said the kind maestro to Mme. Favoral.  "The
+signora has quite recovered, and is as gay as a lark."
+
+The signora, shut up in her room, was shedding bitter tears.  She
+tried to reason with herself, and could not succeed.  Never had
+the strangeness of her situation so clearly appeared to her.  She
+repeated to herself that she must be mad to have thus become
+attached to a stranger.  She wondered how she could have allowed
+that love, which was now her very life, to take possession of her
+soul.  But to what end?  It no longer rested with her to undo what
+had been done.
+
+When she thought that Marius de Tregars was about to leave Paris
+to become a soldier, to fight, to die perhaps, she felt her head
+whirl; she saw nothing around her but despair and chaos.
+
+And, the more she thought, the more certain she felt that Marius
+could not have trusted solely to the chance gossip of the Signor
+Pulei to communicate to her his determination.
+
+"It is perfectly inadmissible," she thought.  "It is impossible that
+he will not make an effort to see me before going."
+
+Thoroughly imbued with the idea, she wiped her eyes, took a seat
+by an open window; and, whilst apparently busy with her work, she
+concentrated her whole attention upon the street.
+
+There were more people out than usual.  The recent events had
+stirred Paris to its lowest depths, and, as from the crater of a
+volcano in labor, all the social scoriae rose to the surface.  Men
+of sinister appearance left their haunts, and wandered through the
+city.  The workshops were all deserted; and people strolled at
+random, stupor or terror painted on their countenance.  But in vain
+did Mlle. Gilberte seek in all this crowd the one she hoped to see.
+The hours went by, and she was getting discouraged, when suddenly,
+towards dusk, at the corner of the Rue Turenne,
+
+"'Tis he," cried a voice within her.
+
+It was, in fact, M. de Tregars.  He was walking towards the
+Boulevard, slowly, and his eyes raised.
+
+Palpitating, the girl rose to her feet.  She was in one of those
+moments of crisis when the blood, rushing to the brain, smothers
+all judgment.  Unconscious, as it were, of her acts, she leaned
+over the window, and made a sign to Marius, which he understood very
+well, and which meant, "Wait, I am coming down."
+
+"Where are you going, dear?" asked Mme. Favoral, seeing Gilberte
+putting on her bonnet.
+
+"To the shop, mamma, to get a shade of worsted I need."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte was not in the habit of going out alone; but it
+happened quite often that she would go down in the neighborhood on
+some little errand.
+
+"Do you wish the girl to go out with you?" asked Mme. Favoral.
+
+"Oh, it isn't worth while!"
+
+She ran down the stairs; and once out, regardless of the looks that
+might be watching her, she walked straight to M. de Tregars, who was
+waiting on the corner of the Rue des Minimes.
+
+"You are going away?" she said, too much agitated to notice his own
+emotion, which was, however, quite evident.
+
+"I must," he answered.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"When France is invaded, the place for a man who bears my name is
+where the fighting is."
+
+"But there will be fighting in Paris too."
+
+"Paris has four times as many defenders as it needs.  It is outside
+that soldiers will be wanted."
+
+They walked slowly, as they spoke thus, along the Rue des Minimes,
+one of the least frequented in Paris; and there were only to be
+seen at this hour five or six soldiers talking in front of the
+barracks gate.
+
+"Suppose I were to beg you not to go," resumed Mlle. Gilberte.
+"Suppose I beseeched you, Marius!"
+
+"I should remain then," he answered in a troubled voice; "but I
+would be betraying my duty, and failing to my honor; and remorse
+would weigh upon our whole life.  Command now, and I will obey."
+
+They had stopped; and no one seeing them standing there side by
+side affectionate and familiar could have believed that they were
+speaking to each other for the first time.  They themselves did not
+notice it, so much had they come, with the help of all-powerful
+imagination, and in spite of separation, to the understanding of
+intimacy.  After a moment of painful reflection,
+
+"I do not ask you any longer to stay," uttered the young girl.
+He took her hand, and raised it to his lips.
+
+"I expected no less of your courage," he said, his voice vibrating
+with love.  But he controlled himself, and, in a more quiet tone,
+
+"Thanks to the indiscretion of Pulei," he added, "I was in hopes of
+seeing you, but not to have the happiness of speaking to you.  I
+had written--"
+
+He drew from his pocket a large envelope, and, handing it to Mlle.
+Gilberte,
+
+"Here is the letter," he continued, "which I intended for you.  It
+contains another, which I beg you to preserve carefully, and not to
+open unless I do not return.  I leave you in Paris a devoted friend,
+the Count de Villegre.  Whatever may happen to you, apply to him
+with all confidence, as you would to myself."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte, staggering, leaned against the wall.
+
+"When do you expect to leave?" she inquired.
+
+"This very night.  Communications may be cut off at any moment."
+
+Admirable in her sorrow, but also full of energy, the poor girl
+looked up, and held out her hand to him.
+
+"Go then," she said, "O my only friend! go, since honor commands.
+But do not forget that it is not your life alone that you are going
+to risk."
+
+And, fearing to burst into sobs, she fled, and reached the Rue St.
+Gilles a few moments before her father, who had gone out in quest
+of news.
+
+Those he brought home were of the most sinister kind.
+
+Like the rising tide, the Prussians spread and advanced, slowly,
+but steadily.  Their marches were numbered; and the day and hour
+could be named when their flood would come and strike the walls
+of Paris.
+
+And so, at all the railroad stations, there was a prodigious rush
+of people who wished to leave at any cost, in any way, in the
+baggage-car if needs be, and who certainly were not, like Marius,
+rushing to meet the enemy.
+
+One after another, M. Favoral had seen nearly every one he knew
+take flight.
+
+The Baron and Baroness de Thaller and their daughter had gone to
+Switzerland; M. Costeclar was traveling in Belgium; the elder
+Jottras was in England, buying guns and cartridge; and if the
+younger Jottras, with M. Saint Pavin of "The Financial Pilot,"
+remained in Paris, it was because, through the gallant influence
+of a lady whose name was not mentioned, they had obtained some
+valuable contracts from the government.
+
+The perplexities of the cashier of the Mutual Credit were great.
+The day that the Baron and the Baroness de Thaller had left,
+
+"Pack up our trunks," he ordered his wife.  "The bourse is going
+to close; and the Mutual Credit can very well get along without me."
+
+But the next day he became undecided again.  What Mlle. Gilberte
+thought she could guess, was, that he was dying to start alone, and
+leave his family, but dared not do it.  He hesitated so long, that
+at last, one evening,
+
+"You may unpack the trunks," he said to his wife.  "Paris is
+invested; and no one can now leave."
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+In fact, the news had just come, that the Western Railroad, the last
+one that had remained open, was now cut off.
+
+Paris was invested; and so rapid had been the investment, that it
+could hardly be believed.
+
+People went in crowds on all the culminating points, the hills of
+Montmartre, and the heights of the Trocadero.  Telescopes had been
+erected there; and every one was anxious to scan the horizon, and
+look for the Prussians.
+
+But nothing could be discovered.  The distant fields retained their
+quiet and smiling aspect under the mild rays of the autumn sun.
+
+So that it really required quite an effort of imagination to realize
+the sinister fact, to understand that Paris, with its two millions
+of inhabitants, was indeed cut off from the world and separated from
+the rest of France, by an insurmountable circle of steel.
+
+Doubt, and something like a vague hope, could be traced in the tone
+of the people who met on the streets, saying,
+
+"Well, it's all over: we can't leave any more.  Letters, even,
+cannot pass.  No more news, eh?"
+
+But the next day, which was the 19th of September, the most
+incredulous were convinced.
+
+For the first time Paris shuddered at the hoarse voice of the cannon,
+thundering on the heights of Chatillon.  The siege of Paris, that
+siege without example in history, had commenced.
+
+The life of the Favorals during these interminable days of anguish
+and suffering, was that of a hundred thousand other families.
+
+Incorporated in the battalion of his ward, the cashier of the Mutual
+Credit went off two or three times a week, as well as all his
+neighbors, to mount guard on the ramparts,--a useless service
+perhaps, but which those that performed it did not look upon as such,
+--a very arduous service, at any rate, for poor merchants, accustomed
+to the comforts of their shops, or the quiet of their offices.
+
+To be sure, there was nothing heroic in tramping through the mud,
+in receiving the rain or the snow upon the back, in sleeping on the
+ground or on dirty straw, in remaining on guard with the thermometer
+twenty degrees below the freezing-point.  But people die of pleurisy
+quite as certainly as of a Prussian bullet; and many died of it.
+
+Maxence showed himself but rarely at Rue St. Gilles: enlisted in a
+battalion of sharpshooters, he did duty at the advanced posts.  And,
+as to Mme. Favoral and Mlle. Gilberte, they spent the day trying to
+get something to live on.  Rising before daylight, through rain or
+snow, they took their stand before the butcher's stall, and, after
+waiting for hours, received a small slice of horse-meat.
+
+Alone in the evening, by the side of the hearth where a few pieces
+of green wood smoked without burning, they started at each of the
+distant reports of the cannon.  At each detonation that shook the
+window-panes, Mme. Favoral thought that it was, perhaps, the one
+that had killed her son.
+
+And Mlle. Gilberte was thinking of Marius de Tregars.  The accursed
+days of November and December had come.  There were constant rumors
+of bloody battles around Orleans.  She imagined Marius, mortally
+wounded, expiring on the snow, alone, without help, and without a
+friend to receive his supreme will and his last breath.
+
+One evening the vision was so clear, and the impression so strong,
+that she started up with a loud cry.
+
+"What is it?" asked Mme. Favoral, alarmed.  "What is the matter?"
+
+With a little perspicacity, the worthy woman could easily have
+obtained her daughter's secret; for Mlle. Gilberte was not in
+condition to deny anything.  But she contented herself with an
+explanation which meant nothing, and had not a suspicion, when
+the girl answered with a forced smile,
+
+"It's nothing, dear mother, nothing but an absurd idea that crossed
+my mind."
+
+Strange to say, never had the cashier of the Mutual Credit been for
+his family what he was during these months of trials.
+
+During the first weeks of the siege he had been anxious, agitated,
+nervous; he wandered through the house like a soul in trouble; he
+had moments of inconceivable prostration, during which tears could
+be seen rolling down upon his cheeks, and then fits of anger
+without motive.
+
+But each day that elapsed had seemed to bring calm to his soul.
+Little by little, he had become to his wife so indulgent and so
+affectionate, that the poor helot felt her heart touched.  He had
+for his daughter attentions which caused her to wonder.
+
+Often, when the weather was fine, he took them out walking, leading
+them along the quays towards a part of the walls occupied by the
+battalion of their ward.  Twice he took them to St. Onen, where the
+sharp-shooters were encamped to which Maxence belonged.
+
+Another day he wished to take them to visit M. de Thaller's house,
+of which he had charge.  They refused, and instead of getting angry,
+as he certainly would have done formerly, he commenced describing to
+them the splendors of the apartments, the magnificent furniture, the
+carpets and the hangings, the paintings by the great masters, the
+objects of arts, the bronzes, in a word,  all that dazzling luxury
+of which financiers make use, somewhat as hunters do of the mirror
+with which larks are caught.
+
+Of business, nothing was ever said.
+
+He went every morning as far as the office of the Mutual Credit;
+but, as he said, it was solely as a matter of form.  Once in a long
+while, M. Saint Pavin and the younger Jottras paid a visit to the
+Rue St. Gilles.  They had suspended,--the one the payments of his
+banking house; the other, the publication of "The Financial Pilot."
+
+But they were not idle for all that; and, in the midst of the public
+distress, they still managed to speculate upon something, no one
+knew what, and to realize profits.
+
+They rallied pleasantly the fools who had faith in the defence, and
+imitated in the most laughable manner the appearance, under their
+soldier's coat, of three or four of their friends who had joined
+the marching battalions.  They boasted that they had no privations
+to endure, and always knew where to find the fresh butter wherewith
+to dress the large slices of beef which they possessed the art of
+finding.  Mme. Favoral heard them laugh; and M. Saint Pavin, the
+manager of "The Financial Pilot," exclaimed,
+
+"Come, come! we would be fools to complain.  It is a general
+liquidation, without risks and without costs."  Their mirth had
+something revolting in it; for it was now the last and most acute
+period of the siege.
+
+At the beginning, the greatest optimists hardly thought that Paris
+could hold out longer than six weeks.  And now the investment had
+lasted over four months.  The population was reduced to nameless
+articles of food.  The supply of bread had failed; the wounded, for
+lack of a little soup, died in the ambulances; old people and
+children perished by the hundred; on the left bank the shells came
+down thick and fast, the weather was intensely cold, and there was
+no more fuel.
+
+And yet no one complained.  From the midst of that population of
+two millions of inhabitants, not one voice rose to beg for their
+comfort, their health, their life even, at the cost of a
+capitulation.
+
+Clear-sighted men had never hoped that Paris alone could compel
+the raising of the siege; but they thought, that by holding out,
+and keeping the Prussians under its walls, Paris would give to
+France time to rise, to organize armies, and to rush upon the enemy.
+There was the duty of Paris; and Paris was toiling to fulfil it to
+the utmost limits of possibility, reckoning as a victory each day
+that it gained.
+
+Unfortunately, all this suffering was to be in vain.  The fatal
+hour struck, when, supplies being exhausted, it became necessary
+to surrender.  During three days the Prussians camped in the Champs
+Elysees, gazing with longing eyes upon that city, object of their
+most eager desires,--that Paris within which, victorious though
+they were, they had not dared to venture.  Then, soon after,
+communications were reopened; and one morning, as he received a
+letter from Switzerland,
+
+"It is from the Baron de Thaller!" exclaimed M. Favoral.
+
+Exactly so.  The manager of the Mutual Credit was a prudent man.
+Pleasantly situated in Switzerland, he was in nowise anxious to
+return to Paris before being quite certain that he had no risks
+to run.
+
+Upon receiving M. Favoral's assurances to that effect, he started;
+and, almost at the same time the elder Jottras and M. Costeclar
+made their appearance.
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+It was a curious spectacle, the return of those braves for whom
+Parisian slang had invented the new and significant expression of
+_franc-fileur_.
+
+They were not so proud then as they have been since.  Feeling rather
+embarrassed in the midst of a population still quivering with the
+emotions of the siege, they had at least the good taste to try and
+find pretexts for their absence.
+
+"I was cut off," affirmed the Baron de Thaller.  "I had gone to
+Switzerland to place my wife and daughter in safety.  When I came
+back, good-by! the Prussians had closed the doors.  For more than
+a week, I wandered around Paris, trying to find an opening.  I
+became suspected of being a spy.  I was arrested.  A little more,
+and I was shot dead!"
+
+"As to myself," declared M. Costeclar, "I foresaw exactly what has
+happened.  I knew that it was outside, to organize armies of relief,
+that men would be wanted.  I went to offer my services to the
+government of defence; and everybody in Bordeaux saw me booted and
+spurred, and ready to leave."
+
+He was consequently soliciting the Cross of the Legion of Honor,
+and was not without hopes of obtaining it through the all-powerful
+influence of his financial connections.
+
+"Didn't So-and-so get it?" he replied to objections.  And he named
+this or that individual whose feats of arms consisted principally
+in having exhibited themselves in uniforms covered with gold lace
+to the very shoulders.
+
+"But I am the man who deserves it most, that cross," insisted the
+younger M. Jottras; "for I, at least, have rendered valuable
+services."
+
+And he went on telling how, after searching for arms all over
+England, he had sailed for New York, where he had purchased any
+number of guns and cartridges, and even some batteries of artillery.
+
+This last journey had been very wearisome to him, he added and yet
+he did not regret it; for it had furnished him an opportunity to
+study on the spot the financial morals of America; and he had
+returned with ideas enough to make the fortune of three or four
+stock companies with twenty millions of capital.
+
+"Ah, those Americans!" he exclaimed.  "They are the men who
+understand business!  We are but children by the side of them."
+
+It was through M. Chapelain, the Desclavettes, and old Desormeaux,
+that these news reached the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+It was also through Maxence, whose battalion had been dissolved,
+and who, whilst waiting for something better, had accepted a
+clerkship in the office of the Orleans Railway, where he earned
+two hundred francs a month.  For M. Favoral saw and heard nothing
+that was going on around him.  He was wholly absorbed in his
+business: he left earlier, came home later, and hardly allowed
+himself time to eat and drink.
+
+He told all his friends that business was looking up again in the
+most unexpected manner; that there were fortunes to be made by
+those who could command ready cash; and that it was necessary to
+make up for lost time.
+
+He pretended that the enormous indemnity to be paid to the Prussians
+would necessitate an enormous movement of capital, financial
+combinations, a loan, and that so many millions could not be handled
+without allowing a few little millions to fall into intelligent
+pockets.
+
+Dazzled by the mere enumeration of those fabulous sums, "I should
+not be a bit surprised," said the others, "to see Favoral double
+and treble his fortune.  What a famous match his daughter will be!"
+
+Alas! never had Mlle. Gilberte felt in her heart so much hatred
+and disgust for that money, the only thought, the sole subject of
+conversation, of those around her,--for that cursed money which
+had risen like an insurmountable obstacle between Marius and
+herself.
+
+For two weeks past, the communications had been completely restored;
+and there was as yet no sign of M. de Tregars.  It was with the most
+violent palpitations of her heart that she awaited each day the hour
+of the Signor Gismondo Pulei's lesson: and more painful each time
+became her anguish when she heard him exclaim,
+
+"Nothing, not a line, not a word.  The pupil has forgotten his old
+master!"
+
+But Mlle. Gilberte knew well that Marius did not forget.  Her blood
+froze in her veins when she read in the papers the interminable
+list of those poor soldiers who had succumbed during the invasion,
+--the more fortunate ones under Prussian bullets; the others along
+the roads, in the mud or in the snow, of cold, of fatigue, of
+suffering and of want.
+
+She could not drive from her mind the memory of that lugubrious
+vision which had so much frightened her; and she was asking herself
+whether it was not one of those inexplicable presentiments, of
+which there are examples, which announce the death of a beloved
+person.
+
+Alone at night in her little room, Mlle. Gilberte withdrew from the
+hiding-place, where she kept it preciously, that package which
+Marius had confided to her, recommending her not to open it until
+she was sure that he would not return.  It was very voluminous,
+enclosed in an envelope of thick paper, sealed with red wax, bearing
+the arms of Tregars; and she had often wondered what it could
+possibly contain.  And now she shuddered at the thought that she
+had perhaps the right to open it.
+
+And she had no one of whom she could ask for a word of hope.  She
+was compelled to hide her tears, and to put on a smile.  She was
+compelled to invent pretexts for those who expressed their wonder
+at seeing her exquisite beauty withering in the bud,--for her
+mother, whose anxiety was without limit, when she saw her thus pale,
+her eyes inflamed, and undermined by a continuous fever.
+
+True, Marius, on leaving, had left her a friend, the Count de
+Villegre; and, if any one knew any thing, he certainly did.  But
+she could see no way of hearing from him without risking her secret.
+Write to him?  Nothing was easier, since she had his address,--Rue
+Turenne.  But where could she ask him to direct his answer?  Rue St.
+Gilles?  Impossible!  True, she might go to him, or make an
+appointment in the neighborhood.  But how could she escape, even
+for an hour, without exciting Mme. Favoral's suspicions?
+
+Sometimes it occurred to her to confide in Maxence, who was laboring
+with admirable constancy to redeem his past.
+
+But what! must she, then, confess the truth,--confess that she,
+Gilberte, had lent her ears to the words of a stranger, met by
+chance in the street, and that she looked forward to no happiness
+in life save through him?  She dared not.  She could not take upon
+herself to overcome the shame of such a situation.
+
+She was on the verge of despair, the day when the Signor Pulei
+arrived radiant, exclaiming from the very threshold, "I have news!"
+
+And at once, without surprise at the awful emotion of the girl,
+which he attributed solely to the interest she felt for him,--him
+Gismondo Pulei, he went on,--"I did not get them direct, but through
+a respectable signor with long mustaches, and a red ribbon at his
+buttonhole, who, having received a letter from my dear pupil, has
+deigned to come to my room, and read it to me."
+
+The worthy maestro had not forgotten a single word of that letter;
+and it was almost literally that he repeated it.
+
+Six weeks after having enlisted, his pupil had been promoted
+corporal, then sergeant, then lieutenant.  He had fought in all
+the battles of the army of the Loire without receiving a scratch.
+But at the battle of the Maus, whilst leading back his men, who
+were giving way, he had been shot twice, full in the breast.
+Carried dying into an ambulance, he had lingered three weeks
+between life and death, having lost all consciousness of self.
+Twenty-four hours after, he had recovered his senses; and he took
+the first opportunity to recall himself to the affection of his
+friends.  All danger was over, he suffered scarcely any more; and
+they promised him, that, within a month, he would be up, and able
+to return to Paris.
+
+For the first time in many weeks Mlle. Gilberte breathed freely.
+But she would have been greatly surprised, had she been told that
+a day was drawing near when she would bless those wounds which
+detained Marius upon a hospital cot.  And yet it was so.
+
+Mme. Favoral and her daughter were alone, one evening, at the house,
+when loud clamors arose from the street, in the midst of which
+could be heard drunken voices yelling the refrains of revolutionary
+songs, accompanied by continuous rumbling sounds.  They ran to the
+window.  The National Guards had just taken possession of the cannon
+deposited in the Place Royale.  The reign of the Commune was
+commencing.
+
+In less than forty-eight hours, people came to regret the worst days
+of the siege.  Without leaders, without direction, the honest men
+had lost their heads.  All the braves who had returned at the time
+of the armistice had again taken flight.  Soon people had to hide
+or to fly to avoid being incorporated in the battalions of the
+Commune.  Night and day, around the walls, the fusillade rattled,
+and the artillery thundered.
+
+Again M. Favoral had given up going to his office.  What's the use?
+Sometimes, with a singular look, he would say to his wife and
+children,
+
+"This time it is indeed a liquidation.  Paris is lost!"
+
+And indeed they thought so, when at the hour of the supreme struggle,
+among the detonations of the cannon and the explosion of the shells;
+they felt their house shaking to its very foundations; when in the
+midst of the night they saw their apartment as brilliantly lighted
+as at mid-day by the flames which were consuming the Hotel de Ville
+and the houses around the Place de la Bastille.  And, in fact, the
+rapid action of the troops alone saved Paris from destruction.
+
+But towards the end of the following week, matters had commenced to
+quiet down; and Gilberte learned the return of Marius.
+
+
+
+XX
+
+"At last it has been given to my eyes to contemplate him, and to my
+arms to press him against my heart!"
+
+It was in these terms that the old Italian master, all vibrating
+with enthusiasm, and with his most terrible accent, announced to
+Mlle. Gilberte that he had just seen that famous pupil from whom he
+expected both glory and fortune.
+
+"But how weak he is still!" he added, "and suffering from his wounds.
+I hardly recognized him, he has grown so pale and so thin."
+
+But the girl was listening to him no more.  A flood of life filled
+her heart.  This moment made her forget all her troubles and all
+her anguish.
+
+"And I too," thought she, "shall see him again to-day."
+
+And, with the unerring instinct of the woman who loves, she
+calculated the moment when Marius would appear in Rue St. Gilles.
+It would probably be about nightfall, like the first time, before
+leaving; that is, about eight o'clock, for the days just then were
+about the longest in the year.  Now it so happened, that, on that
+very day and hour, Mlle. Gilberte expected to be alone at home.
+It was understood that her mother would, after dinner, call on
+Mme. Desclavettes, who was in bed, half dead of the fright she had
+had during the last convulsions of the Commune.  She would therefore
+be free and would not need to invent a pretext to go out for a few
+moments.  She could not help, however, but feel that this was a
+bold and most venturesome step for her to take; and, when her mother
+went out, she had not yet fully decided what to do.  But her bonnet
+was within reach, and Marius' letter was in her pocket.  She went
+to sit at the window.  The street was solitary and silent as of
+old.  Night was coming; and heavy black clouds floated over Paris.
+The heat was overpowering: there was not a breath of air.
+
+One by one, as the hour was approaching when she expected to see
+Marius, the hesitations of the young girl vanished like smoke.  She
+feared but one thing,--that he would not come, or that he may
+already have come and left, without succeeding in seeing her.
+
+Already did the objects become less distinct; and the gas was being
+lit in the back-shops, when she recognized him on the other side of
+the street.  He looked up as he went by; and, without stopping, he
+addressed her a rapid gesture, which she alone could understand, and
+which meant, "Come, I beseech you!"
+
+Her heart beating loud enough to be heard, Mlle. Gilberte ran down
+the stairs.  But it was only when she found herself in the street
+that she could appreciate the magnitude of the risk she was running.
+Concierges and shopkeepers were all sitting in front of their doors,
+taking the fresh air.  All knew her.  Would they not be surprised
+to see her out alone at such an hour?  Twenty steps in front of her
+she could see Marius.  But he had understood the danger; for,
+instead of turning the corner of the Rue des Minimes, he followed
+the Rue St. Gilles straight, and only stopped on the other side of
+the Boulevard.
+
+Then only did Mlle. Gilberte join him; and she could not withhold
+an exclamation, when she saw that he was as pale as death, and
+scarcely able to stand and to walk.
+
+"How imprudent of you to have returned so soon!" she said.
+
+A little blood came to M. de Tregars' cheeks.  His face brightened
+up, and, in a voice quivering with suppressed passion,
+
+"It would have been more imprudent still to stay away," he uttered.
+"Far from you, I felt myself dying."
+
+They were both leaning against the door of a closed shop; and they
+were as alone in the midst of the throng that circulated on the
+Boulevards, busy looking at the fearful wrecks of the Commune.
+
+"And besides," added Marius, "have I, then, a minute to lose?  I
+asked you for three years.  Fifteen months have gone, and I am no
+better off than on the first day.  When this accursed war broke out,
+all my arrangements were made.  I was certain to rapidly accumulate
+a sufficient fortune to enable me to ask for your hand without being
+refused.  Whereas now--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Now every thing is changed.  The future is so uncertain, that no
+one wishes to venture their capital.  Marcolet himself, who certainly
+does not lack boldness, and who believes firmly in the success of our
+enterprise, was telling me yesterday, 'There is nothing to be done
+just now: we must wait.'"
+
+There was in his voice such an intensity of grief, that the girl
+felt the tears coming to her eyes.
+
+"We will wait then," she said, attempting to smile.
+
+But M. de Tregars shook his head.
+
+"Is it possible?" he said.  "Do you, then, think that I do not know
+what a life you lead?"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte looked up.
+
+"Have I ever complained?" she asked proudly.
+
+"No.  Your mother and yourself, you have always religiously kept the
+secret of your tortures; and it was only a providential accident
+that revealed them to me.  But I learned every thing at last.  I know
+that she whom I love exclusively and with all the power of my soul is
+subjected to the most odious despotism, insulted, and condemned to
+the most humiliating privations.  And I, who would give my life for
+her a thousand times over,--I can do nothing for her.  Money raises
+between us such an insuperable obstacle, that my love is actually an
+offence.  To hear from her, I am driven to accept accomplices.  If I
+obtain from her a few moments of conversation, I run the risk of
+compromising her maidenly reputation."
+
+Deeply affected by his emotion:
+
+"At least," said Mlle. Gilberte, "you succeeded in delivering me
+from M. Costeclar."
+
+"Yes, I was fortunately able to find weapons against that scoundrel.
+But can I find some against all others that may offer?  Your father
+is very rich; and the men are numerous for whom marriage is but a
+speculation like any other."
+
+"Would you doubt me?"
+
+"Ah, rather would I doubt myself!  But I know what cruel trials your
+refusal to marry M. Costeclar imposed upon you: I know what a
+merciless struggle you had to sustain.  Another pretender may come,
+and then--No, no, you see that we cannot wait."
+
+"What would you do?"
+
+"I know not.  I have not yet decided upon my future course.  And yet
+Heaven knows what have been the labors of my mind during that long
+month I have just spent upon an ambulance-bed, that month during
+which you were my only thought.  Ah! when I think of it, I cannot
+find words to curse the recklessness with which I disposed of my
+fortune."
+
+As if she had heard a blasphemy, the young girl drew back a step.
+
+"It is impossible," she exclaimed, "that you should regret having
+paid what your father owed."
+
+A bitter smile contracted M. de Tregars' lips.
+
+"And suppose I were to tell you," he replied, "that my father in
+reality owed nothing?"
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Suppose I told you they took from him his entire fortune, over two
+millions, as audaciously as a pick-pocket robs a man of his
+handkerchief?  Suppose I told you, that, in his loyal simplicity,
+he was but a man of straw in the hands of skillful knaves?  Have you
+forgotten what you once heard the Count de Villegre say?"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte had forgotten nothing.
+
+"The Count de Villegre," she replied, "pretended that it was time
+enough still to compel the men who had robbed your father to
+disgorge."
+
+"Exactly!" exclaimed Marius.  "And now I am determined to make them
+disgorge."
+
+In the mean time night had quite come.  Lights appeared in the
+shop-windows; and along the line of the Boulevard the gas-lamps were
+being lit.  Alarmed by this sudden illumination, M. de Tregars drew
+off Mlle. Gilberte to a more obscure spot, by the stairs that lead
+to the Rue Amelot; and there, leaning against the iron railing, he
+went on,
+
+"Already, at the time of my father's death, I suspected the
+abominable tricks of which he was the victim.  I thought it unworthy
+of me to verify my suspicions.  I was alone in the world: my wants
+were few.  I was fully convinced that my researches would give me,
+within a brief time, a much larger fortune than the one I gave up.
+I found something noble and grand, and which flattered my vanity,
+in thus abandoning every thing, without discussion, without
+litigation, and consummating my ruin with a single dash of my pen.
+Among my friends the Count de Villegre alone had the courage to tell
+me that this was a guilty piece of folly; that the silence of the
+dupes is the strength of the knaves; that my indifference, which
+made the rascals rich, would make them laugh too.  I replied that I
+did not wish to see the name of Tregars dragged into court in a
+scandalous law-suit, and that to preserve a dignified silence was
+to honor my father's memory.  Treble fool that I was!  The only way
+to honor my father's memory was to avenge him, to wrest his spoils
+from the scoundrels who had caused his death.  I see it clearly
+to-day.  But, before undertaking any thing, I wished to consult you."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte was listening with the most intense attention.  She
+had come to mingle so completely in her thoughts her future life and
+that of M. de Tregars, that she saw nothing unusual in the fact of
+his consulting her upon matters affecting their prospects, and of
+seeing herself standing there deliberating with him.
+
+"You will require proofs," she suggested.
+
+"I have none, unfortunately," replied M. de Tregars; "at least, none
+sufficiently positive, and such as are required by courts of justice.
+But I think I may find them.  My former suspicions have become a
+certainty.  The same good luck that enabled me to deliver you of M.
+Costeclar's persecutions, also placed in my hands the most valuable
+information."
+
+"Then you must act," uttered Mlle. Gilberte resolutely.
+
+Marius hesitated for a moment, as if seeking expression to convey
+what he had still to say.  Then,
+
+"It is my duty," he proceeded, "to conceal nothing from you.  The
+task is a heavy one.  The obscure schemers of ten years ago have
+become big financiers, intrenched behind their money-bags as behind
+an impregnable fort.  Formerly isolated, they have managed to gather
+around them powerful interests, accomplices high in office, and
+friends whose commanding situation protects them.  Having succeeded,
+they are absolved.  They have in their favor what is called public
+consideration,--that idiotic thing which is made up of the admiration
+of the fools, the approbation of the knaves, and the concert of all
+interested vanities.  When they pass, their horses at full trot,
+their carriage raising a cloud of dust, insolent, impudent, swelled
+with the vulgar fatuity of wealth, people bow to the ground, and say,
+'Those are smart fellows!'  And in fact, yes, by skill or luck, they
+have hitherto avoided the police-courts where so many others have
+come to grief.  Those who despise them fear them, and shake hands
+with them.  Moreover, they are rich enough not to steal any more
+themselves.  They have employes to do that.  I take Heaven to witness
+that never until lately had the idea come to me to disturb in their
+possession the men who robbed my father.  Alone, what need had I of
+money?  Later, O my friend! I thought I could succeed in conquering
+the fortune I needed to obtain your hand.  You had promised to wait;
+and I was happy to think that I should owe you to my sole exertions.
+Events have crushed my hopes.  I am to-day compelled to acknowledge
+that all my efforts would be in vain.  To wait would be to run the
+risk of losing you.  Therefore I hesitate no longer.  I want what's
+mine: I wish to recover that of which I have been robbed.  Whatever
+I may do,--for, alas! I know not to what I may be driven, what
+role I may have to play,--remember that of all my acts, of all my
+thoughts, there will not be a single one that does not aim to bring
+nearer the blessed day when you shall become my wife."
+
+There was in his voice so much unspeakable affection, that the young
+girl could hardly restrain her tears.
+
+"Never, whatever may happen, shall I doubt you, Marius," she uttered.
+
+He took her hands, and, pressing them passionately within his,
+
+"And I," he exclaimed, "I swear, that, sustained by the thought of
+you, there is no disgust that I will not overcome, no obstacle that
+I will not overthrow."
+
+He spoke so loud, that two or three persons stopped.  He noticed it,
+and was brought suddenly from sentiment to the reality,
+
+"Wretches that we are," he said in a low voice, and very fast, "we
+forget what this interview may cost us!"
+
+And he led Mlle. Gilberte across the Boulevard; and, whilst making
+their way to the Rue St. Gilles, through the deserted streets,
+
+"It is a dreadful imprudence we have just committed," resumed M. de
+Tregars.  "But it was indispensable that we should see each other;
+and we had not the choice of means.  Now, and for a long time, we
+shall be separated.  Every thing you wish me to know,--say it to
+that worthy Gismondo, who repeats faithfully to me every word you
+utter.  Through him, also, you shall hear from me.  Twice a week,
+on Tuesdays and Fridays, about nightfall, I shall pass by your house;
+and, if I am lucky enough to have a glimpse of you, I shall return
+home fired with fresh energy.  Should any thing extraordinary
+happen, beckon to me, and I'll wait for you in the Rue des Minimes.
+But this is an expedient to which we must only resort in the last
+extremity.  I should never forgive myself, were I to compromise your
+fair name."
+
+They had reached the Rue St. Gilles.  Marius stopped.
+
+"We must part," he began.
+
+But then only Mlle. Gilberte remembered M. de Tregars' letter, which
+she had in her pocket.  Taking it out, and handing it to him,
+
+"Here," she said, "is the package you deposited with me."
+
+"No," he answered, repelling her gently, "keep that letter: it must
+never be opened now, except by the Marquise de Tregars."
+
+And raising her hand to his lips, and in a deeply agitated voice,
+
+"Farewell!" he murmured.  "Have courage, and have hope."
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+Mlle. Gilberte was soon far away; and Marius de Tregars remained
+motionless at the corner of the street, following her with his eyes
+through the darkness.
+
+She was walking fast, staggering over the rough pavement.  Leaving
+Marius, she fell back upon the earth from the height of her dreams.
+The deceiving illusion had vanished, and, returned to the world of
+sad reality, she was seized with anxiety.
+
+How long had she been out?  She knew not, and found it impossible
+to reckon.  But it was evidently getting late; for some of the shops
+were already closing.
+
+Meantime, she had reached the house.  Stepping back, and looking up,
+she saw that there was light in the parlor.
+
+"Mother has returned," she thought, trembling with apprehension.
+
+She hurried up, nevertheless; and, just as she reached the landing,
+Mme. Favoral opened the door, preparing to go down.
+
+"At last you are restored to me!" exclaimed the poor mother, whose
+sinister apprehensions were revealed by that single exclamation.  "I
+was going out to look for you at random,--in the streets, anywhere."
+
+And, drawing her daughter within the parlor, she clasped her in her
+arms with convulsive tenderness, exclaiming,
+
+"Where were you?  Where do you come from?  Do you know that it is
+after nine o'clock?"
+
+Such had been Mlle. Gilberte's state of mind during the whole of
+that evening, that she had not even thought of finding a pretext
+to justify her absence.  Now it was too late.  Besides, what
+explanation would have been plausible?  Instead, therefore, of
+answering,
+
+"Why, dear mother," she said with a forced smile, "has it not
+happened to me twenty times to go out in the neighborhood?"
+
+But Mme. Favoral's confiding credulity existed no longer.
+
+"I have been blind, Gilberte," she interrupted; "but this time my
+eyes must open to evidence.  There is in your life a mystery,
+something extraordinary, which I dare not try to guess."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte drew herself up, and, looking her mother straight in
+the eyes, with her beautiful, clear glance,
+
+"Would you suspect me of something wrong, then?" she exclaimed.
+
+Mme. Favoral stopped her with a gesture.
+
+"A young girl who conceals something from her mother always does
+wrong," she uttered.  "It is a long while since I have had for the
+first time the presentiment that you were hiding something from me.
+But, when I questioned you, you succeeded in quieting my suspicions.
+You have abused my confidence and my weakness."
+
+This reproach was the most cruel that could be addressed to Mlle.
+Gilberte.  The blood rushed to her face, and, in a firm voice,
+
+"Well, yes," said she: "I have a secret."
+
+"Dear me!"
+
+"And, if I did not confide it to you, it is because it is also the
+secret of another.  Yes, I confess it, I have been imprudent in the
+extreme; I have stepped beyond all the limits of propriety and social
+custom; I have exposed myself to the worst calumnies.  But never,--I
+swear it,--never have I done any thing of which my conscience can
+reproach me, nothing that I have to blush for, nothing that I regret,
+nothing that I am not ready to do again to-morrow."
+
+"I said nothing, 'tis true; but it was my duty.  Alone I had to
+suffer the responsibility of my acts.  Having alone freely engaged
+my future, I wished to bear alone the weight of my anxiety.  I should
+never have forgiven myself for having added this new care to all your
+other sorrows."
+
+Mme. Favoral stood dismayed.  Big tears rolled down her withered
+cheeks.
+
+"Don't you see, then," she stammered, "that all my past suffering is
+as nothing compared to what I endure to-day?  Good heavens! what have
+I ever done to deserve so many trials?  Am I to be spared none of the
+troubles of this world?  And it is through my own daughter that I am
+the most cruelly stricken!"
+
+This was more than Mlle. Gilberte could bear.  Her heart was breaking
+at the sight of her mother's tears, that angel of meekness and
+resignation.  Throwing her arms around her neck, and kissing her on
+the eyes,
+
+"Mother," she murmured, "adored mother, I beg of you do not weep
+thus!  Speak to me!  What do you wish me to do?"
+
+Gently the poor woman drew back.
+
+"Tell me the truth," she answered.
+
+Was it not certain that this was the very thing she would ask; in
+fact, the only thing she could ask?  Ah! how much would the young
+girl have preferred one of her father's violent scenes, and
+brutalities which would have exalted her energy, instead of
+crushing it!
+
+Attempting to gain time,
+
+"Well, yes," she answered, "I'll tell you every thing, mother, but
+not now, to-morrow, later."
+
+She was about to yield, however, when her father's arrival cut
+short their conversation.
+
+The cashier of the Mutual Credit was quite lively that night.  He
+was humming a tune, a thing which did not happen to him four times
+a year, and which was indicative of the most extreme satisfaction.
+But he stopped short at the sight of the disturbed countenance of his
+wife and daughter.
+
+"What is the matter?" he inquired.
+
+"Nothing," hastily answered Mlle. Gilberte,--"nothing at all,
+father."
+
+"Then you are crying for your amusement," he said.  "Come, be candid
+for once, and confess that Maxence has been at his tricks again!"
+
+"You are mistaken, father: I swear it!"
+
+He asked no further questions, being in his nature not very curious,
+whether because family matters were of so little consequence to him,
+or because he had a vague idea that his general behavior deprived
+him of all right to their confidence.
+
+"Very well, then," he said in a gruff tone, "let us all go to bed.
+I have worked so hard to-day, that I am quite exhausted.  People
+who pretend that business is dull make me laugh.  Never has M. de
+Thaller been in the way of making so much money as now."
+
+When he spoke, they obeyed.  So that Mlle. Gilberte was thus going
+to have the whole night before her to resume possession of herself,
+to pass over in her mind the events of the evening, and deliberate
+coolly upon the decision she must come to; for, she could not doubt
+it, Mme. Favoral would, the very next day, renew her questions.
+
+What should she say?  All?  Mlle. Gilberte felt disposed to do so
+by all the aspirations of her heart, by the certainty of indulgent
+complicity, by the thought of finding in a sympathetic soul the echo
+of her joys, of her troubles, and of her hopes.
+
+Yes.  But Mme. Favoral was still the same woman, whose firmest
+resolutions vanished under the gaze of her husband.  Let a pretender
+come; let a struggle begin, as in the case of M. Costeclar,--would
+she have strength enough to remain silent?  No!
+
+Then it would be a fearful scene with M. Favoral.  He might,
+perhaps, even go to M. de Tregars.  What scandal!  For he was a man
+who spared no one; and then a new obstacle would rise between them,
+more insurmountable still than the others.
+
+Mlle. Gilberte was thinking, too, of Marius's projects; of that
+terrible game he was about to play, the issue of which was to decide
+their fate.  He had said enough to make her understand all its
+perils, and that a single indiscretion might suffice to set at
+nought the result of many months' labor and patience.  Besides, to
+speak, was it not to abuse Marius's confidence.  How could she
+expect another to keep a secret she had been unable to keep herself?
+
+At last, after protracted and painful hesitation, she decided that
+she was bound to silence, and that she would only vouchsafe the
+vaguest explanations.
+
+It was in vain, then, that, on the next and the following days,
+Mme. Favoral tried to obtain that confession which she had seen,
+as it were, rise to her daughter's lips.  To her passionate
+adjurations, to her tears, to her ruses even, Mlle. Gilberte
+invariably opposed equivocal answers, a story through which nothing
+could be guessed, save one of those childish romances which stop
+at the preface,--a schoolgirl love for a chimerical hero.
+
+There was nothing in this very reassuring to a mother; but Mme.
+Favoral knew her daughter too well to hope to conquer her invincible
+obstinacy.  She insisted no more, appeared convinced, but resolved
+to exercise the utmost vigilance.  In vain, however, did she display
+all the penetration of which she was capable.  The severest
+attention did not reveal to her a single suspicious fact, not a
+circumstance from which she could draw an induction, until, at last,
+she thought that she must have been mistaken.
+
+The fact is, that Mlle. Gilberte had not been long in feeling
+herself watched; and she observed herself with a tenacious
+circumspection that could hardly have been expected of her resolute
+and impatient nature.  She had trained herself to a sort of cheerful
+carelessness, to which she strictly adhered, watching every
+expression of her countenance, and avoiding carefully those hours
+of vague revery in which she formerly indulged.
+
+For two successive weeks, fearing to be betrayed by her looks, she
+had the courage not to show herself at the window at the hour when
+she knew Marius would pass.  Moreover, she was very minutely
+informed of the alternatives of the campaign undertaken by M. de
+Tregars.
+
+More enthusiastic than ever about his pupil, the Signor Gismondo
+Pulei never tired of singing his praise, and with such pomp of
+expression, and so curious an exuberance of gesticulation, that Mme.
+Favoral was much amused; and, on the days when she was present at
+her daughter's lesson, she was the first to inquire,
+
+"Well, how is that famous pupil?"
+
+And, according to what Marius had told him,
+
+"He is swimming in the purest satisfaction," answered the candid
+maestro.  "Every thing succeeds miraculously well, and much beyond
+his hopes."
+
+Or else, knitting his brows--
+
+"He was sad yesterday," he said, "owing to an unexpected
+disappointment; but he does not lose courage.  We shall succeed."
+
+The young girl could not help smiling to see her mother assisting
+thus the unconscious complicity of the Signor Gismondo.  Then she
+reproached herself for having smiled, and for having thus come,
+through a gradual and fatal descent, to laugh at a duplicity at
+which she would have blushed in former times.  In spite of herself,
+however, she took a passionate interest in the game that was being
+played between her mother and herself, and of which her secret was
+the stake.  It was an ever-palpitating interest in her hitherto
+monotonous life, and a source of constantly-renewed emotions.
+
+The days became weeks, and the weeks months; and Mme. Favoral
+relaxed her useless surveillance, and, little by little, gave it
+up almost entirely.  She still thought, that, at a certain moment,
+something unusual had occurred to her daughter; but she felt
+persuaded, that, whatever that was, it had been forgotten.
+
+So that, on the stated days, Mlle. Gilberte could go and lean upon
+the window, without fear of being called to account for the emotion
+which she felt when M. de Tregars appeared.  At the expected hour,
+invariably, and with a punctuality to shame M. Favoral himself, he
+turned the corner of the Rue Turenne, exchanged a rapid glance with
+the young girl, and passed on.
+
+His health was completely restored; and with it he had recovered
+that graceful virility which results from the perfect blending of
+suppleness and strength.  But he no longer wore the plain garments
+of former days.  He was dressed now with that elegant simplicity
+which reveals at first sight that rarest of objects,--a "perfect
+gentleman."  And, whilst she accompanied him with her eyes as he
+walked towards the Boulevard, she felt thoughts of joy and pride
+rising from the bottom of her soul.
+
+"Who would ever imagine," thought she, "that this young gentleman
+walking away yonder is my affianced husband, and that the day is
+perhaps not far, when, having become his wife, I shall lean upon
+his arm?  Who would think that all my thoughts belong to him, that
+it is for my sake that he has given up the ambition of his life,
+and is now prosecuting another object?  Who would suspect that it
+is for Gilberte Favoral's sake that the Marquis de Tregars is
+walking in the Rue St. Gilles?"
+
+And, indeed, Marius did deserve some credit for these walks; for
+winter had come, spreading a thick coat of mud over the pavement
+of all those little streets which are always forgotten by the
+street-cleaners.
+
+The cashier's home had resumed its habits of before the war, its
+drowsy monotony scarcely disturbed by the Saturday dinner, by M.
+Desclavettes' naivetes or old Desormeaux's puns.
+
+Maxence, in the mean time, had ceased to live with his parents.  He
+had returned to Paris immediately after the Commune; and, feeling no
+longer in the humor to submit to the paternal despotism, he had
+taken a small apartment on the Boulevard du Temple; but, at the
+pressing instance of his mother, he had consented to come every
+night to dine at the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+Faithful to his oath, he was working hard, though without getting
+on very fast.  The moment was far from propitious; and the occasion,
+which he had so often allowed to escape, did not offer itself again.
+For lack of any thing better, he had kept his clerkship at the
+railway; and, as two hundred francs a month were not quite sufficient
+for his wants, he spent a portion of his nights copying documents
+for M. Chapelain's successor.
+
+"What do you need so much money for?" his mother said to him when
+she noticed his eyes a little red.
+
+"Every thing is so dear!" he answered with a smile, which was
+equivalent to a confidence, and yet which Mme. Favoral did not
+understand.
+
+He had, nevertheless, managed to pay all his debts, little by
+little.  The day when, at last, he held in his hand the last
+receipted bill, he showed it proudly to his father, begging him to
+find him a place at the Mutual Credit, where, with infinitely less
+trouble, he could earn so much more.
+
+M. Favoral commenced to giggle.
+
+"Do you take me for a fool, like your mother?" he exclaimed.  "And
+do you think I don't know what life you lead?"
+
+"My life is that of a poor devil who works as hard as he can."
+
+"Indeed!  How is it, then, that women are constantly seen at your
+house, whose dresses and manners are a scandal in the neighborhood?"
+
+"You have been deceived, father."
+
+"I have seen."
+
+"It is impossible.  Let me explain."
+
+"No, you would have your trouble for nothing.  You are, and you will
+ever remain, the same; and it would be folly on my part to introduce
+into an office where I enjoy the esteem of all, a fellow, who, some
+day or other, will be fatally dragged into the mud by some lost
+creature."
+
+Such discussions were not calculated to make the relations between
+father and son more cordial.  Several times M. Favoral had
+insinuated, that, since Maxence lodged away from home, he might as
+well dine away too.  And he would evidently have notified him to
+do so, had he not been prevented by a remnant of human respect,
+and the fear of gossip.
+
+On the other hand, the bitter regret of having, perhaps, spoiled
+his life, the uncertainty of the future, the penury of the moment,
+all the unsatisfied desires of youth, kept Maxence in a state of
+perpetual irritation.
+
+The excellent Mme. Favoral exhausted all her arguments to quiet him.
+
+"Your father is harsh for us," she said; "but is he less harsh for
+himself?  He forgives nothing; but he has never needed to be
+forgiven himself.  He does not understand youth, but he has never
+been young himself; and at twenty he was as grave and as cold as
+you see him now.  How could he know what pleasure is?--he to whom
+the idea has never come to take an hour's enjoyment."
+
+"Have I, then, been guilty of any crimes, to be thus treated by my
+father?" exclaimed Maxence, flushed with anger.  "Our existence here
+is an unheard-of thing.  You, poor, dear mother!--you have never
+had the free disposition of a five-franc-piece.  Gilberte spends
+her days turning her dresses, after having had them dyed.  I am
+driven to a petty clerkship.  And my father has fifty thousand
+francs a year!"
+
+Such, indeed, was the figure at which the most moderate estimated
+M. Favoral's fortune.  M. Chapelain, who was supposed to be well
+informed, insinuated freely that his friend Vincent, besides being
+the cashier of the Mutual Credit, must also be one of its principal
+stock-holders.  Now, judging from the dividend which had just been
+paid, the Mutual Credit must, since the war, have realized enormous
+profits.  All its enterprises were successful; and it was on the
+point of negotiating a foreign loan which would infallibly fill its
+exchequer to overflowing.
+
+M. Favoral, moreover, defended himself feebly from these accusations
+of concealed opulence.  When M. Desormeaux told him, "Come, now,
+between us, candidly, how many millions have you?" he had such a
+strange way of affirming that people were very much mistaken, that
+his friends' convictions became only the more settled.  And, as
+soon as they had a few thousand francs of savings, they promptly
+brought them to him, imitated in this by a goodly number of the
+small capitalists of the neighborhood, who were wont to remark
+among themselves,
+
+"That man is safer than the bank!"
+
+Millionaire or otherwise, the cashier of the Mutual Credit became
+daily more difficult to live with.  If strangers, those who had
+with him but a superficial intercourse, if the Saturday guests
+themselves, discovered in him no appreciable change, his wife and
+his children followed with anxious surprise the modifications of
+his humor.
+
+If outwardly he still appeared the same impassible, precise, and
+grave man, he showed himself at home more fretful than an old maid,
+--nervous, agitated, and subject to the oddest whims.  After
+remaining three or four days without opening his lips, he would
+begin to speak upon all sorts of subjects with amazing volubility.
+Instead of watering his wine freely, as formerly, he had begun to
+drink it pure; and he often took two bottles at his meal, excusing
+himself upon the necessity that he felt the need of stimulating
+himself a little after his excessive labors.
+
+Then he would be taken with fits of coarse gayety; and he related
+singular anecdotes, intermingled with slang expressions, which
+Maxence alone could understand.
+
+On the morning of the first day of January, 1872, as he sat down
+to breakfast, he threw upon the table a roll of fifty napoleons,
+saying to his children,
+
+"Here is your New Year's gift!  Divide, and buy anything you like."
+
+And as they were looking at him, staring, stupid with astonishment,
+
+"Well, what of it?" he added with an oath.  "Isn't it well, once in
+a while, to scatter the coins a little?"
+
+Those unexpected thousand francs Maxence and Mlle. Gilberte applied
+to the purchase of a shawl, which their mother had wished for
+ten years.
+
+She laughed and she cried with pleasure and emotion, the poor woman;
+and, whilst draping it over her shoulders,
+
+"Well, well, my dear children," she said: "your father, after all,
+is not such a bad man."
+
+Of which they did not seem very well convinced.  "One thing is sure,"
+remarked Mlle. Gilberte: "to permit himself such liberality, papa
+must be awfully rich."
+
+M. Favoral was not present at this scene.  The yearly accounts kept
+him so closely confined to his office, that he remained forty-eight
+hours without coming home.  A journey which he was compelled to
+undertake for M. de Thaller consumed the balance of the week.
+
+But on his return he seemed satisfied and quiet.  Without giving up
+his situation at the Mutual Credit, he was about, he stated, to
+associate himself with the Messrs. Jottras, M. Saint Pavin of
+"The Financial Pilot," and M. Costeclar, to undertake the
+construction of a foreign railway.
+
+M. Costeclar was at the head of this enterprise, the enormous
+profits of which were so certain and so clear; that they could be
+figured in advance.
+
+And whilst on this same subject,
+
+"You were very wrong," he said to Mlle. Gilberte, "not to make haste
+and marry Costeclar when he was willing to have you.  You will never
+find another such match,--a man who, before ten years, will be a
+financial power."
+
+The very name of M. Costeclar had the effect of irritating the young
+girl.
+
+"I thought you had fallen out?" she said to her father.
+
+"So we had," he replied with some embarrassment, "because he has
+never been willing to tell me why he had withdrawn; but people
+always make up again when they have interests in common."
+
+Formerly, before the war, M. Favoral would certainly never have
+condescended to enter into all these details.  But he was becoming
+almost communicative.  Mlle. Gilberte, who was observing him with
+interested attention, fancied she could see that he was yielding
+to that necessity of expansion, more powerful than the will itself,
+which besets the man who carries within him a weighty secret.
+
+Whilst for twenty years he had, so to speak, never breathed a word
+on the subject of the Thaller family, now he was continually
+speaking of them.  He told his Saturday friends all about the
+princely style of the baron, the number of his servants and horses,
+the color of his liveries, the parties that he gave, what he spent
+for pictures and objects of art, and even the very names of his
+mistresses; for the baron had too much respect for himself not to
+lay every year a few thousand napoleons at the feet of some young
+lady sufficiently conspicuous to be mentioned in the society
+newspapers.
+
+M. Favoral confessed that he did not approve the baron; but it was
+with a sort of bitter hatred that he spoke of the baroness.  It was
+impossible, he affirmed to his guests, to estimate even approximately
+the fabulous sums squandered by her, scattered, thrown to the four
+winds.  For she was not prodigal, she was prodigality itself,--that
+idiotic, absurd, unconscious prodigality which melts a fortune in a
+turn of the hand; which cannot even obtain from money the
+satisfaction of a want, a wish, or a fancy.
+
+He said incredible things of her,--things which made Mme.
+Desclavettes jump upon her seat, explaining that he learned all
+these details from M. de Thaller, who had often commissioned him to
+pay his wife's debts, and also from the baroness herself, who did
+not hesitate to call sometimes at the office for twenty francs; for
+such was her want of order, that, after borrowing all the savings
+of her servants, she frequently had not two cents to throw to a
+beggar.
+
+Neither did the cashier of the Mutual Credit seem to have a very
+good opinion of Mademoiselle de Thaller.
+
+Brought up at hap-hazard, in the kitchen much more than in the
+parlor, until she was twelve, and, later, dragged by her mother
+anywhere,--to the races, to the first representations, to the
+watering-places, always escorted by a squadron of the young men
+of the bourse, Mlle. de Thaller had adopted a style which would
+have been deemed detestable in a man.  As soon as some questionable
+fashion appeared, she appropriated it at once, never finding any
+thing eccentric enough to make herself conspicuous.  She rode on
+horseback, fenced, frequented pigeon-shooting matches, spoke slang,
+sang Theresa's songs, emptied neatly her glass of champagne, and
+smoked her cigarette.
+
+The guests were struck dumb with astonishment.
+
+"But those people must spend millions!" interrupted M. Chapelain.
+
+M. Favoral started as if he had been slapped on the back.
+
+"Bash!" he answered.  "They are so rich, so awfully rich!"
+
+He changed the conversation that evening; but on the following
+Saturday, from the very beginning of the dinner,
+
+"I believe," he said, "that M. de Thaller has just discovered a
+husband for his daughter."
+
+"My compliments!" exclaimed M. Desormeaux.  "And who may this bold
+fellow be?"
+
+"A nobleman, of course," he replied.  "Isn't that the tradition?
+As soon as a financier has made his little million, he starts in
+quest of a nobleman to give him his daughter."
+
+One of those painful presentiments, such as arise in the inmost
+recesses of the soul, made Mlle. Gilberte turn pale.  This
+presentiment suggested to her an absurd, ridiculous, unlikely thing;
+and yet she was sure that it would not deceive her,--so sure,
+indeed, that she rose under the pretext of looking for something in
+the side-board, but in reality to conceal the terrible emotion which
+she anticipated.
+
+"And this gentleman?" inquired M. Chapelain.
+
+"Is a marquis, if you please,--the Marquis de Tregars."
+
+Well, yes, it was this very name that Mlle. Gilberte was expecting,
+and well that she did; for she was thus able to command enough
+control over herself to check the cry that rose to her throat.
+
+"But this marriage is not made yet," pursued M. Favoral.  "This
+marquis is not yet so completely ruined, that he can be made to do
+any thing they please.  Sure, the baroness has set her heart upon
+it, oh! but with all her might!"
+
+A discussion which now arose prevented Gilberte from learning any
+more; and as soon as the dinner, which seemed eternal to her, was
+over, she complained of a violent headache, and withdrew to her room.
+
+She shook with fever; her teeth chattered.  And yet she could not
+believe that Marius was betraying her, nor that he could have the
+thought of marrying such a girl as M. Favoral had described, and
+for money too!  Poor, ah!  No, that was not admissible.  Although
+she remembered well that Marius had made her swear to believe
+nothing that might be said of him, she spent a horrible Sunday,
+and she felt like throwing herself in the Signor Gismondo's arms,
+when, in giving her his lesson the following Monday,
+
+"My poor pupil," he said, "feels miserable.  A marriage has been
+spoken of for him, for which he has a perfect horror; and he trembles
+lest the rumor may reach his intended, whom he loves exclusively."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte felt re-assured after that.  And yet there remained
+in her heart an invincible sadness.  She could hardly doubt that
+this matrimonial scheme was a part of the plan planned by Marius
+to recover his fortune.  But why, then, had he applied to M. de
+Thaller?  Who could be the man who had despoiled the Marquis de
+Tregars?
+
+Such were the thoughts which occupied her mind on that Saturday
+evening when the commissary of police presented himself in the Rue
+St. Gilles to arrest M. Favoral, charged with embezzling ten or
+twelve millions.
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+The hour had now come for the denouement of that home tragedy which
+was being enacted in the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+The reader will remember the incidents narrated at the beginning of
+this story,--M. de Thaller's visit and angry words with M. Favoral,
+his departure after leaving a package of bank-notes in Mlle.
+Gilberte's hands, the advent of the commissary of police, M.
+Favoral's escape, and finally the departure of the Saturday evening
+guests.
+
+The disaster which struck Mme. Favoral and her children had been so
+sudden and so crushing, that they had been, on the moment, too
+stupefied to realize it.  What had happened went so far beyond the
+limits of the probable, of the possible even, that they could not
+believe it.  The too cruel scenes which had just taken place were
+to them like the absurd incidents of a horrible nightmare.
+
+But when their guests had retired after a few commonplace
+protestations, when they found themselves alone, all three, in that
+house whose master had just fled, tracked by the police,--then
+only, as the disturbed equilibrium of their minds became somewhat
+restored, did they fully realize the extent of the disaster, and
+the horror of the situation.
+
+Whilst Mme. Favoral lay apparently lifeless on an arm-chair,
+Gilberte kneeling at her feet, Maxence was walking up and down the
+parlor with furious steps.  He was whiter than the plaster on the
+halls; and a cold perspiration glued his tangled hair to his temples.
+
+His eyes glistening, and his fists clinched,
+
+"Our father a thief!" he kept repeating in a hoarse voice, "a forger!"
+
+And in fact never had the slightest suspicion arisen in his mind.
+In these days of doubtful reputations, he had been proud indeed of
+M. Favoral's reputation of austere integrity.  And he had endured
+many a cruel reproach, saying to himself that his father had, by his
+own spotless conduct, acquired the right to be harsh and exacting.
+
+"And he has stolen twelve millions!" he exclaimed.
+
+And he went on, trying to calculate all the luxury and splendor
+which such a sum represents, all the cravings gratified, all the
+dreams realized, all it can procure of things that may be bought.
+And what things are not for sale for twelve millions!
+
+Then he examined the gloomy home in the Rue St. Gilles,--the
+contracted dwelling, the faded furniture, the prodigies of a
+parsimonious industry, his mother's privations, his sister's penury,
+and his own distress.  And he exclaimed again,
+
+"It is a monstrous infamy!"
+
+The words of the commissary of police had opened his eyes; and he
+now fancied the most wonderful things.  M. Favoral, in his mind,
+assumed fabulous proportions.  By what miracles of hypocrisy and
+dissimulation had he succeeded in making himself ubiquitous as it
+were, and, without awaking a suspicion, living two lives so distinct
+and so different,--here, in the midst of his family, parsimonious,
+methodic, and severe; elsewhere, in some illicit household,
+doubtless facile, smiling, and generous, like a successful thief.
+
+For Maxence considered the bills found in the secretary as a
+flagrant, irrefutable and material proof.
+
+Upon the brink of that abyss of shame into which his father had just
+tumbled, he thought he could see, not the inevitable woman, that
+incentive of all human actions, but the entire legion of those
+bewitching courtesans who possess unknown crucibles wherein to swell
+fortunes, and who have secret filtres to stupefy their dupes, and
+strip them of their honor, after robbing them of their last cent.
+
+"And I," said Maxence,--"I, because at twenty I was fond of
+pleasure, I was called a bad son!  Because I had made some three
+hundred francs of debts, I was deemed a swindler!  Because I love
+a poor girl who has for me the most disinterested affection, I am
+one of those rascals whom their family disown, and from whom nothing
+can be expected but shame and disgrace!"
+
+He filled the parlor with the sound of his voice, which rose like
+his wrath.
+
+And at the thought of all the bitter reproaches which had been
+addressed to him by his father, and of all the humiliations that
+had been heaped upon him,
+
+"Ah, the wretch!" he fairly shrieked, "--the coward!"
+
+As pale as her brother, her face bathed in tears, and her beautiful
+hair hanging undone, Mlle. Gilberte drew herself up.
+
+"He is our father, Maxence," she said gently.
+
+But he interrupted her with a wild burst of laughter.  "True," he
+answered; "and, by virtue of the law which is written in the code,
+we owe him affection and respect."
+
+"Maxence!" murmured the girl in a beseeching tone.  But he went on,
+nevertheless,
+
+"Yes, he is our father, unfortunately.  But I should like to know
+his titles to our respect and our affection.  After making our
+mother the most miserable of creatures, he has embittered our
+existence, withered our youth, ruined my future, and done his best
+to spoil yours by compelling you to marry Costeclar.  And, to crown
+all these deeds of kindness, he runs away now, after stealing twelve
+millions, leaving us nothing but misery and a disgraced name.
+
+"And yet," he added, "is it possible that a cashier should take
+twelve millions, and his employer know nothing of it?  And is our
+father really the only man who benefitted by these millions?"
+
+Then came back to the mind of Maxence and Mlle. Gilberte the last
+words of their father at the moment of his flight,
+
+"I have been betrayed; and I must suffer for all!"
+
+And his sincerity could hardly be called in question; for he was
+then in one of those moments of decisive crisis in which the truth
+forces itself out in spite of all calculation.
+
+"He must have accomplices then," murmured Maxence.
+
+Although he had spoken very low, Mme. Favoral overheard him.  To
+defend her husband, she found a remnant of energy, and, straightening
+herself on her seat,
+
+"Ah! do not doubt it," she stammered out.  "Of his own inspiration,
+Vincent could never have committed an evil act.  He has been
+circumvented, led away, duped!"
+
+"Very well; but by whom?"
+
+"By Costeclar," affirmed Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+"By the Messrs. Jottras, the bankers," said Mme. Favoral, "and also
+by M. Saint Pavin, the editor of 'the Financial Pilot.'"
+
+"By all of them, evidently," interrupted Maxence, "even by his
+manager, M. de Thaller."
+
+When a man is at the bottom of a precipice, what is the use of
+finding out how he has got there,--whether by stumbling over a
+stone, or slipping on a tuft of grass!  And yet it is always our
+foremost thought.  It was with an eager obstinacy that Mme. Favoral
+and her children ascended the course of their existence, seeking in
+the past the incidents and the merest words which might throw some
+light upon their disaster; for it was quite manifest that it was
+not in one day and at the same time that twelve millions had been
+subtracted from the Mutual Credit.  This enormous deficit must have
+been, as usual, made gradually, with infinite caution at first,
+whilst there was a desire, and some hope, to make it good again,
+then with mad recklessness towards the end when the catastrophe had
+become inevitable.
+
+"Alas!" murmured Mme. Favoral, "why did not Vincent listen to my
+presentiments on that ever fatal day when he brought M. de Thaller,
+M. Jottras, and M. Saint Pavin to dine here?  They promised him a
+fortune."
+
+Maxence and Mlle. Gilberte were too young at the time of that dinner
+to have preserved any remembrance of it; but they remembered many
+other circumstances, which, at the time they had taken place, had
+not struck them.  They understood now the temper of their father,
+his perpetual irritation, and the spasms of his humor.  When his
+friends were heaping insults upon him, he had exclaimed,
+
+"Be it so! let them arrest me; and to-night, for the first time in
+many years, I shall sleep in peace."
+
+There were years, then, that he lived, as it were upon burning coals,
+trembling at the fear of discovery, and wondering, as he went to
+sleep each night, whether he would not be awakened by the rude hand
+of the police tapping him on the shoulder.  No one better than Mme.
+Favoral could affirm it.
+
+"Your father, my children," she said, "had long since lost his sleep.
+There was hardly ever a night that he did not get up and walk the
+room for hours."
+
+They understood, now, his efforts to compel Mlle. Gilberte to marry
+M. Costeclar.
+
+"He thought that Costeclar would help him out of the scrape,"
+suggested Maxence to his sister.
+
+The poor girl shuddered at the thought, and she could not help
+feeling thankful to her father for not having told her his situation;
+for would she have had the sublime courage to refuse the sacrifice,
+if her father had told her?
+
+"I have stolen!  I am lost!  Costeclar alone can save me; and he
+will save me if you become his wife."
+
+M. Favoral's pleasant behavior during the siege was quite natural.
+Then he had no fears; and one could understand how in the most
+critical hours of the Commune, when Paris was in flames, he could
+have exclaimed almost cheerfully,
+
+"Ah! this time it is indeed the final liquidation."
+
+Doubtless, in the bottom of his heart, he wished that Paris might
+be destroyed, and, with it, the evidences of his crime.  And
+perhaps he was not the only one to form that impious wish.
+
+"That's why, then," exclaimed Maxence,--"that's why my father
+treated me so rudely: that's why he so obstinately persisted in
+closing the offices of the Mutual Credit against me."
+
+He was interrupted by a violent ringing of the door-bell.  He looked
+at the clock: ten o'clock was about to strike.
+
+"Who can call so late?" said Mme. Favoral.
+
+Something like a discussion was heard in the hall,--a voice hoarse
+with anger, and the servant's voice.
+
+"Go and see who's there," said Gilberte to her brother.
+
+It was useless; the servant appeared.
+
+"It's M. Bertan," she commenced, "the baker--"  He had followed her,
+and, pushing her aside with his robust arm, he appeared himself.
+He was a man about forty years of age, tall, thin, already bald,
+and wearing his beard trimmed close.
+
+"M. Favoral?" he inquired.
+
+"My father is not at home," replied Maxence.
+
+"It's true, then, what I have just been told?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"That the police came to arrest him, and he escaped through a window."
+
+"It's true," replied Maxence gently.
+
+The baker seemed prostrated.
+
+"And my money?" he asked.
+
+"What money?"
+
+"Why, my ten thousand francs!  Ten thousand francs which I brought
+to M. Favoral, in gold, you hear? in ten rolls, which I placed
+there, on that very table, and for which he gave me a receipt.  Here
+it is,--his receipt."
+
+He held out a paper; but Maxence did not take it.
+
+"I do not doubt your word, sir," he replied; "but my father's
+business is not ours."
+
+"You refuse to give me back my money?"
+
+"Neither my mother, my sister, nor myself, have any thing."
+
+The blood rushed to the man's face, and, with a tongue made thick
+by anger,
+
+"And you think you are going to pay me off in that way?" he
+exclaimed.  "You have nothing!  Poor little fellow!  And will you
+tell me, then, what has become of the twenty millions your father
+has stolen?  for he has stolen twenty millions.  I know it: I have
+been told so.  Where are they?"
+
+"The police, sir, has placed the seals over my fathers papers."
+
+"The police?" interrupted the baker, "the seals?  What do I care
+for that?  It's my money I want: do you hear?  Justice is going to
+take a hand in it, is it?  Arrest your father, try him?  What good
+will that do me?  He will be condemned to two or three years'
+imprisonment.  Will that give me a cent?  He will serve out his time
+quietly; and, when he gets out of prison, he'll get hold of the pile
+that he's got hidden somewhere; and while I starve, he'll spend my
+money under my very nose.  No, no!  Things won't suit me that way.
+It's at once that I want to be paid."
+
+And throwing himself upon a chair his head back, and his legs
+stretched forward--
+
+"And what's more," he declared, "I am not going out of here until
+I am paid."
+
+It was not without the greatest efforts that Maxence managed to
+keep his temper.
+
+"Your insults are useless, sir," he commenced.
+
+The man jumped up from his seat.
+
+"Insults!" he cried in a voice that could have been heard all
+through the house.  "Do you call it an insult when a man claims his
+own?  If you think you can make me hush, you are mistaken in your
+man, M. Favoral, Jun.  I am not rich myself: my father has not
+stolen to leave me an income.  It is not in gambling at the bourse
+that I made these ten thousand francs.  It is by the sweat of my
+body, by working hard night and day for years, by depriving myself
+of a glass of wine when I was thirsty.  And I am to lose them?  By
+the holy name of heaven, we'll have to see about that!  If everybody
+was like me, there would not be so many scoundrels going about,
+their pockets filled with other people's money, and from the top of
+their carriage laughing at the poor fools they have ruined.  Come,
+my ten thousand francs, canaille, or I take my pay on your back."
+
+Maxence, enraged, was about to throw himself upon the man, and a
+disgusting struggle was about to begin, when Mlle. Gilberte stepped
+between them.
+
+"Your threats are as cowardly as your insults, Monsieur Bertan,"
+she uttered in a quivering voice.  "You have known us long enough
+to be aware that we know nothing of our father's business, and that
+we have nothing ourselves.  All we can do is to give up to our
+creditors our very last crumb.  Thus it shall be done.  And now,
+sir, please retire."
+
+There was so much dignity in her sorrow, and so imposing was her
+attitude, that the baker stood abashed.
+
+"Ah! if that's the way," he stammered awkwardly; "and since you
+meddle with it, mademoiselle--"  And he retreated precipitately,
+growling at the same time threats and excuses, and slamming the
+doors after him hard enough to break the partitions.
+
+"What a disgrace!" murmured Mme. Favoral.  Crushed by this last
+scene, she was choking; and her children had to carry her to the
+open window.  She recovered almost at once; but thus, through the
+darkness, bleak and cold, she had like a vision of her husband; and,
+throwing herself back,
+
+"O great heavens!" she uttered, "where did he go when he left us?
+Where is he now?  What is he doing?  What has become of him?"
+
+Her married life had been for Mme. Favoral but a slow torture.  It
+was in vain that she would have looked back through her past life
+for some of those happy days which leave their luminous track in
+life, and towards which the mind turns in the hours of grief.
+Vincent Favoral had never been aught but a brutal despot, abusing
+the resignation of his victim.  And yet, had he died, she would have
+wept bitterly over him in all the sincerity of her honest and simple
+soul.  Habit!  Prisoners have been known to shed tears over the
+grave of their jailer.  Then he was her husband, after all, the
+father of her children, the only man who existed for her.  For
+twenty-six years they had never been separated: they had sat at the
+same table: they had slept side by side.
+
+Yes, she would have wept over him.  But how much less poignant would
+her grief have been than at this moment, when it was complicated by
+all the torments of uncertainty, and by the most frightful
+apprehensions!
+
+Fearing lest she might take cold, her children had removed her to
+the sofa, and there, all shivering,
+
+"Isn't it horrible," she said, "not to know any thing of your father?
+--to think that at this very moment, perhaps, pursued by the police,
+he is wandering in despair through the streets, without daring to
+ask anywhere for shelter."
+
+Her children had no time to answer and comfort her; for at this
+moment the door-bell rang again.
+
+"Who can it be now?" said Mme. Favoral with a start.
+
+This time there was no discussion in the hall.  Steps sounded on the
+floor of the dining-room; the door opened; and M. Desclavettes, the
+old bronze-merchant, walked, or rather slipped into the parlor.
+
+Hope, fear, anger, all the sentiments which agitated his soul, could
+be read on his pale and cat-like face.
+
+"It is I," he commenced.
+
+Maxence stepped forward.
+
+"Have you heard any thing from my father, sir?"
+
+"No," answered the old merchant, "I confess I have not; and I was
+just coming to see if you had yourselves.  Oh, I know very well that
+this is not exactly the hour to call at a house; but I thought,
+that, after what took place this evening, you would not be in bed
+yet.  I could not sleep myself.  You understand a friendship of
+twenty years' standing!  So I took Mme. Desclavettes home, and here
+I am."
+
+"We feel very thankful for your kindness," murmured Mme. Favoral.
+
+"I am glad you do.  The fact is, you see, I take a good deal of
+interest in the misfortune that strikes you,--a greater interest
+than any one else.  For, after all, I, too, am a victim.  I had
+intrusted one hundred and twenty thousand francs to our dear Vincent."
+
+"Alas, sir!" said Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+But the worthy man did not allow her to proceed.  "I have no fault
+to find with him," he went on--"absolutely none.  Why, dear me!
+haven't I been in business myself?  and don't I know what it is?
+First, we borrow a thousand francs or so from the cash account,
+then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand.  Oh! without any bad
+intention, to be sure, and with the firm resolution to return them.
+But we don't always do what we wish to do.  Circumstances sometimes
+work against us, if we operate at the bourse to make up the deficit
+we lose.  Then we must borrow again, draw from Peter to pay Paul.
+We are afraid of being caught: we are compelled, reluctantly of
+course, to alter the books.  At last a day comes when we find that
+millions are gone, and the bomb-shell bursts.  Does it follow from
+this that a man is dishonest?  Not the least in the world: he is
+simply unlucky."
+
+He stopped, as if awaiting an answer; but, as none came, he resumed,
+
+"I repeat, I have no fault to find with Favoral.  Only then, now,
+between us, to lose these hundred and twenty thousand francs would
+simply be a disaster for me.  I know very well that both Chapelain
+and Desormeaux had also deposited funds with Favoral.  But they are
+rich: one of them owns three houses in Paris, and the other has a
+good situation; whereas I, these hundred and twenty thousand francs
+gone, I'd have nothing left but my eyes to weep with.  My wife is
+dying about it.  I assure you our position is a terrible one."
+
+To M. Desclavettes,--as to the baker a few moments before,
+
+"We have nothing," said Maxence.
+
+"I know it," exclaimed the old merchant.  "I know it as well as you
+do yourself.  And so I have come to beg a little favor of you, which
+will cost you nothing.  When you see Favoral, remember me to him,
+explain my situation to him, and try to make him give me back my
+money.  He is a hard one to fetch, that's a fact.  But if you go
+right about it, above all, if our dear Gilberte will take the matter
+in hand."
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"Oh! I swear I sha'n't say a word about it, either to Desormeaux
+or Chapelain, nor to any one else.  Although reimbursed, I'll make
+as much noise as the rest,--more noise, even.  Come, now, my dear
+friends, what do you say?"
+
+He was almost crying.
+
+"And where the deuse," exclaimed Maxence, "do you expect my father
+to take a hundred and twenty thousand francs?  Didn't you see him go
+without even taking the money that M. de Thaller had brought?"
+
+A smile appeared upon M. Desclavettes' pale lips.
+
+"That will do very well to say, my dear Maxence;" he said, "and
+some people may believe it.  But don't say it to your old friend,
+who knows too much about business for that.  When a man puts off,
+after borrowing twelve millions from his employers, he would be a
+great fool if he had not put away two or three in safety.  Now,
+Favoral is not a fool."
+
+Tears of shame and anger started from Mlle. Gilberte's eyes.
+
+"What you are saying is abominable, sir!" she exclaimed.
+
+He seemed much surprised at this outburst of violence.
+
+"Why so?" he answered.  "In Vincent's place, I should not have
+hesitated to do what he has certainly done.  And I am an honest man
+too.  I was in business for twenty years; and I dare any one to
+prove that a note signed Desclavettes ever went to protest.  And
+so, my dear friends, I beseech you, consent to serve your old
+friend, and, when you see your father--"
+
+The old man's tone of voice exasperated even Mme. Favoral herself.
+
+"We never expect to see my husband again," she uttered.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, and, in a tone of paternal reproach,
+
+"You just give up all such ugly ideas," he said.  "You will see him
+again, that dear Vincent; for he is much too sharp to allow himself
+to be caught.  Of course, he'll stay away as long as it may be
+necessary; but, as soon as he can return without danger, he will
+do so.  The Statute of Limitations has not been invented for the
+Grand Turk.  Why, the Boulevard is crowded with people who have all
+had their little difficulty, and who have spent five or ten years
+abroad for their health.  Does any one think any thing of it?  Not
+in the least; and no one hesitates to shake hands with them.
+Besides, those things are so soon forgotten."
+
+He kept on as if he never intended to stop; and it was not without
+trouble that Maxence and Gilberte succeeded in sending him off, very
+much dissatisfied to see his request so ill received.  It was after
+twelve o'clock.  Maxence was anxious to return to his own home; but,
+at the pressing instances of his mother, he consented to remain,
+and threw himself, without undressing, on the bed in his old room.
+
+"What will the morrow bring forth?" he thought.
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+After a few hours of that leaden sleep which follows great
+catastrophes, Mme. Favoral and her children were awakened on the
+morning of the next day, which was Sunday, by the furious clamors
+of an exasperated crowd.  Each one, from his own room, understood
+that the apartment had just been invaded.  Loud blows upon the door
+were mingled with the noise of feet, the oaths of men, and the
+screams of women.  And, above this confused and continuous tumult,
+such vociferations as these could be heard:
+
+"I tell you they must be at home!"
+
+"Canailles, swindlers, thieves!"
+
+"We want to go in: we will go in!"
+
+"Let the woman come, then: we want to see her, to speak to her!"
+
+Occasionally there were moments of silence, during which the
+plaintive voice of the servant could be heard; but almost at once
+the cries and the threats commenced again, louder than ever.
+Maxence, being ready first, ran to the parlor, where his mother and
+sister joined him directly, their eyes swollen by sleep and by tears.
+Mme. Favoral was trembling so much that she could not succeed in
+fastening her dress.
+
+"Do you hear?" she said in a choking voice.
+
+From the parlor, which was divided from the dining-room by
+folding-doors, they did not miss a single insult.
+
+"Well," said Mlle. Gilberte coldly, "what else could we expect?  If
+Bertan came alone last night, it is because he alone had been
+notified.  Here are the others now."
+
+And, turning to her brother,
+
+"You must see them," she added, "speak to them."
+
+But Maxence did not stir.  The idea of facing the insults and the
+curses of these enraged creditors was too repugnant to him.
+
+"Would you rather let them break in the door?" said Mlle. Gilberte.
+"That won't take long."
+
+He hesitated no more.  Gathering all his courage, he stepped into
+the dining-room.  The disorder was beyond limits.  The table had
+been pushed towards one of the corners, the chairs were upset.
+They were there some thirty men and women,--concierges,
+shop-keepers, and retired bourgeois of the neighborhood, their
+cheeks flushed, their eyes staring, gesticulating as if they had a
+fit, shaking their clinched fists at the ceiling.
+
+"Gentlemen," commenced Maxence.
+
+But his voice was drowned by the most frightful shouts.  He had
+hardly got in, when he was so closely surrounded, that he had been
+unable to close the parlor-door after him, and had been driven and
+backed against the embrasure of a window.
+
+"My father, gentlemen," he resumed.
+
+Again he was interrupted.  There were three or four before him, who
+were endeavoring before all to establish their own claims clearly.
+
+They were speaking all at once, each one raising his own voice so
+as to drown that of the others.  And yet, through their confused
+explanations, it was easy to understand the way in which the cashier
+of the Mutual Credit had managed things.
+
+Formerly it was only with great reluctance that he consented to take
+charge of the funds which were offered to him; and then he never
+accepted sums less than ten thousand francs, being always careful to
+say, that, not being a prophet, he could not answer for any thing,
+and might be mistaken, like any one else.  Since the Commune, on the
+contrary, and with a duplicity, that could never have been suspected,
+he had used all his ingenuity to attract deposits.  Under some
+pretext or other, he would call among the neighbors, the
+shop-keepers; and, after lamenting with them about the hard times
+and the difficulty of making money, he always ended by holding up to
+them the dazzling profits which are yielded by certain investments
+unknown to the public.
+
+If these very proceedings had not betrayed him, it is because he
+recommended to each the most inviolable secrecy, saying, that, at
+the slightest indiscretion, he would be assailed with demands, and
+that it would be impossible for him to do for all what he did for one.
+
+At any rate, he took every thing that was offered, even the most
+insignificant sums, affirming, with the most imperturbable assurance,
+that he could double or treble them without the slightest risk.
+
+The catastrophe having come, the smaller creditors showed themselves,
+as usual, the most angry and the most intractable.  The less money
+one has, the more anxious one is to keep it.  There was there an old
+newspaper-vender, who had placed in M. Favoral's hands all she had
+in the world, the savings of her entire life,--five hundred francs.
+Clinging desperately to Maxence's garments, she begged him to give
+them back to her, swearing, that, if he did not, there was nothing
+left for her to do, except to throw herself in the river.  Her groans
+and her cries of distress exasperated the other creditors.
+
+That the cashier of the Mutual Credit should have embezzled millions,
+they could well understand, they said.  But that he could have
+robbed this poor woman of her five hundred francs,--nothing more
+low, more cowardly, and more vile could be imagined; and the law
+had no chastisement severe enough for such a crime.
+
+"Give her back her five hundred francs;" they cried.  For there was
+not one of them but would have wagered his head that M. Favoral had
+lots of money put away; and some went even so far as to say that he
+must have hid it in the house, and, if they looked well, they would
+find it.
+
+Maxence, bewildered, was at a loss what to do, when, in the midst
+of this hostile crowd, he perceived M. Chapelain's friendly face.
+
+Driven from his bed at daylight by the bitter regrets at the heavy
+loss he had just sustained, the old lawyer had arrived in the Rue
+St. Gilles at the very moment when the creditors invaded M. Favoral's
+apartment.  Standing behind the crowd, he had seen and heard every
+thing without breathing a word; and, if he interfered now, it was
+because he thought things were about to take an ugly turn.  He was
+well known; and, as soon as he showed himself,
+
+"He is a friend of the rascal!" they shouted on all sides.
+
+But he was not the man to be so easily frightened.  He had seen many
+a worse case during twenty years that he had practised law, and had
+witnessed all the sinister comedies and all the grotesque dramas of
+money.  He knew how to speak to infuriated creditors, how to handle
+them, and what strings can be made to vibrate within them.  In the
+most quiet tone,
+
+"Certainly," he answered, "I was Favoral's intimate friend; and the
+proof of it is, that he has treated me more friendly than the rest.
+I am in for a hundred and sixty thousand francs."
+
+By this mere declaration he conquered the sympathies of the crowd.
+He was a brother in misfortune; they respected him: he was a skilful
+business-man; they stopped to listen to him.
+
+At once, and in a short and trenchant tone, he asked these invaders
+what they were doing there, and what they wanted.  Did they not know
+to what they exposed themselves in violating a domicile?  What would
+have happened, if, instead of stopping to parley, Maxence had sent
+for the commissary of police?  Was it to Mme. Favoral and her
+children that they had intrusted their funds?  No!  What did they
+want with them then?  Was there by chance among them some of those
+shrewd fellows who always try to get themselves paid in full, to the
+detriment of the others?
+
+This last insinuation proved sufficient to break up the perfect
+accord that had hitherto existed among all the creditors.  Distrust
+arose; suspicious glances were exchanged; and, as the old newspaper
+woman was keeping up her groans,
+
+"I should like to know why you should be paid before us," two women
+told her roughly.  "Our rights are just as good as yours!"
+
+Prompt to avail himself of the dispositions of the crowd,
+
+"And, moreover," resumed the old lawyer, "in whom did we place our
+confidence?  Was it in Favoral the private individual?  To a certain
+extent, yes; but it was much more to the cashier of the Mutual
+Credit.  Therefore that establishment owes us, at least, some
+explanations.  And this is not all.  Are we really so badly burned,
+that we should scream so loud?  What do we know about it?  That
+Favoral is charged with embezzlement, that they came to arrest him,
+and that he has run away.  Is that any reason why our money should
+be lost?  I hope not.  And so what should we do?  Act prudently,
+and wait patiently for the work of justice."
+
+Already, by this time, the creditors had slipped out one by one;
+and soon the servant closed the door on the last of them.
+
+Then Mme. Favoral, Maxence, and Mlle. Gilberte surrounded M.
+Chapelain, and, pressing his hands,
+
+"How thankful we feel, sir, for the service you have just
+rendered us!"
+
+But the old lawyer seemed in no wise proud of his victory.
+
+"Do not thank me," he said.  "I have only done my duty,--what any
+honest man would have done in my place."
+
+And yet, under the appearance of impassible coldness, which he owed
+to the long practice of a profession which leaves no illusions, he
+evidently felt a real emotion.
+
+"It is you whom I pity," he added, "and with all my soul,--you,
+madame, you, my dear Gilberte, and you, too, Maxence.  Never had I
+so well understood to what degree is guilty the head of a family
+who leaves his wife and children exposed to the consequences of his
+crimes."
+
+He stopped.  The servant was trying her best to put the dining-room
+in some sort of order wheeling the table to the centre of the room,
+and lifting up the chairs from the floor.
+
+"What pillage!" she grumbled.  "Neighbors too,--people from whom
+we bought our things!  But they were worse than savages; impossible
+to do any thing with them."
+
+"Don't trouble yourself, my good girl," said M. Chapelain: "they
+won't come back any more!"
+
+Mme. Favoral looked as if she wished to drop on her knees before
+the old lawyer.
+
+"How, very kind you are!" she murmured: "you are not too angry with
+my poor Vincent!"
+
+With the look of a man who has made up his mind to make the best of
+a disaster that he cannot help, M. Chapelain shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am angry with no one but myself," he uttered in a bluff tone.
+"An old bird like me should not have allowed himself to be caught
+in a pigeon-trap.  I am inexcusable.  But we want to get rich.  It's
+slow work getting rich by working, and it's so much easier to get
+the money already made out of our neighbor's pockets!  I have been
+unable to resist the temptation myself.  It's my own fault; and I
+should say it was a good lesson, if it did not cost so dear."
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+So much philosophy could hardly have been expected of him.
+
+"All my father's friends are not as indulgent as you are," said
+Maxence,--"M. Desclavettes, for instance."
+
+"Have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes, last night, about twelve o'clock.  He came to ask us to get
+father to pay him back, if we should ever see him again."
+
+"That might be an idea!"
+
+Mlle. Gilberte started.
+
+"What!" said she, "you, too, sir, can imagine that my father has
+run away with millions?"
+
+The old lawyer shook his head.
+
+"I believe nothing," he answered.  "Favoral has taken me in so
+completely,--me, who had the pretension of being a judge of men,
+--that nothing from him, either for good or for evil, could surprise
+me hereafter."
+
+Mme. Favoral was about to offer some objection; but he stopped her
+with a gesture.
+
+"And yet," he went on, "I'd bet that he has gone off with empty
+pockets.  His recent operations reveal a frightful distress.  Had
+he had a few thousand francs at his command, would he have extorted
+five hundred francs from a poor old woman, a newspaper-vender?
+What did he want with the money?  Try his luck once more, no doubt."
+
+He was seated, his elbow upon the arm of the chair, his head resting
+upon his hands, thinking; and the contraction of his features
+indicated an extraordinary tension of mind.
+
+Suddenly he drew himself up.
+
+"But why," he exclaimed, "why wander in idle conjectures?  What do
+we know about Favoral?  Nothing.  One entire side of his existence
+escapes us,--that fantastic side, of which the insane prodigalities
+and inconceivable disorders have been revealed to us by the bills
+found in his desk.  He is certainly guilty; but is he as guilty as
+we think?  and, above all, is he alone guilty?  Was it for himself
+alone that he drew all this money?  Are the missing millions really
+lost?  and wouldn't it be possible to find the biggest share of them
+in the pockets of some accomplice?  Skilful men do not expose
+themselves.  They have at their command poor wretches, sacrificed
+in advance, and who, in exchange for a few crumbs that are thrown
+to them, risk the criminal court, are condemned, and go to prison."
+
+"That's just what I was telling my mother and sister, sir,"
+interrupted Maxence.
+
+"And that's what I am telling myself," continued the old lawyer.
+"I have been thinking over and over again of last evening's scene;
+and strange doubts have occurred to my mind.  For a man who has
+been robbed of a dozen millions, M. de Thaller was remarkably quiet
+and self-possessed.  Favoral appeared to me singularly calm for a
+man charged with embezzlement and forgery.  M. de Thaller, as
+manager of the Mutual Credit, is really responsible for the stolen
+funds, and, as such, should have been anxious to secure the guilty
+party, and to produce him.  Instead of that, he wished him to go,
+and actually brought him the money to enable him to leave.  Was he
+in hopes of hushing up the affair?  Evidently not, since the police
+had been notified.  On the other hand, Favoral seemed much more
+angry than surprised by the occurrence.  It was only on the
+appearance of the commissary of police that he seems to have lost
+his head; and then some very strange things escaped him, which I
+cannot understand."
+
+He was walking at random through the parlor, apparently rather
+answering the objections of his own mind than addressing himself to
+his interlocutors, who were listening, nevertheless, with all the
+attention of which they were capable.
+
+"I don't know," he went on.  "An old traveler like me to be taken
+in thus!  Evidently there is under all this one of those diabolical
+combinations which time even fails to unravel.  We ought to see,
+to inquire--"
+
+And then, suddenly stopping in front of Maxence,
+
+"How much did M. de Thaller bring to your father last evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"Fifteen thousand francs."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Put away in mother's room."
+
+"When do you expect to take them back to M. de Thaller?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"Why not to-day?"
+
+"This is Sunday.  The offices of the Mutual Credit must be closed."
+
+"After the occurrences of yesterday, M. de Thaller must be at his
+office.  Besides, haven't you his private address?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, I have."
+
+The old lawyer's small eyes were shining with unusual brilliancy.
+He certainly felt deeply the loss of his money; but the idea that
+he had been swindled for the benefit of some clever rascal was
+absolutely insupportable to him.
+
+"If we were wise," he said again, "we'd do this.  Mme. Favoral
+would take these fifteen thousand francs, and we would go together,
+she and I, to see M. de Thaller."
+
+It was an unexpected good-fortune for Mme. Favoral, that M.
+Chapelain should consent to assist her.  So, without hesitating,
+
+"The time to dress, sir," she said, "and I am ready."  She left the
+parlor; but as she reached her room, her son joined her.
+
+"I am obliged to go out, dear mother," he said; "and I shall
+probably not be home to breakfast."
+
+She looked at him with an air of painful surprise.  "What," she said,
+"at such a moment!"
+
+"I am expected home."
+
+"By whom?  A woman?" she murmured.
+
+"Well, yes."
+
+"And it is for that woman's sake that you want to leave your sister
+alone at home?"
+
+"I must, mother, I assure you; and, if you only knew--"
+
+"I do not wish to know, any thing."
+
+But his resolution had been taken.  He went off; and a few moments
+later Mme. Favoral and M. Chapelain entered a cab which had been
+sent for, and drove to M. de Thaller's.
+
+Left alone, Mlle. Gilberte had but one thought,--to notify M. de
+Tregars, and obtain word from him.  Any thing seemed preferable to
+the horrible anxiety which oppressed her.  She had just commenced
+a letter, which she intended to have taken to the Count de Villegre,
+when a violent ring of the bell made her start; and almost
+immediately the servant came in, saying,
+
+"It is a gentleman who wishes to see you, a friend of monsieur's,
+--M. Costeclar, you know."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte started to her feet, trembling with excitement.
+
+"That's too much impudence!" she exclaimed.  She was hesitating
+whether to refuse him the door, or to see him, and dismiss him
+shamefully herself, when she had a sudden inspiration.  "What does
+he want?" she thought.  "Why not see him, and try and find out what
+he knows?  For he certainly must know the truth."
+
+But it was no longer time to deliberate.  Above the servant's
+shoulder M. Costeclar's pale and impudent face showed itself.
+
+The girl having stepped to one side, he appeared, hat in hand.
+Although it was not yet nine o'clock, his morning toilet was
+irreproachably correct.  He had already passed through the
+hair-dresser's hands; and his scanty hair was brought forward over
+his low fore-head with the usual elaborate care.
+
+He wore a pair of those ridiculous trousers which grow wide from
+the knee down, and which were invented by Prussian tailors to hide
+their customers' ugly feet.  Under his light-colored overcoat could
+be seen a velvet-faced jacket, with a rose in its buttonhole.
+
+Meantime, he remained motionless on the threshold of the door,
+trying to smile, and muttering one of those sentences which are
+never intended to be finished.
+
+"I beg you to believe, mademoiselle--your mother's absence--my most
+respectful admiration--"
+
+In fact, he was taken aback by the disorder of the girl's toilet,
+--disorder which she had had no time to repair since the clamors
+of the creditors had started her from her bed.
+
+She wore a long brown cashmere wrapper, fitting quite close over
+the hips setting off the vigorous elegance of her figure, the
+maidenly perfections of her waist, and the exquisite contour of
+her neck.  Gathered up in haste, her thick blonde hair escaped
+from beneath the pins, and spread over her shoulders in luminous
+cascades.  Never had she appeared to M. Costeclar as lovely as at
+this moment, when her whole frame was vibrating with suppressed
+indignation, her cheeks flushed, her eyes flashing.
+
+"Please come in, sir," she uttered.
+
+He stepped forward, no longer bowing humbly as formerly, but with
+legs outstretched, chest thrown out, with an ill-concealed look of
+gratified vanity.  "I did not expect the honor of your visit, sir,"
+said the young girl.
+
+Passing rapidly his hat and his cane from the right hand into the
+left, and then the right hand upon his heart, his eyes raised to
+the ceiling, and with all the depth of expression of which he was
+capable,
+
+"It is in times of adversity that we know our real friends,
+mademoiselle," he uttered.  "Those upon whom we thought we could
+rely the most, often, at the first reverse, take flight forever!"
+
+She felt a shiver pass over her.  Was this an allusion to Marius?
+
+The other, changing his tone, went on,
+
+"It's only last night that I heard of poor Favoral's discomfiture,
+at the bourse where I had gone for news.  It was the general topic
+of conversation.  Twelve millions!  That's pretty hard.  The Mutual
+Credit Society might not be able to stand it.  From 580, at which
+it was selling before the news, it dropped at once to 300.  At nine
+o'clock, there were no takers at 180.  And yet, if there is nothing
+beyond what they say, at 180, I am in."
+
+Was he forgetting himself, or pretending to?
+
+"But please excuse me, mademoiselle," he resumed:  "that's not what
+I came to tell you.  I came to ask if you had any news of our poor
+Favoral."
+
+"We have none, sir."
+
+"Then it is true: he succeeded in getting away through this window?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he did not tell you where he meant to take refuge?"
+
+Observing M. Costeclar with all her power of penetration, Mlle.
+Gilberte fancied she discovered in him something like a certain
+surprise mingled with joy.
+
+"Then Favoral must have left without a sou!"
+
+"They accuse him of having carried away millions, sir; but I would
+swear that it is not so."
+
+M. Costeclar approved with a nod.
+
+"I am of the same opinion," he declared, "unless--but no, he was not
+the man to try such a game.  And yet--but again no, he was too
+closely watched.  Besides, he was carrying a very heavy load, a load
+that exhausted all his resources."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte, hoping that she was going to learn something, made
+an effort to preserve her indifference.
+
+"What do you mean?" she inquired.
+
+He looked at her, smiled, and, in a light tone,
+
+"Nothing," he answered, "only some conjectures of my own."
+
+And throwing himself upon a chair, his head leaning upon its back,
+
+"That is not the object of my visit either," he uttered.  "Favoral
+is overboard: don't let us say any thing more about him.  Whether
+he has got 'the bag' or not, you'll never see him again: he is as
+good as dead.  Let us, therefore, talk of the living, of yourself.
+What's going to become of you?"
+
+"I do not understand your question, sir."
+
+"It is perfectly limpid, nevertheless.  I am asking myself how you
+are going to live, your mother and yourself?"
+
+"Providence will not abandon us, sir."
+
+M. Costeclar had crossed his legs, and with the end of his cane he
+was negligently tapping his immaculate boot.
+
+"Providence!" he giggled; "that's very good on the stage, in a play,
+with low music in the orchestra.  I can just see it.  In real life,
+unfortunately, the life which we both live, you and I, it is not
+with words, were they a yard long, that the baker, the grocer, and
+those rascally landlords, can be paid, or that dresses and shoes
+can be bought."
+
+She made no answer.
+
+"Now, then," he went on, "here you are without a penny.  Is it
+Maxence who will supply you with money?  Poor fellow!  Where would
+he get it?  He has hardly enough for himself.  Therefore, what are
+you going to do?"
+
+"I shall work, sir."
+
+He got up, bowed low, and, resuming his seat,
+
+"My sincere compliments," he said.  "There is but one obstacle to
+that fine resolution: it is impossible for a woman to live by her
+labor alone.  Servants are about the only ones who ever get their
+full to eat."
+
+"I'll be a servant, if necessary."
+
+For two or three seconds he remained taken aback, but, recovering
+himself,
+
+"How different things would be," he resumed in an insinuating tone,
+"if you had not rejected me when I wanted to become your husband!
+But you couldn't bear the sight of me.  And yet, 'pon my word, I was
+in love with you, oh, but for good and earnest!  You see, I am a
+judge of women; and I saw very well how you would look, handsomely
+dressed and got up, leaning back in a fine carriage in the Bois--"
+
+Stronger than her will, disgust rose to her lips.
+
+"Ah, sir!" she said.
+
+He mistook her meaning.
+
+"You are regretting all that," he continued.  "I see it.  Formerly,
+eh, you would never have consented to receive me thus, alone with
+you, which proves that girls should not be headstrong, my dear child."
+
+He, Costeclar, he dared to call her, "My dear child."  Indignant and
+insulted, "Oh!" she exclaimed.  But he had started, and kept on,
+
+"Well, such as I was, I am still.  To be sure, there probably would
+be nothing further said about marriage between us; but, frankly,
+what would you care if the conditions were the same,--a fine house,
+carriages, horses, servants--"
+
+Up to this moment, she had not fully understood him.  Drawing
+herself up to her fullest height, and pointing to the door,
+
+"Leave this moment," she ordered.
+
+But he seemed in no wise disposed to do so: on the contrary, paler
+than usual, his eyes bloodshot, his lips trembling, and smiling a
+strange smile, he advanced towards Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+"What!" said he.  "You are in trouble, I kindly come to offer my
+services, and this is the way you receive me!  You prefer to work,
+do you?  Go ahead then, my lovely one, prick your pretty fingers,
+and redden your eyes.  My time will come.  Fatigue and want, cold
+in the winter, hunger in all seasons, will speak to your little
+heart of that kind Costeclar who adores you, like a big fool that
+he is, who is a serious man and who has money,--much money."
+
+Beside herself,
+
+"Wretch!" cried the girl, "leave, leave at once."
+
+"One moment," said a strong voice.
+
+M. Costeclar looked around.
+
+Marius de Tregars stood within the frame of the open door.
+
+"Marius!" murmured Mlle. Gilberte, rooted to the spot by a surprise
+hardly less immense than her joy.
+
+To behold him thus suddenly, when she was wondering whether she
+would ever see him again; to see him appear at the very moment
+when she found herself alone, and exposed to the basest outrages,
+--it was one of those fortunate occurrences which one can scarcely
+realize; and from the depth of her soul rose something like a hymn
+of thanks.
+
+Nevertheless, she was confounded at M. Costeclar's attitude.
+According to her, and from what she thought she knew, he should have
+been petrified at the sight of M. de Tregars.
+
+And he did not even seem to know him.  He seemed shocked, annoyed
+at being interrupted, slightly surprised, but in no wise moved or
+frightened.  Knitting his brows,
+
+"What do you wish?" he inquired in his most impertinent tone.
+
+M. de Tregars stepped forward.  He was somewhat pale, but unnaturally
+calm, cool, and collected.  Bowing to Mlle. Gilberte,
+
+"If I have thus ventured to enter your apartment, mademoiselle," he
+uttered gently, "it is because, as I was going by the door, I
+thought I recognized this gentleman's carriage."
+
+And, with his finger over his shoulder, he was pointing to M.
+Costeclar.
+
+"Now," he went on, "I had reason to be somewhat astonished at this,
+after the positive orders I had given him never to set his feet, not
+only in this house, but in this part of the city.  I wished to find
+out exactly.  I came up: I heard--"
+
+All this was said in a tone of such crushing contempt, that a slap
+on the face would have been less cruel.  All the blood in M.
+Costeclar's veins rushed to his face.
+
+"You!" he interrupted insolently: "I do not know you."
+
+Imperturbable, M. de Tregars was drawing off his gloves.
+
+"Are you quite certain of that?" he replied.  "Come, you certainly
+know my old friend, M. de Villegre?"
+
+An evident feeling of anxiety appeared on M. Costeclar's countenance.
+
+"I do," he stammered.
+
+"Did not M. Villegre call upon you before the war?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Well, 'twas I who sent him to you; and the commands which he
+delivered to you were mine."
+
+"Yours?"
+
+"Mine.  I am Marius de Tregars."
+
+A nervous shudder shook M. Costeclar's lean frame.  Instinctively
+his eye turned towards the door.
+
+"You see," Marius went on with the same gentleness, "we are, you
+and I, old acquaintances.  For you quite remember me now, don't
+you?  I am the son of that poor Marquis de Tregars who came to
+Paris, all the way from his old Brittany with his whole fortune,
+--two millions."
+
+"I remember," said the stock-broker: "I remember perfectly well."
+
+"On the advice of certain clever people, the Marquis de Tregars
+ventured into business.  Poor old man!  He was not very sharp.  He
+was firmly persuaded that he had already more than doubled his
+capital, when his honorable partners demonstrated to him that he was
+ruined, and, besides, compromised by certain signatures imprudently
+given."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte was listening, her mouth open, and wondering what
+Marius was aiming at, and how he could remain so calm.
+
+"That disaster," he went on, "was at the time the subject of an
+enormous number of very witty jokes.  The people of the bourse
+could hardly admire enough these bold financiers who had so deftly
+relieved that candid marquis of his money.  That was well done for
+him; what was he meddling with?  As to myself, to stop the
+prosecutions with which my father was threatened, I gave up all I
+had.  I was quite young, and, as you see, quite what you call, I
+believe, 'green.'  I am no longer so now.  Were such a thing to
+happen to me to-day, I should want to know at once what had become
+of the millions: I would feel all the pockets around me.  I would
+say, 'Stop thief!'"
+
+At every word, as it were, M. Costeclar's uneasiness became more
+manifest.
+
+"It was not I," he said, "who received the benefit of M. de Tregars'
+fortune."
+
+Marius nodded approvingly.
+
+"I know now," he replied, "among whom the spoils were divided.  You,
+M. Costeclar, you took what you could get, timidly, and according to
+your means.  Sharks are always accompanied by small fishes, to which
+they abandon the crumbs they disdain.  You were but a small fish
+then: you accommodated yourself with what your patrons, the sharks,
+did not care about.  But, when you tried to operate alone, you were
+not shrewd enough: you left proofs of your excessive appetite for
+other people's money.  Those proofs I have in my possession."
+
+M. Costeclar was now undergoing perfect torture.
+
+"I am caught," he said, "I know it: I told M. de Villegre so."
+
+"Why are you here, then?"
+
+"How did I know that the count had been sent by you?"
+
+"That's a poor reason, sir."
+
+"Besides, after what has occurred, after Favoral's flight, I thought
+myself relieved of my engagement."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Well, if you insist upon it, I am wrong, I suppose."
+
+"Not only you are wrong," uttered Marius still perfectly cool, "but
+you have committed a great imprudence.  By failing to keep your
+engagements, you have relieved me of mine.  The pact is broken.
+According to the agreement, I have the right, as I leave here, to go
+straight to the police."
+
+M. Costeclar's dull eye was vacillating.
+
+"I did not think I was doing wrong," he muttered.  "Favoral was my
+friend."
+
+"And that's the reason why you were coming to propose to Mlle.
+Favoral to become your mistress?  There she is, you thought, without
+resources, literally without bread, without relatives, without
+friends to protect her: this is the time to come forward.  And
+thinking you could be cowardly, vile, and infamous with impunity,
+you came."
+
+To be thus treated, he, the successful man, in presence of this
+young girl, whom, a moment before, he was crushing with his impudent
+opulence, no, M. Costeclar could not stand it.  Losing completely
+his head,
+
+"You should have let me know, then," he exclaimed, "that she was
+your mistress."
+
+Something like a flame passed over M. de Tregars' face.  His eyes
+flashed.  Rising in all the height of his wrath, which broke out
+terrible at last,
+
+"Ah, you scoundrel!" he exclaimed.
+
+M. Costeclar threw himself suddenly to one side.
+
+"Sir!"
+
+But at one bound M. de Tregars had caught him.
+
+"On your knees!" he cried.
+
+And, seizing him by the collar with an iron grip, he lifted him
+clear off the floor, and then threw him down violently upon both
+knees.
+
+"Speak!" he commanded.  "Repeat,--'Mademoiselle'"
+
+M. Costeclar had expected worse from M. de Tregars' look.  A horrible
+fear had instantly crushed within him all idea of resistance.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he stuttered in a choking voice.  "I am the vilest
+of wretches," continued Marius.  M. Costeclar's livid face was
+oscillating like an inert object.
+
+"I am," he repeated, "the vilest of wretches."
+
+"And I beg of you--"
+
+But Mlle. Gilberte was sick of the sight.
+
+"Enough," she interrupted, "enough!"
+
+Feeling no longer upon his shoulders the heavy hand of M. de Tregars,
+the stock-broker rose with difficulty to his feet.  So livid was his
+face, that one might have thought that his whole blood had turned
+to gall.
+
+Dusting with the end of his glove the knees of his trousers, and
+restoring as best he could the harmony of his toilet, which had been
+seriously disturbed,
+
+"Is it showing any courage," he grumbled, "to abuse one's physical
+strength?"
+
+M. de Tregars had already recovered his self-possession; and Mlle.
+Gilberte thought she could read upon his face regret for his violence.
+
+"Would it be better to make use of what you know?" M. Costeclar
+joined his hands.
+
+"You would not do that," he said.  "What good would it do you to
+ruin me?"
+
+"None," answered M. de Tregars: "you are right.  But yourself?"
+
+And, looking straight into M. Costeclar's eyes,--"If you could be
+of service to me," he inquired, "would you be willing?"
+
+"Perhaps.  That I might recover possession of the papers you have."
+
+M. de Tregars was thinking.
+
+"After what has just taken place," he said at last, "an explanation
+is necessary between us.  I will be at your house in an hour.  Wait
+for me."
+
+M. Costeclar had become more pliable than his own lavender kid
+gloves: in fact, alarmingly pliable.
+
+"I am at your command, sir," he replied to M. de Tregars.
+
+And, bowing to the ground before Mlle. Gilberte, he left the parlor;
+and, a few moments after, the street-door was heard to close upon him.
+
+"Ah, what a wretch!" exclaimed the, girl, dreadfully agitated.
+"Marius, did you see what a look he gave us as he went out?"
+
+"I saw it," replied M. de Tregars.
+
+"That man hates us: he will not hesitate to commit a crime to avenge
+the atrocious humiliation you have just inflicted upon him."
+
+"I believe it too."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte made a gesture of distress.
+
+"Why did you treat him so harshly?" she murmured.
+
+"I had intended to remain calm, and it would have been politic to
+have done so.  But there are some insults which a man of heart
+cannot endure.  I do not regret what I have done."
+
+A long pause followed; and they remained standing, facing each other,
+somewhat embarrassed.  Mlle. Gilberte felt ashamed of the disorder
+of her dress.  M. de Tregars wondered how he could have been bold
+enough to enter this house.
+
+"You have heard of our misfortune," said the young girl at last.
+
+"I read about it this morning, in the papers."
+
+"What! the papers know already?"
+
+"Every thing."
+
+"And our name is printed in them?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+She covered her face with her two hands.
+
+"What disgrace!" she said.
+
+"At first," went on M. de Tregars, "I could hardly believe what I
+read.  I hastened to come; and the first shopkeeper I questioned
+confirmed only too well what I had seen in the papers.  From that
+moment, I had but one wish,--to see and speak to you.  When I
+reached the door, I recognized M. Costeclar's equipage, and I had
+a presentiment of the truth.  I inquired from the concierge for
+your mother or your brother, and heard that Maxence had gone out
+a few moments before, and that Mme. Favoral had just left in a
+carriage with M. Chapelain, the old lawyer.  At the idea that you
+were alone with Costeclar, I hesitated no longer.  I ran up stairs,
+and, finding the door open, had no occasion to ring."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte could hardly repress the sobs that rose to her throat.
+
+"I never hoped to see you again," she stammered; "and you'll find
+there on the table the letter I had just commenced for you when M.
+Costeclar interrupted me."
+
+M. de Tregars took it up quickly.  Two lines only were written.  He
+read: "I release you from your engagement, Marius.  Henceforth you
+are free."
+
+He became whiter than his shirt.
+
+"You wish to release me from my engagement!" he exclaimed.  "You--"
+
+"Is it not my duty?  Ah! if it had only been our fortune, I should
+perhaps have rejoiced to lose it.  I know your heart.  Poverty would
+have brought us nearer together.  But it's honor, Marius, honor that
+is lost too!  The name I bear is forever stained.  Whether my father
+is caught, or whether he escapes, he will be tried all the same,
+condemned, and sentenced to a degrading penalty for embezzlement and
+forgery."
+
+If M. de Tregars was allowing her to proceed thus, it was because he
+felt all his thoughts whirling in his brain; because she looked so
+beautiful thus, all in tears, and her hair loose; because there
+arose from her person so subtle a charm, that words failed him to
+express the sensations that agitated him.
+
+"Can you," she went on, "take for your wife the daughter of a
+dishonored man?  No, you cannot.  Forgive me, then, for having for
+a moment turned away your life from its object; forgive the sorrow
+which I have caused you; leave me to the misery of my fate;
+forget me!"
+
+She was suffocating.
+
+"Ah, you have never loved me!" exclaimed Marius.
+
+Raising her hands to heaven,
+
+"Thou hearest him, great God!" she uttered, as if shocked by a
+blasphemy.
+
+"Would it be easy for you to forget me then?  Were I to be struck
+by misfortune, would you break our engagement, cease to love me?"
+
+She ventured to take his hands, and, pressing them between hers,
+
+"To cease loving you no longer depends on my will," she murmured
+with quivering lips.  "Poor, abandoned of all, disgraced, criminal
+even, I should love you still and always."
+
+With a passionate gesture, Marius threw his arm around her waist,
+and, drawing her to his breast, covered her blonde hair with
+burning kisses.
+
+"Well, 'tis thus that I love you too!" he exclaimed, "and with all
+my soul, exclusively, and for life!  What do I care for your
+parents?  Do I know them?  Your father--does he exist?  Your name
+--it is mine, the spotless name of the Tregars.  You are my wife!
+mine, mine!"
+
+She was struggling feebly: an almost invincible stupor was creeping
+over her.  She felt her reason disturbed, her energy giving way, a
+film before her eyes, the air failing to her heaving chest.
+
+A great effort of her will restored her to consciousness.  She
+withdrew gently, and sank upon a chair, less strong against joy
+than she had been against sorrow.
+
+"Pardon me," she stammered, "pardon me for having doubted you!"
+
+M. de Tregars was not much less agitated than Mlle. Gilberte: but he
+was a man; and the springs of his energy were of a superior temper.
+In less than a minute he had fully recovered his self-possession
+and imposed upon his features their accustomed expression.  Drawing
+a chair by the side of Mlle. Gilberte,
+
+"Permit me, my friend," he said, "to remind you that our moments are
+numbered, and that there are many details which it is urgent that I
+should know."
+
+"What details?" she asked, raising her head.
+
+"About your father."
+
+She looked at him with an air of profound surprise.
+
+"Do you not know more about it than I do?" she replied, "more than
+my mother, more than any of us?  Did you not, whilst following up
+the people who robbed your father, strike mine unwittingly?  And
+'tis I, wretch that I am, who inspired you to that fatal resolution;
+and I have not the heart to regret it."
+
+M. de Tregars had blushed imperceptibly.  "How did you know?" he
+began.
+
+"Was it not said that you were about to marry Mlle. de Thaller?"
+
+He drew up suddenly.
+
+"Never," he exclaimed, "has this marriage existed, except in the
+brain of M. de Thaller, and, more still, of the Baroness de Thaller.
+That ridiculous idea occurred to her because she likes my name, and
+would be delighted to see her daughter Marquise de Tregars.  She
+has never breathed a word of it to me; but she has spoken of it
+everywhere, with just enough secrecy to give rise to a good piece
+of parlor gossip.  She went so far as to confide to several persons
+of my acquaintance the amount of the dowry, thinking thus to
+encourage me.  As far as I could, I warned you against this false
+news through the Signor Gismondo."
+
+"The Signor Gismondo relieved me of cruel anxieties," she replied;
+"but I had suspected the truth from the first.  Was I not the
+confidante of your hopes?  Did I not know your projects?  I had
+taken for granted that all this talk about a marriage was but a
+means to advance yourself in M. de Thaller's intimacy without
+awaking his suspicions."
+
+M. de Tregars was not the man to deny a true fact.
+
+"Perhaps, indeed, I have not been wholly foreign to M. Favoral's
+disaster.  At least I may have hastened it a few months, a few
+days only, perhaps; for it was inevitable, fatal.  Nevertheless,
+had I suspected the real facts, I would have given up my designs
+--Gilberte, I swear it--rather than risk injuring your father.
+There is no undoing what is done; but the evil may, perhaps, be
+somewhat lessened."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte started.
+
+"Great heavens!" she exclaimed, "do you, then, believe my father
+innocent?"
+
+Better than any one else, Mlle. Gilberte must have been convinced
+of her father's guilt.  Had she not seen him humiliated and
+trembling before M. de Thaller?  Had she not heard him, as it were,
+acknowledge the truth of the charge that was brought against him?
+But at twenty hope never forsakes us, even in presence of facts.
+
+And when she understood by M. de Tregars' silence that she was
+mistaken,
+
+"It's madness," she murmured, dropping her head:
+
+"I feel it but too well.  But the heart speaks louder than reason.
+It is so cruel to be driven to despise one's father!"
+
+She wiped the tears which filled her eyes, and, in a firmer voice,
+
+"What happened is so incomprehensible!" she went on.  "How can I help
+imagining some one of those mysteries which time alone unravels.
+For twenty-four hours we have been losing ourselves in idle
+conjectures, and, always and fatally, we come to this conclusion,
+that my father must be the victim of some mysterious intrigue.
+
+"M. Chapelain, whom a loss of a hundred and sixty thousand francs
+has not made particularly indulgent, is of that opinion."
+
+"And so am I," exclaimed Marius.
+
+"You see, then--"
+
+But without allowing her to proceed and taking gently her hand,
+
+"Let me tell you all," he interrupted, "and try with you to find
+an issue to this horrible situation.  Strange rumors are afloat
+about M. Favoral.  It is said that his austerity was but a mask,
+his sordid economy a means of gaining confidence.  It is affirmed
+that in fact he abandoned himself to all sorts of disorders; that
+he had, somewhere in Paris, an establishment, where he lavished the
+money of which he was so sparing here.  Is it so?  The same thing
+is said of all those in whose hands large fortunes have melted."
+
+The young girl had become quite red.
+
+"I believe that is true," she replied.  "The commissary of police
+stated so to us.  He found among my father's papers receipted bills
+for a number of costly articles, which could only have been intended
+for a woman."
+
+M. de Tregars looked perplexed.
+
+"And does any one know who this woman is?" he asked.
+
+"Whoever she may be, I admit that she may have cost M. Favoral
+considerable sums.  But can she have cost him twelve millions?"
+
+"Precisely the remark which M. Chapelain made."
+
+"And which every sensible man must also make.  I know very well
+that to conceal for years a considerable deficit is a costly
+operation, requiring purchases and sales, the handling and shifting
+of funds, all of which is ruinous in the extreme.  But, on the other
+hand, M. Favoral was making money, a great deal of money.  He was
+rich: he was supposed to be worth millions.  Otherwise, Costeclar
+would never have asked your hand."
+
+"M. Chapelain pretends that at a certain time my father had at least
+fifty thousand francs a year."
+
+"It's bewildering."
+
+For two or three minutes M. de Tregars remained silent, reviewing
+in his mind every imaginable eventuality, and then,
+
+"But no matter," he resumed.  "As soon as I heard this morning the
+amount of the deficit, doubts came to my mind.  And it is for that
+reason, dear friend, that I was so anxious to see you and speak to
+you.  It would be necessary for me to know exactly what occurred
+here last night."
+
+Rapidly, but without omitting a single useful detail, Mlle. Gilberte
+narrated the scenes of the previous night--the sudden appearance of
+M. de Thaller, the arrival of the commissary of police, M. Favoral's
+escape, thanks to Maxence's presence of mind.  Every one of her
+father's words had remained present to her mind; and it was almost
+literally that she repeated his strange speeches to his indignant
+friends, and his incoherent remarks at the moment of flight, when,
+whilst acknowledging his fault, he said that he was not as guilty
+as they thought; that, at any rate, he was not alone guilty; and
+that he had been shamefully sacrificed.  When she had finished,
+
+"That's exactly what I thought," said M. de Tregars.
+
+"What?"
+
+"M. Favoral accepted a role in one of those terrible financial
+dramas which ruin a thousand poor dupes to the benefit of two or
+three clever rascals.  Your father wanted to be rich: he needed
+money to carry on his intrigues.  He allowed himself to be tempted.
+But whilst he believed himself one of the managers, called upon to
+divide the receipts, he was but a scene-shifter with a stated
+salary.  The moment of this denouement having come, his so-called
+partners disappeared through a trap-door with the cash, leaving
+him alone, as they say, to face the music."
+
+"If that's the case," replied the young girl, "why didn't my father
+speak?"
+
+"What was he to say?"
+
+"Name his accomplices."
+
+"And suppose he had no proofs of their complicity to offer?  He was
+the cashier of the Mutual Credit; and it is from his cash that the
+millions are gone."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte's conjectures had run far ahead of that sentence.
+Looking straight at Marius,
+
+"Then," she said, "you believe, as M. Chapelain does, that M. de
+Thaller--"
+
+"Ah! M. Chapelain thinks--"
+
+"That the manager of the Mutual Credit must have known the fact of
+the frauds."
+
+"And that he had his share of them?"
+
+"A larger share than his cashier, yes."
+
+A singular smile curled M. de Tregars' lips.  "Quite possible," he
+replied: "that's quite possible."
+
+For the past few moments Mlle. Gilberte's embarrassment was quite
+evident in her look.  At last, overcoming her hesitation,
+
+"Pardon me," said she, "I had imagined that M. de Thaller was one
+of those men whom you wished to strike; and I had indulged in the
+hope, that, whilst having justice done to your father, you were
+thinking, perhaps, of avenging mine."
+
+M. de Tregars stood up, as if moved by a spring.  "Well, yes!" he
+exclaimed.  "Yes, you have correctly guessed.  But how can we
+obtain this double result?  A single misstep at this moment might
+lose all.  Ah, if I only knew your father's real situation; if I
+could only see him and speak to him!  In one word he might, perhaps,
+place in my hands a sure weapon,--the weapon that I have as yet
+been unable to find."
+
+"Unfortunately," replied Mlle. Gilberte with a gesture of despair,
+"we are without news of my father; and he even refused to tell us
+where he expected to take refuge."
+
+"But he will write, perhaps.  Besides, we might look for him,
+quietly, so as not to excite the suspicions of the police; and if
+your brother Maxence was only willing to help me--"
+
+"Alas! I fear that Maxence may have other cares.  He insisted upon
+going out this morning, in spite of mother's request to the contrary."
+
+But Marius stopped her, and, in the tone of a man who knows much
+more than he is willing to say,--"Do not calumniate Maxence," he
+said: "it is through him, perhaps, that we will receive the help
+that we need."
+
+Eleven o'clock struck.  Mlle. Gilberte started.
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed, "mother will be home directly."
+
+M. de Tregars might as well have waited for her.  Henceforth he had
+nothing to conceal.  Yet, after duly deliberating with the young
+girl, they decided that he should withdraw, and that he would send
+M. de Villegre to declare his intentions.  He then left, and, five
+minutes later, Mme. Favoral and M. Chapelain appeared.
+
+The ex-attorney was furious; and he threw the package of bank-notes
+upon the table with a movement of rage.
+
+"In order to return them to M. de Thaller," he exclaimed, "it was at
+least necessary to see him.  But the gentleman is invisible; keeps
+himself under lock and key, guarded by a perfect cloud of servants
+in livery."
+
+Meantime, Mme. Favoral had approached her daughter.
+
+"Your brother?" she asked in a whisper.
+
+"He has not yet come home."
+
+"Dear me!" sighed the poor mother: "at such a time he forsakes us,
+and for whose sake?"
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+Mme. Favoral, usually so indulgent, was too severe this time; and
+it was very unjustly that she accused her son.  She forgot, and
+what mother does not forget, that he was twenty-five years of age,
+that he was a man, and that, outside of the family and of herself,
+he must have his own interests and his passions, his affections and
+his duties.  Because he happened to leave the house for a few hours,
+Maxence was surely not forsaking either his mother or his sister.
+It was not without a severe internal struggle that he had made up
+his mind to go out, and, as he was going down the steps,
+
+"Poor mother," he thought.  "I am sure I am making her very unhappy;
+but how can I help it?"
+
+This was the first time that he had been in the street since his
+farther's disaster had been known; and the impression produced upon
+him was painful in the extreme.  Formerly, when he walked through
+the Rue St. Gilles, that street where he was born, and where he used
+to play as a boy, every one met him with a friendly nod or a familiar
+smile.  True he was then the son of a man rich and highly esteemed;
+whereas this morning not a hand was extended, not a hat raised, on
+his passage.  People whispered among themselves, and pointed him
+out with looks of hatred and irony.  That was because he was now
+the son of the dishonest cashier tracked by the police, of the man
+whose crime brought disaster upon so many innocent parties.
+
+Mortified and ashamed, Maxence was hurrying on, his head down, his
+cheek burning, his throat parched, when, in front of a wine-shop,
+
+"Halloo!" said a man; "that's the son.  What cheek!"
+
+And farther on, in front of the grocer's.
+
+"I tell you what," said a woman in the midst of a group, "they still
+have more than we have."
+
+Then, for the first time, he understood with what crushing weight
+his father's crime would weigh upon his whole life; and, whilst
+going up the Rue Turenne:
+
+"It's all over," he thought: "I can never get over it."  And he
+was thinking of changing his name, of emigrating to America, and
+hiding himself in the deserts of the Far West, when, a little
+farther on, he noticed a group of some thirty persons in front
+of a newspaper-stand.  The vender, a fat little man with a red
+face and an impudent look, was crying in a hoarse voice,
+
+"Here are the morning papers!  The last editions!  All about the
+robbery of twelve millions by a poor cashier.  Buy the morning
+papers!"
+
+And, to stimulate the sale of his wares, he added all sorts of
+jokes of his own invention, saying that the thief belonged to the
+neighborhood; that it was quite flattering, etc.
+
+The crowd laughed; and he went on,
+
+"The cashier Favoral's robbery! twelve millions!  Buy the paper,
+and see how it's done."
+
+And so the scandal was public, irreparable.  Maxence was listening
+a few steps off.  He felt like going; but an imperative feeling,
+stronger than his will, made him anxious to see what the papers said.
+
+Suddenly he made up his mind, and, stepping up briskly, he threw
+down three sous, seized a paper, and ran as if they had all known
+him.
+
+"Not very polite, the gentleman," remarked two idlers whom he had
+pushed a little roughly.
+
+Quick as he had been, a shopkeeper of the Rue Turenne had had time
+to recognize him.
+
+"Why, that's the cashier's son!" he exclaimed.  "Is it possible?"
+
+"Why don't they arrest him?"
+
+Half a dozen curious fellows, more eager than the rest, ran after
+him to try and see his face.  But he was already far off.
+
+Leaning against a gas-lamp on the Boulevard, he unfolded the paper
+he had just bought.  He had no trouble looking for the article.  In
+the middle of the first page, in the most prominent position, he
+read in large letters,
+
+  "At the moment of going to press, the greatest agitation prevails
+   among the stock-brokers and operators at the bourse generally,
+   owing to the news that one of our great banking establishments
+   has just been the victim of a theft of unusual magnitude.
+
+  "At about five o'clock in the afternoon, the manager of the
+   Mutual Credit Society, having need of some documents, went to
+   look for them in the office of the head cashier, who was then
+   absent.  A memorandum forgotten on the table excited his
+   suspicions.  Sending at once for a locksmith, he had all the
+   drawers broken open, and soon acquired the irrefutable evidence
+   that the Mutual Credit had been defrauded of sums, which, as far
+   as now known, amount to upwards of twelve millions.
+
+  "At once the police was notified; and M. Brosse, commissary of
+   police, duly provided with a warrant, called at the guilty
+   cashier's house.
+
+  "That cashier, named Favoral,--we do not hesitate to name him,
+   since his name has already been made public,--had just sat down
+   to dinner with some friends.  Warned, no one knows how, he
+   succeeded in escaping through a window into the yard of the
+   adjoining house, and up to this hour has succeeded in eluding
+   all search.
+
+  "It seems that these embezzlements had been going on for years,
+   but had been skillfully concealed by false entries.
+
+  "M. Favoral had managed to secure the esteem of all who knew him.
+   He led at home a more than modest existence.  But that was only,
+   as it were, his official life.  Elsewhere, and under another name,
+   he indulged in the most reckless expenses for the benefit of a
+   woman with whom he was madly in love.
+
+  "Who this woman is, is not yet exactly known.
+
+  "Some mention a very fascinating young actress, who performs at
+   a theatre not a hundred miles from the Rue Vivienne; others, a
+   lady of the financial high life, whose equipages, diamonds, and
+   dresses are justly famed.
+
+  "We might easily, in this respect, give particulars which would
+   astonish many people; for we know all; but, at the risk of
+   seeming less well informed than some others of our morning
+   contemporaries, we will observe a silence which our readers will
+   surely appreciate.  We do not wish to add, by a premature
+   indiscretion, any thing to the grief of a family already so
+   cruelly stricken; for M. Favoral leaves behind him in the deepest
+   sorrow a wife and two children,--a son of twenty-five, employed
+   in a railroad office, and a daughter of twenty, remarkably
+   handsome, who, a few months ago, came very near marrying M.
+   C. ----.
+
+  "Next--"
+
+Tears of rage obscured Maxence's sight whilst reading the last few
+lines of this terrible article.  To find himself thus held up to
+public curiosity, though innocent, was more than he could bear.
+
+And yet he was, perhaps, still more surprised than indignant.  He
+had just learned in that paper more than his father's most intimate
+friends knew, more than he knew himself.  Where had it got its
+information?  And what could be these other details which the writer
+pretended to know, but did not wish to publish as yet?  Maxence felt
+like running to the office of the paper, fancying that they could
+tell him there exactly where and under what name M. Favoral led that
+existence of pleasure and luxury, and who the woman was to whom the
+article alluded.
+
+But in the mean time he had reached his hotel,--the Hotel des
+Folies.  After a moment of hesitation,
+
+"Bash!" he thought, "I have the whole day to call at the office of
+the paper."
+
+And he started in the corridor of the hotel, a corridor that was so
+long, so dark, and so narrow, that it gave an idea of the shaft of
+a mine, and that it was prudent, before entering it, to make sure
+that no one was coming in the opposite direction.  It was from the
+neighboring theatre, des Folies-Nouvelles (now the Theatre Dejazet),
+that the hotel had taken its name.
+
+It consists of the rear building of a large old house, and has no
+frontage on the Boulevard, where nothing betrays its existence,
+except a lantern hung over a low and narrow door, between a cafe
+and a confectionery-shop.  It is one of those hotels, as there are
+a good many in Paris, somewhat mysterious and suspicious, ill-kept,
+and whose profits remain a mystery for simple-minded folks.  Who
+occupy the apartments of the first and second story?  No one knows.
+Never have the most curious of the neighbors discovered the face
+of a tenant.  And yet they are occupied; for often, in the
+afternoon, a curtain is drawn aside, and a shadow is seen to move.
+In the evening, lights are noticed within; and sometimes the sound
+of a cracked old piano is heard.
+
+Above the second story, the mystery ceases.  All the upper rooms,
+the price of which is relatively modest, are occupied by tenants
+who may be seen and heard,--clerks like Maxence, shop-girls from
+the neighborhood, a few restaurant-waiters, and sometimes some poor
+devil of an actor or chorus-singer from the Theatre Dejazet, the
+Circus, or the Chateau d'Eau.  One of the great advantages of the
+Hotel des Folies--and Mme. Fortin, the landlady, never failed to
+point it out to the new tenants, an inestimable advantage, she
+declared--was a back entrance on the Rue Beranger.
+
+"And everybody knows," she concluded, "that there is no chance of
+being caught, when one has the good luck of living in a house that
+has two outlets."
+
+When Maxence entered the office, a small, dark, and dirty room,
+the proprietors, M. and Mme. Fortin were just finishing their
+breakfast with an immense bowl of coffee of doubtful color, of
+which an enormous red cat was taking a share.
+
+"Ah, here is M. Favoral!" they exclaimed.
+
+There was no mistaking their tone.  They knew the catastrophe;
+and the newspaper lying on the table showed how they had heard it.
+
+"Some one called to see you last night," said Mme. Fortin, a large
+fat woman, whose nose was always besmeared with snuff, and whose
+honeyed voice made a marked contrast with her bird-of-prey look.
+
+"Who?"
+
+"A gentleman of about fifty, tall and thin, with a long overcoat,
+coming down to his heels."
+
+Maxence imagined, from this description, that he recognized his own
+father.  And yet it seemed impossible, after what had happened, that
+he should dare to show himself on the Boulevard du Temple, where
+everybody knew him, within a step of the Cafe Turc, of which he
+was one of the oldest customers.
+
+"At what o'clock was he here?" he inquired.
+
+"I really can't tell," answered the landlady.  "I was half asleep
+at the time; but Fortin can tell us."
+
+M. Fortin, who looked about twenty years younger than his wife, was
+one of those small men, blonde, with scanty beard, a suspicious
+glance, and uneasy smile, such as the Madame Fortins know how to
+find, Heaven knows where.
+
+"The confectioner had just put up his shutters," he replied:
+"consequently, it must have been between eleven and a quarter-past
+eleven."
+
+"And didn't he leave any word?" said Maxence.
+
+"Nothing, except that he was very sorry not to find you in.  And,
+in fact, he did look quite annoyed.  We asked him to leave his name;
+but he said it wasn't worth while, and that he would call again."
+
+At the glance which the landlady was throwing toward him from the
+corner of her eyes, Maxence understood that she had on the subject
+of that late visitor the same suspicion as himself.
+
+And, as if she had intended to make it more apparent still,
+
+"I ought, perhaps, to have given him your key," she said.
+
+"And why so, pray?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know, an idea of mine, that's all.  Besides, Mlle.
+Lucienne can probably tell you more about it; for she was there
+when the gentleman came, and I even think that they exchanged a
+few words in the yard."
+
+Maxence, seeing that they were only seeking a pretext to question
+him, took his key, and inquired,
+
+"Is--Mlle. Lucienne at home?"
+
+"Can't tell.  She has been going and coming all the morning, and
+I don't know whether she finally staid in or out.  One thing is
+sure, she waited for you last night until after twelve; and she
+didn't like it much, I can tell you."
+
+Maxence started up the steep stairs; and, as he reached the upper
+stories, a woman's voice, fresh and beautifully toned, reached his
+ears more and more distinctly.
+
+She was singing a popular tune,--one of those songs which are
+monthly put in circulation by the singing cafes--
+
+          "To hope!  O charming word,
+           Which, during all life,
+           Husband and children and wife
+           Repeat in common accord!
+           When the moment of success
+           From us ever further slips,
+          'Tis Hope from its rosy lips
+           Whispers, To-morrow you will bless.
+          'Tis very nice to run,
+           But to have is better fun."
+
+"She is in," murmured Maxence, breathing more freely.
+
+Reaching the fourth story, he stopped before the door which faced
+the stairs, and knocked lightly.
+
+At once, the voice, which had just commenced another verse stopped
+short, and inquired, "Who's there?"
+
+"I, Maxence!"
+
+"At this hour!" replied the voice with an ironical laugh.  "That's
+lucky.  You have probably forgotten that we were to go to the
+theatre last night, and start for St. Germain at seven o'clock
+this morning."
+
+"Don't you know then?" Maxence began, as soon as he could put in a
+word.
+
+"I know that you did not come home last night."
+
+"Quite true.  But when I have told you--"
+
+"What?  the lie you have imagined?  Save yourself the trouble."
+
+"Lucienne, I beg of you, open the door."
+
+"Impossible, I am dressing.  Go to your own room: as soon as I am
+dressed, I'll join you."
+
+And, to cut short all these explanations, she took up her song again:
+
+         "Hope, I've waited but too long
+          For thy manna divine!
+          I've drunk enough of thy wine,
+          And I know thy siren song:
+          Waiting for a lucky turn,
+          I have wasted my best days:
+          Take up thy magic-lantern
+          And elsewhere display its rays.
+         'Tis very nice to run,
+          But to have is better fun!"
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+It was on the opposite side of the landing that what Mme. Fortin
+pompously called "Maxence's apartment" was situated.
+
+It consisted of a sort of antechamber, almost as large as a
+handkerchief (decorated by the Fortins with the name of dining-room),
+a bedroom, and a closet called a dressing-room in the lease.
+Nothing could be more gloomy than this lodging, in which the ragged
+paper and soiled paint retained the traces of all the wanderers who
+had occupied it since the opening of the Hotel des Folies.  The
+dislocated ceiling was scaling off in large pieces; the floor
+seemed affected with the dry-rot; and the doors and windows were
+so much warped and sprung, that it required an effort to close them.
+The furniture was on a par with the rest.
+
+"How everything does wear out!" sighed Mme. Fortin.  "It isn't ten
+years since I bought that furniture."
+
+In point of fact it was over fifteen, and even then she had bought
+it secondhanded, and almost unfit for use.  The curtains retained
+but a vague shade of their original color.  The veneer was almost
+entirely off the bedstead.  Not a single lock was in order, whether
+in the bureau or the secretary.  The rug had become a nameless rag;
+and the broken springs of the sofa, cutting through the threadbare
+stuff, stood up threateningly like knife-blades.
+
+The most sumptuous object was an enormous China stove, which
+occupied almost one-half of the hall-dining-room.  It could not be
+used to make a fire; for it had no pipe.  Nevertheless, Mme. Fortin
+refused obstinately to take it out, under the pretext that it gave
+such a comfortable appearance to the apartment.  All this elegance
+cost Maxence forty-five francs a month, and five francs for the
+service; the whole payable in advance from the 1st to the 3d of
+the month.  If, on the 4th, a tenant came in without money, Mme.
+Fortin squarely refused him his key, and invited him to seek
+shelter elsewhere.
+
+"I have been caught too often," she replied to those who tried to
+obtain twenty-four hours' grace from her.  "I wouldn't trust my
+own father till the 5th, he who was a superior officer in Napoleon's
+armies, and the very soul of honor."
+
+It was chance alone which had brought Maxence, after the Commune,
+to the Hotel des Folies; and he had not been there a week, before
+he had fully made up his mind not to wear out Mme. Fortin's
+furniture very long.  He had even already found another and more
+suitable lodging, when, about a year ago, a certain meeting on
+the stairs had modified all his views, and lent a charm to his
+apartment which he did not suspect.
+
+As he was going out one morning to his office, he met on the very
+landing a rather tall and very dark girl, who had just come
+running up stairs.  She passed before him like a flash, opened
+the opposite door, and disappeared.  But, rapid as the apparition
+had been, it had left in Maxence's mind one of those impressions
+which are never obliterated.  He could not think of any thing
+else the whole day; and after business-hours, instead of going to
+dine in Rue St. Gilles, as usual, he sent a despatch to his mother
+to tell her not to wait for him, and bravely went home.
+
+But it was in vain, that, during the whole evening, he kept watch
+behind his door, left slyly ajar: he did not get a glimpse of the
+neighbor.  Neither did she show herself on the next or the three
+following days; and Maxence was beginning to despair, when at last,
+on Sunday, as he was going down stairs, he met her again face to
+face.  He had thought her quite pretty at the first glance: this
+time he was dazzled to that extent, that he remained for over a
+minute, standing like a statue against the wall.
+
+And certainly it was not her dress that helped setting off her
+beauty.  She wore a poor dress of black merino, a narrow collar,
+and plain cuffs, and a bonnet of the utmost simplicity.  She had
+nevertheless an air of incomparable dignity, a grace that charmed,
+and yet inspired respect, and the carriage of a queen.  This was
+on the 30th of July.  As he was handing in his key, before leaving,
+
+"My apartment suits me well enough," said Maxence to Mme. Fortin:
+"I shall keep it.  And here are fifty francs for the month of August."
+
+And, while the landlady was making out a receipt,
+
+"You never told me," he began with his most indifferent look, "that
+I had a neighbor."
+
+Mme. Fortin straightened herself up like an old warhorse that hears
+the sound of the bugle.
+
+"Yes, yes!" she said,--"Mademoiselle Lucienne."
+
+"Lucienne," repeated Maxence: "that's a pretty name."
+
+"Have you seen her?"
+
+"I have just seen her.  She's rather good looking."
+
+The worthy landlady jumped on her chair.  "Rather good looking!"
+she interrupted.  "You must be hard to please, my dear sir; for I,
+who am a judge, I affirm that you might hunt Paris over for four
+whole days without finding such a handsome girl.  Rather good
+looking!  A girl who has hair that comes down to her knees, a
+dazzling complexion, eyes as big as this, and teeth whiter than
+that cat's.  All right, my friend.  You'll wear out more than one
+pair of boots running after women before you catch one like her."
+
+That was exactly Maxence's opinion; and yet with his coldest look,
+
+"Has she been long your tenant, dear Mme. Fortin?" he asked.
+
+"A little over a year.  She was here during the siege; and just
+then, as she could not pay her rent, I was, of course, going to
+send her off; but she went straight to the commissary of police,
+who came here, and forbade me to turn out either her or anybody
+else.  As if people were not masters in their own house!"
+
+"That was perfectly absurd!" objected Maxence, who was determined
+to gain the good graces of the landlady.
+
+"Never heard of such a thing!" she went on.  "Compel you to lodge
+people free!  Why not feed them too?  In short, she remained so
+long, that, after the Commune, she owed me a hundred and eighty
+francs.  Then she said, that, if I would let her stay, she would
+pay me each month in advance, besides the rent, ten francs on the
+old account.  I agreed, and she has already paid up twenty francs."
+
+"Poor girl!" said Maxence.
+
+But Mme. Fortin shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Really," she replied, "I don't pity her much; for, if she only
+wanted, in forty-eight hours I should be paid, and she would have
+something else on her back besides that old black rag.  I tell her
+every day, 'In these days, my child, there is but one reliable
+friend, which is better than all others, and which must be taken as
+it comes, without making any faces if it is a little dirty: that's
+money.'  But all my preaching goes for nothing.  I might as well
+sing."
+
+Maxence was listening with intense delight.
+
+"In short, what does she do?" he asked.
+
+"That's more than I know," replied Mme. Fortin.  "The young lady
+has not much to say.  All I know is, that she leaves every morning
+bright and early, and rarely gets home before eleven.  On Sunday
+she stays home, reading; and sometimes, in the evening, she goes
+out, always alone, to some theatre or ball.  Ah! she is an odd
+one, I tell you!"
+
+A lodger who came in interrupted the landlady; and Maxence walked
+off dreaming how he could manage to make the acquaintance of his
+pretty and eccentric neighbor.
+
+Because he had once spent some hundreds of napoleons in the company
+of young ladies with yellow chignons, Maxence fancied himself a man
+of experience, and had but little faith in the virtue of a girl of
+twenty, living alone in a hotel, and left sole mistress of her own
+fancy.  He began to watch for every occasion of meeting her; and,
+towards the last of the month, he had got so far as to bow to her,
+and to inquire after her health.
+
+But, the first time he ventured to make love to her, she looked at
+him head to foot, and turned her back upon him with so much contempt,
+that he remained, his mouth wide open, perfectly stupefied.
+
+"I am losing my time like a fool," he thought.
+
+Great, then, was his surprise, when the following week, on a fine
+afternoon, he saw Mlle. Lucienne leave her room, no longer clad in
+her eternal black dress, but wearing a brilliant and extremely rich
+toilet.  With a beating heart he followed her.
+
+In front of the Hotel des Folies stood a handsome carriage and
+horses.
+
+As soon as Mlle. Lucienne appeared, a footman opened respectfully
+the carriage-door.  She went in; and the horses started at a full
+trot.
+
+Maxence watched the carriage disappear in the distance, like a
+child who sees the bird fly upon which he hoped to lay hands.
+
+"Gone," he muttered, "gone!"
+
+But, when he turned around, he found himself face to face with the
+Fortins, man and wife; who were laughing a sinister laugh.
+
+"What did I tell you?" exclaimed Mme. Fortin.  "There she is,
+started at last.  Get up, horse!  She'll do well, the child."
+
+The magnificent equipage and elegant dress had already produced
+quite an effect among the neighbors.  The customers sitting in front
+of the cafe were laughing among themselves.  The confectioner and
+his wife were casting indignant glances at the proprietors of the
+Hotel des Folies.
+
+"You see, M. Favoral," replied Mme. Fortin, "such a girl as that
+was not made for our neighborhood.  You must make up your mind to
+it; you won't see much more of her on the Boulevard du Temple."
+
+Without saying a word, Maxence ran to his room, the hot tears
+streaming from his eyes.  He felt ashamed of himself; for, after
+all, what was this girl to him?
+
+"She is gone!" he repeated to himself.  "Well, good-by, let her go!"
+
+But, despite all his efforts at philosophy, he felt an immense
+sadness invading his heart: ill-defined regrets and spasms of anger
+agitated him.  He was thinking what a fool he had been to believe
+in the grand airs of the young lady, and that, if he had had dresses
+and horses to give her, she might not have received him so harshly.
+At last he made up his mind to think no more of her,--one of those
+fine resolutions which are always taken, and never kept; and in the
+evening he left his room to go and dine in the Rue St. Gilles.
+
+But, as was often his custom, he stopped at the cafe next door, and
+called for a drink.  He was mixing his absinthe when he saw the
+carriage that had carried off Mlle. Lucienne in the morning returning
+at a rapid gait, and stopping short in front of the hotel.  Mlle.
+Lucienne got out slowly, crossed the sidewalk, and entered the
+narrow corridor.  Almost immediately, the carriage turned around,
+and drove off.
+
+"What does it mean?" thought Maxence, who was actually forgetting
+to swallow his absinthe.
+
+He was losing himself in absurd conjectures, when, some fifteen
+minutes later, he saw the girl coming out again.  Already she had
+taken off her elegant clothes, and resumed her cheap black dress.
+She had a basket on her arm, and was going towards the Rue Chariot.
+Without further reflections, Maxence rose suddenly, and started to
+follow her, being very careful that she should not see him.  After
+walking for five or six minutes, she entered a shop, half-eating
+house, and half wine-shop, in the window of which a large sign
+could be read: "Ordinary at all hours for forty centimes.  Hard
+boiled eggs, and salad of the season."
+
+Maxence, having crept up as close as he could, saw Mlle. Lucienne
+take a tin box out of her basket, and have what is called an
+"ordinaire" poured into it; that is, half a pint of soup, a piece
+of beef as large as the fist, and a few vegetables.  She then had
+a small bottle half-filled with wine, paid, and walked out with
+that same look of grave dignity which she always wore.
+
+"Funny dinner," murmured Maxence, "for a woman who was spreading
+herself just now in a ten-thousand-franc carriage."
+
+From that moment she became the sole and only object of his thoughts.
+A passion, which he no longer attempted to resist, was penetrating
+like a subtle poison to the innermost depths of his being.  He
+thought himself happy, when, after watching for hours, he caught a
+glimpse of this singular creature, who, after that extraordinary
+expedition, seemed to have resumed her usual mode of life.  Mme.
+Fortin was dumfounded.
+
+"She has been too exacting," she said to Maxence, "and the thing
+has fallen through."
+
+He made no answer.  He felt a perfect horror for the honorable
+landlady's insinuations; and yet he never ceased to repeat to
+himself that he must be a great simpleton to have faith for a
+moment in that young lady's virtue.  What would he not have given
+to be able to question her?  But he dared not.  Often he would
+gather up his courage, and wait for her on the stairs; but, as
+soon as she fixed upon him her great black eye, all the phrases
+he had prepared took flight from his brain, his tongue clove to
+his mouth, and he could barely succeed in stammering out a timid,
+
+"Good-morning, mademoiselle."
+
+He felt so angry with himself, that he was almost on the point of
+leaving the Hotel des Folies, when one evening:
+
+"Well," said Mme. Fortin to him, "all is made up again, it seems.
+The beautiful carriage called again to-day."
+
+Maxence could have beaten her.
+
+"What good would it do you," he replied, "if Lucienne were to turn
+out badly?"
+
+"It's always a pleasure," she grumbled, "to have one more woman to
+torment the men.  Those are the girls, you see, who avenge us poor
+honest women!"
+
+The sequel seemed at first to justify her worst previsions.  Three
+times during that week, Mlle. Lucienne rode out in grand style; but
+as she always returned, and always resumed her eternal black woolen
+dress,
+
+"I can't make head or tail of it," thought Maxence.  "But never mind,
+I'll clear the matter up yet."
+
+He applied, and obtained leave of absence; and from the very next
+day he took up a position behind the window of the adjoining cafe.
+On the first day he lost his time; but on the second day, at about
+three o'clock, the famous equipage made its appearance; and, a few
+moments later, Mlle. Lucienne took a seat in it.  Her toilet was
+richer, and more showy still, than the first time.  Maxence jumped
+into a cab.
+
+"You see that carriage," he said to the coachman,  "Wherever it
+goes, you must follow it.  I give ten francs extra pay."
+
+"All right!" replied the driver, whipping up his horses.
+
+And much need he had, too, of whipping them; for the carriage that
+carried off Mlle. Lucienne started at full trot down the Boulevards,
+to the Madeleine, then along the Rue Royale, and through the Place
+de la Concorde, to the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, where the horses
+were brought down to a walk.  It was the end of September, and one
+of those lovely autumnal days which are a last smile of the blue
+sky and the last caress of the sun.
+
+There were races in the Bois de Boulogne; and the equipages were
+five and six abreast on the avenue.  The side-alleys were crowded
+with idlers.  Maxence, from the inside of his cab, never lost sight
+of Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+She was evidently creating a sensation.  The men stopped to look
+at her with gaping admiration: the women leaned out of their
+carriages to see her better.
+
+"Where can she be going?" Maxence wondered.
+
+She was going to the Bois; and soon her carriage joined the
+interminable line of equipages which were following the grand drive
+at a walk.  It became easier now to follow on foot.  Maxence sent
+off his cab to wait for him at a particular spot, and took the
+pedestrians' road, that follows the edge of the lakes.  He had
+not gone fifty steps, however, before he heard some one call him.
+He turned around, and, within two lengths of his cane, saw M. Saint
+Pavin and M. Costeclar.  Maxence hardly knew M. Saint Pavin, whom
+he had only seen two or three times in the Rue St. Gilles, and
+execrated M. Costeclar.  Still he advanced towards them.
+
+Mlle. Lucienne's carriage was now caught in the file; and he was
+sure of joining it whenever he thought proper.
+
+"It is a miracle to see you here, my dear Maxence!"  exclaimed M.
+Costeclar, loud enough to attract the attention of several persons.
+
+To occupy the attention of others, anyhow and at any cost, was M.
+Costeclar's leading object in life.  That was evident from the
+style of his dress, the shape of his hat, the bright stripes of his
+shirt, his ridiculous shirt-collar, his cuffs, his boots, his gloves,
+his cane, every thing, in fact.
+
+"If you see us on foot," he added, "it is because we wanted to walk
+a little.  The doctor's prescription, my dear.  My carriage is
+yonder, behind those trees.  Do you recognize my dapple-grays?"
+And he extended his cane in that direction, as if he were addressing
+himself, not to Maxence alone, but to all those who were passing by.
+
+"Very well, very well! everybody knows you have a carriage,"
+interrupted M. Saint Pavin.
+
+The editor of "The Financial Pilot" was the living contrast of his
+companion.  More slovenly still than M. Costeclar was careful of
+his dress, he exhibited cynically a loose cravat rolled over a shirt
+worn two or three days, a coat white with lint and plush, muddy
+boots, though it had not rained for a week, and large red hands,
+surprisingly filthy.
+
+He was but the more proud; and he wore, cocked up to one side, a
+hat that had not known a brush since the day it had left the hatter's.
+
+"That fellow Costeclar," he went on, "he won't believe that there
+are in France a number of people who live and die without ever
+having owned a horse or a coupe; which is a fact, nevertheless.
+Those fellows who were born with fifty or sixty thousand francs'
+income in their baby-clothes are all alike."
+
+The unpleasant intention was evident; but M. Costeclar was not the
+man to get angry for such a trifle.
+
+"You are in bad humor to-day, old fellow," he said.  The editor of
+"The Financial Pilot" made a threatening gesture.
+
+"Well, yes," he answered, "I am in bad humor, like a man who for
+ten years past has been beating the drum in front of your d--d
+financial shops, and who does not pay expenses.  Yes, for ten years
+I have shouted myself hoarse for your benefit: 'Walk in, ladies and
+gentlemen, and, for every twenty-cent-piece you deposit with us,
+we will return you a five-franc-piece.  Walk in, follow the crowd,
+step up to the office: this is the time.'  They go in.  You receive
+mountains of twenty-cent-pieces: you never return anything, neither
+a five-franc-piece, nor even a centime.  The trick is done, the
+public is sold.  You drive your own carriage; you suspend diamonds
+to your mistress' ears; and I, the organizer of success, whose puffs
+open the tightest closed pockets, and start up the old louis from
+the bottom of the old woolen stocking,--I am driven to have my boots
+half-soled.  You stint me my existence; you kick as soon as I ask
+you to pay for the big drums bursted in your behalf."
+
+He spoke so loud, that three or four idlers had stopped.  Without
+being very shrewd, Maxence understood readily that he had happened
+in the midst of an acrimonious discussion.  Closely pressed, and
+desirous of gaining time, M. Costeclar had called him in the hopes
+of effecting a diversion.
+
+Bowing, therefore, politely,
+
+"Excuse me, gentlemen," he said: "I fear I have interrupted you."
+
+But M. Costeclar detained him.
+
+"Don't go," he declared; "you must come down and take a glass of
+Madeira with us, down at the Cascade."
+
+And, turning to the editor of "The Pilot":
+
+"Come, now, shut up," he said: "you shall have what you want."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Upon my word."
+
+"I'd rather have two or three lines in black and white."
+
+"I'll give them to you to-night."
+
+"All right, then!  Forward the big guns!  Look out for next Sunday's
+number!"
+
+Peace being made, the gentlemen continued their walk in the most
+friendly manner, M. Costeclar pointing out to Maxence all the
+celebrities who were passing by them in their carriages.
+
+He had just designated to his attention Mme. and Mlle. de Thaller,
+accompanied by two gigantic footmen, when, suddenly interrupting
+himself, and rising on tiptoe,
+
+"Sacre bleu!" he exclaimed: "what a handsome woman!"
+
+Without too much affectation, Maxence fell back a step or two.  He
+felt himself blushing to his very ears, and trembled lest his sudden
+emotion were noticed, and he were questioned; for it was Mlle.
+Lucienne who thus excited M. Costeclar's noisy enthusiasm.  Once
+already she had been around the lake; and she was continuing
+her circular drive.
+
+"Positively," approved the editor of "The Financial Pilot," "she is
+somewhat better than the rest of those ladies we have just seen
+going by."
+
+M. Costeclar was on the point of pulling out what little hair he
+had left.
+
+"And I don't know her!" he went on.  "A lovely woman rides in the
+Bois, and I don't know who she is!  That is ridiculous and
+prodigious!  Who can post us?"
+
+A little ways off stood a group of gentlemen, who had also just left
+their carriages, and were looking on this interminable procession of
+equipages and this amazing display of toilets.
+
+"They are friends of mine," said M. Costeclar: "let us join them."
+
+They did so; and, after the usual greetings,
+
+"Who is that?" inquired M. Costeclar,--"that dark person, whose
+carriage follows Mme. de Thaller's?"
+
+An old young man, with scanty hair, dyed beard, and a most impudent
+smile, answered him,
+
+"That's just what we are trying to find out.  None of us have ever
+seen her."
+
+"I must and shall find out," interrupted M. Costeclar.  "I have a
+very intelligent servant."
+
+Already he was starting in the direction of the spot where his
+carriage was waiting for him.  The old beau stopped him.
+
+"Don't bother yourself, my dear friend," he said.  "I have also a
+servant who is no fool; and he has had orders for over fifteen
+minutes."
+
+The others burst out laughing.
+
+"Distanced, Costeclar!" exclaimed M. Saint Pavin, who,
+notwithstanding his slovenly dress and cynic manners, seemed
+perfectly well received.
+
+No one was now paying any attention to Maxence; and he slipped off
+without the slightest care as to what M. Costeclar might think.
+Reaching the spot where his cab awaited him,
+
+"Which way, boss?" inquired the driver.  Maxence hesitated.  What
+better had he to do than to go home?  And yet . . .
+
+"We'll wait for that same carriage," he answered; "and we'll follow
+it on the return."
+
+But he learned nothing further.  Mlle. Lucienne drove straight to
+the Boulevard du Temple, and, as before, immediately resumed her
+eternal black dress; and Maxence saw her go to the little restaurant
+for her modest dinner.
+
+But he saw something else too.
+
+Almost on the heels of the girl, a servant in livery entered the hotel
+corridor, and only went off after remaining a full quarter of an hour
+in busy conference with Mme. Fortin.
+
+"It's all over," thought the poor fellow.  "Lucienne will not be
+much longer my neighbor."
+
+He was mistaken.  A month went by without bringing about any change.
+As in the past, she went out early, came home late, and on Sundays
+remained alone all day in her room.  Once or twice a week, when the
+weather was fine, the carriage came for her at about three o'clock,
+and brought her home at nightfall.  Maxence had exhausted all
+conjectures, when one evening, it was the 31st of October, as he
+was coming in to go to bed, he heard a loud sound of voices in the
+office of the hotel.  Led by an instinctive curiosity, he approached
+on tiptoe, so as to see and hear every thing.  The Fortins and Mlle.
+Lucienne were having a great discussion.
+
+"That's all nonsense," shrieked the worthy landlady; "and I mean
+to be paid."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne was quite calm.
+
+"Well," she replied: "don't I pay you?  Here are forty francs,
+--thirty in advance for my room, and ten on the old account."
+
+"I don't want your ten francs!"
+
+"What do you want, then?"
+
+"Ah,--the hundred and fifty francs which you owe me still."
+
+The girl shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You forget our agreement," she uttered.
+
+"Our agreement?"
+
+"Yes.  After the Commune, it was understood that I would give you
+ten francs a month on the old account; as long as I give them to
+you, you have nothing to ask."
+
+Crimson with rage, Mme. Fortin had risen from her seat.
+
+"Formerly," she interrupted, "I presumed I had to deal with a poor
+working-girl, an honest girl."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne took no notice of the insult.
+
+"I have not the amount you ask," she said coldly.
+
+"Well, then," vociferated the other, "you must go and ask it of
+those who pay for your carriages and your dresses."
+
+Still impassible, the girl, instead of answering, stretched her
+hand towards her key; but M. Fortin stopped her arm.
+
+"No, no!" he said with a giggle.  "People who don't pay their
+hotel-bill sleep out, my darling."
+
+Maxence, that very morning, had received his month's pay, and he
+felt, as it were, his two hundred francs trembling in his pockets.
+
+Yielding to a sudden inspiration, he threw open the office-door,
+and, throwing down one hundred and fifty francs upon the table,
+
+"Here is your money, wretch!" he exclaimed.  And he withdrew at
+once.
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+Maxence had not spoken to Mlle. Lucienne for nearly a month.  He
+tried to persuade himself that she despised him because he was poor.
+He kept watching for her, for he could not help it; but as much as
+possible he avoided her.
+
+"I shall be miserable," he thought, "the day when she does not come
+home; and yet it would be the very best thing that could happen
+for me."
+
+Nevertheless, he spent all his time trying to find some explanations
+for the conduct of this strange girl, who, beneath her woolen dress,
+had the haughty manners of a great lady.  Then he delighted to
+imagine between her and himself some of those subjects of confidence,
+some of those facilities which chance never fails to supply to
+attentive passion, or some event which would enable him to emerge
+from his obscurity, and to acquire some rights by virtue of some
+great service rendered.
+
+But never had he dared to hope for an occasion as propitious as the
+one he had just seized.  And yet, after he had returned to his room,
+he hardly dared to congratulate himself upon the promptitude of his
+decision.  He knew too well Mlle. Lucienne's excessive pride and
+sensitive nature.
+
+"I should not be surprised if she were angry with me for what I've
+done," he thought.
+
+The evening being quite chilly, he had lighted a few sticks; and,
+sitting by the fireside, he was waiting, his mind filled with vague
+hopes.  It seemed to him that his neighbor could not absolve herself
+from coming to thank him; and he was listening intently to all the
+noises of the house, starting at the sound of footsteps on the
+stairs, and at the slamming of doors.  Ten times, at least, he went
+out on tiptoe to lean out of the window on the landing, to make sure
+that there was no light in Mlle. Lucienne's room.  At eleven o'clock
+she had not yet come home; and he was deliberating whether he would
+not start out in quest of information, when there was a knock at the
+door.
+
+"Come in!" he cried, in a voice choked with emotion.  Mlle. Lucienne
+came in.  She was somewhat paler than usual, but calm and perfectly
+self-possessed.  Having bowed without the slightest shade of
+embarrassment, she laid upon the mantel-piece the thirty
+five-franc-notes which Maxence had thrown down to the Fortins; and,
+in her most natural tone,
+
+"Here are your hundred and fifty francs, sir," she uttered.  "I am
+more grateful than I can express for your prompt kindness in lending
+them to me; but I did not need them."
+
+Maxence had risen from his seat, and was making every effort to
+control his own feelings.
+
+"Still," he began, "after what I heard--"
+
+"Yes," she interrupted, "Mme. Fortin and her husband were trying to
+frighten me.  But they were losing their time.  When, after the
+Commune, I settled with them the manner in which I would discharge
+my debt towards them, having a just estimate of their worth, I
+made them write out and sign our agreement.  Being in the right, I
+could resist them, and was resisting them when you threw them those
+hundred and fifty francs.  Having laid hands upon them, they had the
+pretension to keep them.  That's what I could not suffer.  Not being
+able to recover them by main force, I went at once to the commissary
+of police.  He was luckily at his office.  He is an honest man, who
+already, once before, helped me out of a scrape.  He listened to me
+kindly, and was moved by my explanations.  Notwithstanding the
+lateness of the hour, he put on his overcoat, and came with me to
+see our landlord.  After compelling them to return me your money, he
+signified to them to observe strictly our agreement, under penalty
+of incurring his utmost severity."
+
+Maxence was wonderstruck.
+
+"How could you dare?" he said.
+
+"Wasn't I in the right?"
+
+"Oh, a thousand times yes!  Still--"
+
+"What?  Should my right be less respected because I am but a woman?
+And, because I have no one to protect me, am I outside the law, and
+condemned in advance to suffer the iniquitous fancies of every
+scoundrel?  No, thank Heaven!  Henceforth I shall feel easy.  People
+like the Fortins, who live off I know not what shameful traffic, have
+too much to fear from the police to dare to molest me further."
+
+The resentment of the insult could be read in her great black eyes;
+and a bitter disgust contracted her lips.
+
+"Besides," she added, "the commissary had no need of my explanations
+to understand what abject inspirations the Fortins were following.
+The wretches had in their pocket the wages of their infamy.  In
+refusing me my key, in throwing me out in the street at ten o'clock
+at night, they hoped to drive me to seek the assistance of the base
+coward who paid their odious treason.  And we know the price which
+men demand for the slightest service they render to a woman."
+
+Maxence turned pale.  The idea flashed upon his mind that it was to
+him, perhaps, that these last words were addressed.
+
+"Ah, I swear it!" he exclaimed, "it is without after-thought that
+I tried to help you.  You do not owe me any thanks even."
+
+"I do not thank you any the less, though," she said gently, "and
+from the bottom of my heart."
+
+"It was so little!"
+
+"Intention alone makes the value of a service, neighbor.  And,
+besides, do not say that a hundred and fifty francs are nothing to
+you: perhaps you do not earn much more each month."
+
+"I confess it," he said, blushing a little.
+
+"You see, then?  No, it was not to you that my words were addressed,
+but to the man who has paid the Fortins.  He was waiting on the
+Boulevard, the result of the manoeuvre, which, they thought, was
+about to place me at his mercy.  He ran quickly to me when I went
+out, and followed me all the way to the office of the commissary
+of police, as he follows me everywhere for the past month, with his
+sickening gallantries and his degrading propositions."
+
+The eye flashing with anger,
+
+"Ah, if I had known!" exclaimed Maxence.  "If you had told me but
+a word!"
+
+She smiled at his vehemence.
+
+"What would you have done?" she said.  "You cannot impart
+intelligence to a fool, heart to a coward, or delicacy of feeling
+to a boor."
+
+"I could have chastised the miserable insulter."
+
+She had a superb gesture of indifference.
+
+"Bash!" she interrupted.  "What are insults to me?  I am so
+accustomed to them, that they no longer have any effect upon me.
+I am eighteen: I have neither family, relatives, friends, nor any
+one in the world who even knows my existence; and I live by my
+labor.  Can't you see what must be the humiliations of each day?
+Since I was eight years old, I have been earning the bread I eat,
+the dress I wear, and the rent of the den where I sleep.  Can you
+understand what I have endured, to what ignominies I have been
+exposed, what traps have been set for me, and how it has happened
+to me sometimes to owe my safety to mere physical force?  And yet
+I do not complain, since through it all I have been able to retain
+the respect of myself, and to remain virtuous in spite of all."
+
+She was laughing a laugh that had something wild in it.
+
+And, as Maxence was looking at her with immense surprise,
+
+"That seems strange to you, doesn't it?" she resumed.  "A girl of
+eighteen, without a sou, free as air, very pretty, and yet virtuous
+in the midst of Paris.  Probably you don't believe it, or, if you
+do, you just think, 'What on earth does she make by it?'
+
+"And really you are right; for, after all, who cares, and who thinks
+any the more of me, if I work sixteen hours a day to remain virtuous?
+But it's a fancy of my own; and don't imagine for a moment that I am
+deterred by any scruples, or by timidity, or ignorance.  No, no!
+I believe in nothing.  I fear nothing; and I know as much as the
+oldest libertines, the most vicious, and the most depraved.  And I
+don't say that I have not been tempted sometimes, when, coming home
+from work, I'd see some of them coming out of the restaurants,
+splendidly dressed, on their lover's arm, and getting into carriages
+to go to the theatre.  There were moments when I was cold and hungry,
+and when, not knowing where to sleep, I wandered all night through
+the streets like a lost dog.  There were hours when I felt sick of
+all this misery, and when I said to myself, that, since it was my
+fate to end in the hospital, I might as well make the trip gayly.
+But what!  I should have had to traffic my person, to sell myself!"
+
+She shuddered, and in a hoarse voice,
+
+"I would rather die," she said.
+
+It was difficult to reconcile words such as these with certain
+circumstances of Mlle. Lucienne's existence,--her rides around the
+lake, for instance, in that carriage that came for her two or three
+times a week; her ever renewed costumes, each time more eccentric
+and more showy.  But Maxence was not thinking of that.  What she
+told him he accepted as absolutely true and indisputable.  And he
+felt penetrated with an almost religious admiration for this young
+and beautiful girl, possessed of so much vivid energy, who alone,
+through the hazards, the perils, and the temptations of Paris, had
+succeeded in protecting and defending herself.
+
+"And yet," he said, "without suspecting it, you had a friend near
+you."
+
+She shuddered; and a pale smile flitted upon her lips.  She knew
+well enough what friendship means between a youth of twenty-five
+and a girl of eighteen.
+
+"A friend!" she murmured.
+
+Maxence guessed her thought; and, in all the sincerity of his soul,
+
+"Yes, a friend," he repeated, "a comrade, a brother."  And thinking
+to touch her, and gain her confidence,
+
+"I could understand you," he added; "for I, too, have been very
+unhappy."
+
+But he was singularly mistaken.  She looked at him with an astonished
+air, and slowly,
+
+"You unhappy!" she uttered,--"you who have a family, relations, a
+mother who adores you, a sister."  Less excited, Maxence might have
+wondered how she had found this out, and would have concluded that
+she must feel some interest in him, since she had doubtless taken
+the trouble of getting information.
+
+"Besides, you are a man," she went on; "and I do not understand how
+a man can complain.  Have you not the freedom, the strength, and the
+right to undertake and to dare any thing?  Isn't the world open to
+your activity and to your ambition?  Woman submits to her fate: man
+makes his."
+
+This was hurting the dearest pretensions of Maxence, who seriously
+thought that he had exhausted the rigors of adversity.
+
+"There are circumstances," he began.
+
+But she shrugged her shoulders gently, and, interrupting him,
+
+"Do not insist," she said, "or else I might think that you lack
+energy.  What are you talking of circumstances?  There are none
+so adverse but that can be overcome.  What would you like, then?
+To be born with a hundred thousand francs a year, and have nothing
+to do but to live according to your whim of each day, idle, satiated,
+a burden upon yourself, useless, or offensive to others?  Ah!  If I
+were a man, I would dream of another fate.  I should like to start
+from the Foundling Asylum, without a name, and by my will, my
+intelligence, my daring, and my labor, make something and somebody
+of myself.  I would start from nothing, and become every thing!"
+
+With flashing eyes and quivering nostrils, she drew herself up
+proudly.  But almost at once, dropping her head,
+
+"The misfortune is," she added, "that I am but a woman; and you who
+complain, if you only knew--"
+
+She sat down, and with her elbow on the little table, her head
+resting upon her hand, she remained lost in her meditations, her
+eyes fixed, as if following through space all the phases of the
+eighteen years of her life.
+
+There is no energy but unbends at some given moment, no will but
+has its hour of weakness; and, strong and energetic as was Mlle.
+Lucienne, she had been deeply touched by Maxence's act.  Had she,
+then, found at last upon her path the companion of whom she had
+often dreamed in the despairing hours of solitude and wretchedness?
+After a few moments, she raised her head, and, looking into
+Maxence's eyes with a gaze that made him quiver like the shock of
+an electric battery,
+
+"Doubtless," she said, in a tone of indifference somewhat forced,
+"you think you have in me a strange neighbor.  Well, as between
+neighbors; it is well to know each other.  Before you judge me,
+listen."
+
+The recommendation was useless.  Maxence was listening with all
+the powers of his attention.
+
+"I was brought up," she began, "in a village of the neighborhood of
+Paris,--in Louveciennes.  My mother had put me out to nurse with
+some honest gardeners, poor, and burdened with a large family.
+After two months, hearing nothing of my mother, they wrote to
+her: she made no answer.  They then went to Paris, and called at
+the address she had given them.  She had just moved out; and no one
+knew what had become of her.  They could no longer, therefore,
+expect a single sou for the cares they would bestow upon me.  They
+kept me, nevertheless, thinking that one child the more would not
+make much difference.  I know nothing of my parents, therefore,
+except what I heard through these kind gardeners; and, as I was
+still quite young when I had the misfortune to lose them, I have
+but a very vague remembrance of what they told me.  I remember very
+well, however, that according to their statements, my mother was a
+young working-woman of rare beauty, and that, very likely, she was
+not my father's wife.  If I was ever told the name of my mother or
+my father, if I ever knew it, I have quite forgotten it.  I had
+myself no name.  My adopted parents called me the Parisian.  I was
+happy, nevertheless, with these kind people, and treated exactly
+like their own children.  In winter, they sent me to school; in
+summer, I helped weeding the garden.  I drove a sheep or two along
+the road, or else I went to gather violets and strawberries
+through the woods.
+
+"This was the happiest, indeed, the only happy time of my life,
+towards which my thoughts may turn when I feel despair and
+discouragement getting the better of me.  Alas!  I was but eight,
+when, within the same week, the gardener and his wife were both
+carried off by the same disease,--inflammation of the lungs.
+
+"On a freezing December morning, in that house upon which the hand
+of death had just fallen, we found ourselves, six children, the
+oldest of whom was not eleven, crying with grief, fright, cold,
+and hunger.
+
+"Neither the gardener nor his wife had any relatives; and they
+left nothing but a few wretched pieces of furniture, the sale of
+which barely sufficed to pay the expenses of their funeral.  The
+two younger children were taken to an asylum: the others were taken
+charge of by the neighbors.
+
+"It was a laundress of Marly who took me.  I was quite tall and
+strong for my age.  She made an apprentice of me.  She was not
+unkind by nature; but she was violent and brutal in the extreme.
+She compelled me to do an excessive amount of work, and often of a
+kind above my strength.
+
+"Fifty times a day, I had to go from the river to the house,
+carrying on my shoulders enormous bundles of wet napkins or sheets,
+wring them, spread them out, and then run to Rueil to get the soiled
+clothes from the customers.  I did not complain (I was already too
+proud to complain); but, if I was ordered to do something that seemed
+to me too unjust, I refused obstinately to obey, and then I was
+unmercifully beaten.  In spite of all, I might, perhaps, have become
+attached to the woman, had she not had the disgusting habit of
+drinking.  Every week regularly, on the day when she took the clothes
+to Paris (it was on Wednesdays), she came home drunk.  And then,
+according as, with the fumes of the wine, anger or gayety rose to
+her brain, there were atrocious scenes or obscene jests.
+
+"When she was in that condition, she inspired me with horror.  And
+one Wednesday, as I showed my feelings too plainly, she struck me
+so hard, that she broke my arm.  I had been with her for twenty
+months.  The injury she had done me sobered her at once.  She
+became frightened, overpowered me with caresses, begging me to say
+nothing to any one.  I promised, and kept faithfully my word.
+
+"But a physician had to be called in.  There had been witnesses who
+spoke.  The story spread along the river, as far as Bougival and
+Rueil.  And one morning an officer of gendarmes called at the house;
+and I don't exactly know what would have happened, if I had not
+obstinately maintained that I had broken my arm in falling down
+stairs."
+
+What surprised Maxence most was Mlle. Lucienne's simple and natural
+tone.  No emphasis, scarcely an appearance of emotion.  One might
+have thought it was somebody's else life that she was narrating.
+Meantime she was going on,
+
+"Thanks to my obstinate denials the woman was not disturbed.  But
+the truth was known; and her reputation, which was not good before,
+became altogether bad.  I became an object of interest.  The very
+same people who had seen me twenty times staggering painfully under
+a load of wet clothes, which was terrible, began to pity me
+prodigiously because I had had an arm broken, which was nothing.
+
+"At last a number of our customers arranged to take me out of a
+house, in which, they said, I must end by perishing under bad
+treatment.
+
+"And, after many fruitless efforts, they discovered, at last, at
+La Jonchere, an old Jewess lady, very rich, and a widow without
+children, who consented to take charge of me.
+
+"I hesitated at first to accept these offers; but noticing that the
+laundress, since she had hurt me, had conceived a still greater
+aversion for me, I made up my mind to leave her.
+
+"It was on the day when I was introduced to my new mistress that I
+first discovered I had no name.  After examining me at length,
+turning me around and around, making me walk, and sit down, 'Now,'
+she inquired, 'what is your name?'
+
+"I stared at her in surprise; for indeed I was then like a savage,
+not having the slightest notions of the things of life.
+
+"'My name is the Parisian,' I replied.
+
+"She burst out laughing, as also another old lady, a friend of hers,
+who assisted at my presentation; and I remember that my little pride
+was quite offended at their hilarity.  I thought they were laughing
+at me.
+
+"'That's not a name,' they said at last.  'That's a nickname.'
+
+"'I have no other.'
+
+"They seemed dumfounded, repeating over and over that such a thing
+was unheard of; and on the spot they began to look for a name for me.
+
+"'Where were you born?' inquired my new mistress.
+
+"'At Louveciennes.'
+
+"'Very well,' said the other: 'let us call her Louvecienne.'
+
+"A long discussion followed, which irritated me so much that I felt
+like running away; and it was agreed at last, that I should be
+called, not Louvecienne, but Lucienne; and Lucienne I have remained.
+
+"There was nothing said about baptism, since my new mistress was a
+Jewess.
+
+"She was an excellent woman, although the grief she had felt at the
+loss of her husband had somewhat deranged her faculties.
+
+"As soon as it was decided that I was to remain, she desired to
+inspect my trousseau.  I had none to show her, possessing nothing
+in the world but the rags on my back.  As long as I had remained
+with the laundress, I had finished wearing out her old dresses; and
+I had never worn any other under-clothing save that which I borrowed,
+'by authority,' from the clients,--an economical system adopted by
+many laundresses.
+
+"Dismayed at my state of destitution, my new mistress sent for a
+seamstress, and at once ordered wherewith to dress and change me.
+
+"Since the death of the poor gardeners, this was the first time that
+any one paid any attention to me, except to exact some service of me.
+I was moved to tears; and, in the excess of my gratitude, I would
+gladly have died for that kind old lady.
+
+"This feeling gave me the courage and the constancy required to bear
+with her whimsical nature.  She had singular manias, disconcerting
+fancies, ridiculous and often exorbitant exactions.  I lent myself
+to it all as best I could.
+
+"As she already had two servants, a cook and a chambermaid, I had
+myself no special duties in the house.  I accompanied her when she
+went out riding.  I helped to wait on her at table, and to dress her.
+I picked up her handkerchief when she dropped it; and, above all, I
+looked for her snuff-box, which she was continually mislaying.
+
+"She was pleased with my docility, took much interest in me, and,
+that I might read to her, she made me learn to read, for I hardly
+knew my letters.  And the old man whom she gave me for a teacher,
+finding me intelligent, taught me all he knew, I imagine, of French,
+of geography, and of history.
+
+"The chambermaid, on the other hand, had been commissioned to teach
+me to sew, to embroider, and to execute all sorts of fancy-work;
+and she took the more interest in her lessons, that little by little
+she shifted upon me the most tedious part of her work.
+
+"I would have been happy in that pretty house at La Jonchere, if I
+had only had some society better suited to my age than the old women
+with whom I was compelled to live, and who scolded me for a loud
+word or a somewhat abrupt gesture.  What would I not have given to
+have been allowed to play with the young girls whom I saw on Sundays
+passing in crowds along the road!
+
+"As time went on, my old mistress became more and more attached to
+me, and endeavored in every way to give me proofs of her affection.
+I sat at table with her, instead of waiting on her, as at first.
+She had given me clothes, so that she could take me and introduce
+me anywhere.
+
+"She went about repeating everywhere that she was as fond of me as
+of a daughter; that she intended to set me up in life; and that
+certainly she would leave a part of her fortune to me.
+
+"Alas!  She said it too loud, for my misfortune,--so loud, that
+the news reached at last the ears of some nephews of hers in Paris,
+who came once in a while to La Jonchere.
+
+"They had never paid much attention to me up to this time.  Those
+speeches opened their eyes: they noticed what progress I had made
+in the heart of their relative; and their cupidity became alarmed.
+
+"Trembling lest they should lose an inheritance which they
+considered as theirs, they united against me, determined to put a
+stop to their aunt's generous intentions by having me sent off.
+
+"But it was in vain, that, for nearly a year, their hatred exhausted
+itself in skillful manoeuvres.
+
+"The instinct of preservation stimulating my perspicacity I had
+penetrated their intentions, and I was struggling with all my might.
+Every day, to make myself more indispensable, I invented some novel
+attention.
+
+"They only came once a week to La Jonchere: I was there all the time.
+I had the advantage.  I struggled successfully, and was probably
+approaching the end of my troubles, when my poor old mistress was
+taken sick.  After forty-eight hours, she was very low.  She was
+fully conscious, but for that very reason she could appreciate the
+danger; and the fear of death made her crazy.
+
+"Her nieces had come to sit by her bedside; and I was expressly
+forbidden to enter the room.  They had understood that this was an
+excellent opportunity to get rid of me forever.
+
+"Evidently gained in advance, the physicians declared to my poor
+benefactress that the air of La Jonchere was fatal to her, and
+that her only chance of recovery was to establish herself in Paris.
+One of her nephews offered to have her taken to his house in a
+litter.  She would soon get well, they said; and she could then go
+to finish her convalescence in some southern city.
+
+"Her first word was for me.  She did not wish to be separated from
+me, she protested, and insisted absolutely upon taking me with her.
+Her nephews represented gravely to her that this was an
+impossibility; that she must not think of burdening herself with
+me; that the simplest thing was to leave me at La Jonchere; and
+that, moreover, they would see that I should get a good situation.
+
+"The sick woman struggled for a long time, and with an energy of
+which I would not have thought her capable.
+
+"But the others were pressing.  The physicians kept repeating that
+they could not answer for any thing, if she did not follow their
+advice.  She was afraid of death.  She yielded, weeping.
+
+"The very next morning, a sort of litter, carried by eight men,
+stopped in front of the door.  My poor mistress was laid into it;
+and they carried her off, without even permitting me to kiss her
+for the last time.
+
+"Two hours later, the cook and the chambermaid were dismissed.  As
+to myself, the nephew who had promised to look after me put a
+twenty-franc-piece in my hand saying, 'Here are your eight days in
+advance.  Pack up your things immediately, and clear out!'"
+
+It was impossible that Mlle. Lucienne should not be deeply moved
+whilst thus stirring the ashes of her past.  She showed no evidence
+of it, however, except, now and then, a slight alteration in her
+voice.
+
+As to Maxence, he would vainly have tried to conceal the passionate
+interest with which he was listening to these unexpected confidences.
+
+"Have you, then, never seen your benefactress again?" he asked.
+
+"Never," replied Mlle. Lucienne.  "All my efforts to reach her have
+proved fruitless.  She does not live in Paris now.  I have written
+to her: my letters have remained without answer.  Did she ever get
+them?  I think not.  Something tells me that she has not forgotten
+me."
+
+She remained silent for a few moments, as if collecting herself
+before resuming the thread of her narrative.  And then,
+
+"It was thus brutally," she resumed, "that I was sent off.  It
+would have been useless to beg, I knew; and, moreover, I have never
+known how to beg.  I piled up hurriedly in two trunks and in some
+bandboxes all I had in the world,--all I had received from the
+generosity of my poor mistress; and, before the stated hour, I was
+ready.  The cook and the chambermaid had already gone.  The man who
+was treating me so cruelly was waiting for me.  He helped me carry
+out my boxes and trunks, after which he locked the door, put the
+key in his pocket; and, as the American omnibus was passing, he
+beckoned to it to stop.  And then, before entering it,
+
+"'Good luck, my pretty girl!' he said with a laugh.
+
+"This was in the month of January, 1866.  I was just thirteen.  I
+have had since more terrible trials, and I have found myself in much
+more desperate situations: but I do not remember ever feeling such
+intense discouragement as I did that day, when I found myself alone
+upon that road, not knowing which way to go.  I sat down on one of
+my trunks.  The weather was cold and gloomy: there were few persons
+on the road.  They looked at me, doubtless wondering what I was doing
+there.  I wept.  I had a vague feeling that the well-meant kindness
+of my poor benefactress, in bestowing upon me the blessings of
+education, would in reality prove a serious impediment in the
+life-struggle which I was about to begin again.  I thought of what
+I suffered with the laundress; and, at the idea of the tortures
+which the future still held in store for me, I desired death.  The
+Seine was near: why not put an end at once to the miserable
+existence which I foresaw?
+
+"Such were my reflections, when a woman from Rueil, a
+vegetable-vender, whom I knew by sight, happened to pass, pushing
+her hand-cart before her over the muddy pavement.  She stopped when
+she saw me; and, in the softest voice she could command,
+
+"'What are you doing there, my darling?' she asked.
+
+"In a few words I explained to her my situation.  She seemed more
+surprised than moved.
+
+"'Such is life,' she remarked,--'sometimes up, sometimes down.'
+
+"And, stepping up nearer,
+
+"'What do you expect to do now?' she interrogated in a tone of voice
+so different from that in which she had spoken at first, that I felt
+more keenly the horror of my altered situation.
+
+"'I have no idea,' I replied.
+
+"After thinking for a moment,
+
+"'You can't stay there,' she resumed: 'the gendarmes would arrest
+you.  Come with me.  We will talk things over at the house; and
+I'll give you my advice.'
+
+"I was so completely crushed, that I had neither strength nor will.
+Besides, what was the use of thinking?  Had I any choice of
+resolutions?  Finally, the woman's offer seemed to me a last favor
+of destiny.
+
+"'I shall do as you say, madame,' I replied.
+
+"She proceeded at once to load up my little baggage on her cart.
+We started; and soon we arrived 'home.'
+
+"What she called thus was a sort of cellar, at least twelve inches
+lower than the street, receiving its only light through the glass
+door, in which several broken panes had been replaced by sheets of
+paper.  It was revoltingly filthy, and filled with a sickening odor.
+On all sides were heaps of vegetables,--cabbages, potatoes, onions.
+In one corner a nameless heap of decaying rags, which she called
+her bed; in the centre, a small cast-iron stove, the worn-out pipe
+of which allowed the smoke to escape in the room.
+
+"'Anyway,' she said to me, 'you have a home now!'
+
+"I helped her to unload the cart.  She filled the stove with coal,
+and at once declared that she wanted to inspect my things.
+
+"My trunks were opened; and it was with exclamations of surprise
+that the woman handled my dresses, my skirts, my stockings.
+
+"'The mischief!' she exclaimed, 'you dressed well, didn't you?'
+
+"Her eyes sparkled so, that a strong feeling of mistrust arose in
+my mind.  She seemed to consider all my property as an unexpected
+godsend to herself.  Her hands trembled as she handled some piece
+of jewelry; and she took me to the light that she might better
+estimate the value of my ear-rings.
+
+"And so, when she asked me if I had any money, determined to hide
+at least my twenty-franc-piece, which was my sole fortune, I replied
+boldly, 'No.'
+
+"'That's a pity,' she grumbled.
+
+"But she wished to know my history, and I was compelled to tell it
+to her.  One thing only surprised her,--my age; and in fact, though
+only thirteen, I looked fully sixteen.
+
+"When I had done,
+
+"'Never mind!' she said.  'It was lucky for you that you met me.
+You are at least certain now of eating every day; for I am going
+to take charge of you.  I am getting old: you'll help me to drag
+my cart.  If you are as smart as you are pretty, we'll make money.'
+
+"Nothing could suit me less.  But how could I resist?  She threw a
+few rags upon the floor; and on them I had to sleep.  The next day,
+wearing my meanest dress, and a pair of wooden shoes which she had
+bought for me, and which bruised my feet horribly, I had to harness
+myself to the cart by means of a leather strap, which cut my
+shoulders and my chest.  She was an abominable creature, that woman;
+and I soon found out that her repulsive features indicated but too
+well her ignoble instincts.  After leading a life of vice and shame,
+she had, with the approach of old age, fallen into the most abject
+poverty, and had adopted the trade of vegetable-vender, which she
+carried on just enough to escape absolute starvation.  Enraged at
+her fate, she found a detestable pleasure in ill-treating me, or
+in endeavoring to stain my imagination by the foulest speeches.
+
+"Ah, if I had only known where to fly, and where to take refuge!
+But, abusing my ignorance, that execrable woman had persuaded me,
+that, if I attempted to go out alone, I would be arrested.  And I
+knew no one to whom I could apply for protection and advice.  And
+then I began to learn that beauty, to a poor girl, is a fatal gift.
+One by one, the woman had sold every thing I had,--dresses,
+underclothes, jewels; and I was now reduced to rags almost as mean
+as when I was with the laundress.
+
+"Every morning, rain or shine, hot or cold, we started, wheeling
+our cart from village to village, all along the Seine, from
+Courbevoie to Pont-Marly.  I could see no end to this wretched
+existence, when one evening the commissary of police presented
+himself at our hovel, and ordered us to follow him.
+
+"We were taken to prison; and there I found myself thrown among
+some hundred women, whose faces, words, and gestures frightened
+me.  The vegetable-woman had committed a theft; and I was accused
+of complicity.  Fortunately I was easily able to demonstrate my
+innocence; and, at the end of two weeks, a jailer opened the door
+to me, saying, 'Go: you are free!'"
+
+Maxence understood now the gently ironical smile with which Mlle.
+Lucienne had heard him assert that he, too, had been very unhappy.
+What a life hers had been!  And how could such things be within a
+step of Paris, in the midst of a society which deems its organization
+too perfect to consent to modify it!
+
+Mlle. Lucienne went on, speaking somewhat faster,
+
+"I was indeed free; but of what use could my freedom be to me?  I
+knew not which way to go.  A mechanical instinct took me back to
+Rueil.  I fancied I would be safer among people who all knew me,
+and that I might find shelter in our old lodgings.  But this
+last hope was disappointed.  Immediately after our arrest, the
+owner of the building had thrown out every thing it contained, and
+had rented it to a hideous beggar, who offered me, with a giggle,
+to become his housekeeper.  I ran off as fast as I could.
+
+"The situation was certainly more horrible now than the day when
+I had been turned out of my benefactress' house.  But the eight
+months I had just spent with the horrible woman had taught me anew
+how to bear misery, and had nerved up my energy.
+
+"I took out from a fold of my dress, where I had kept it constantly
+hid, the twenty-franc-piece I had received; and, as I was hungry,
+I entered a sort of eating and lodging house, where I had
+occasionally taken a meal.  The proprietor was a kind-hearted man.
+When I had told him my situation, he invited me to remain with
+him until I could find something better.  On Sundays and Mondays
+the customers were plenty; and he was obliged to take an extra
+servant.  He offered me that work to do, promising, in exchange,
+my lodging and one meal a day.  I accepted.  The next day being
+Sunday, I commenced the arduous duties of a bar-maid in a low
+drinking house.  My _pourboires_ amounted sometimes to five or ten
+francs; I had my board and lodging free; and at the end of three
+months I had been able to provide myself with some decent clothing,
+and was commencing to accumulate a little reserve, when the
+lodging-house keeper, whose business had unexpectedly developed
+itself to a considerable extent, concluded to engage a man-waiter,
+and urged me to look elsewhere for work.  I did so.  An old neighbor
+of ours told me of a situation at Bougival, where she said I would
+be very comfortable.  Overcoming my repugnance, I applied, and was
+accepted.  I was to get thirty francs a month.
+
+"The place might have been a good one.  There were only three in
+the family,--the gentleman and his wife, and a son of twenty-five.
+Every morning, father and son left for Paris by the first train,
+and only came home to dinner at about six o'clock.  I was therefore
+alone all day with the woman.  Unfortunately, she was a cross and
+disagreeable person, who, never having had a servant before, felt
+an insatiable desire of showing and exercising her authority.  She
+was, moreover, extremely suspicious, and found some pretext to visit
+regularly my trunks once or twice a week, to see if I had not
+concealed some of her napkins or silver spoons.  Having told her
+that I had once been a laundress, she made me wash and iron all the
+clothes in the house, and was forever accusing me of using too much
+soap and too much coal.  Still I liked the place well enough; and I
+had a little room in the attic; which I thought charming, and where
+I spent delightful evenings reading or sewing.
+
+"But luck was against me.  The young gentleman of the house took a
+fancy to me, and determined to make me his mistress.  I discouraged
+him in a way; but he persisted in his loathsome attention, until one
+night he broke into my room, and I was compelled to shout for help
+with all my might, before I could get rid of him.
+
+"The next day I left that house; but I tried in vain to find another
+situation in Bougival.  I resolved then to seek a place in Paris.
+I had a big trunk full of good clothes, and about a hundred francs
+of savings; and I felt no anxiety.
+
+"When I arrived in Paris, I went straight to an intelligence-office.
+I was extremely well received by a very affable old woman who
+promised to get me a good place, and, in the mean time, solicited
+me to board with her.  She kept a sort of boarding-house for servants
+out of place; and there were there some fifty or sixty of us, who
+slept at night in long dormitories.
+
+"Time went by, and still I did not find that famous place.  The
+board was expensive, too, for my scanty means; and I determined to
+leave.  I started in quest of new lodgings, followed by a porter,
+carrying my trunk; but as I was crossing the Boulevard, not getting
+quick enough out of the way of a handsome private carriage which
+was coming at full trot, I was knocked down, and trampled under the
+horses's feet."
+
+Without allowing Maxence to interrupt her,
+
+"I had lost consciousness," went on Mlle. Lucienne.  "When I came
+to my senses, I was sitting in a drugstore; and three or four
+persons were busy around me.  I had no fracture, but only some
+severe contusions, and a deep cut on the head.
+
+"The physician who had attended me requested me to try and walk; but
+I could not even stand on my feet.  Then he asked me where I lived,
+that I might be taken there; and I was compelled to own that I was a
+poor servant out of place, without a home or a friend to care for me.
+
+"'In that case,' said the doctor to the druggist, 'we must send her
+to the hospital.'
+
+"And they sent for a cab.
+
+"In the mean time, quite a crowd had gathered outside, and the
+conduct of the person who was in the carriage that had run over me
+was being indignantly criticised.  It was a woman; and I had caught
+a glimpse of her at the very moment I was falling under the horses'
+feet.  She had not even condescended to get out of her carriage;
+but, calling a policeman, she had given him her name and address,
+adding, loud enough to be heard by the crowd, 'I am in too great a
+hurry to stop.  My coachman is an awkward fellow, whom I shall
+dismiss as soon as I get home.  I am ready to pay any thing that
+may be asked.'
+
+"She had also sent one of her cards for me.  A policeman handed it
+to me; and I read the name, Baronne de Thaller.
+
+"'That's lucky for you,' said the doctor.  'That lady is the wife of
+a very rich banker; and she will be able to help you when you get
+well.'
+
+"The cab had now come.  I was carried into it; and, an hour later,
+I was admitted at the hospital, and laid on a clean, comfortable bed.
+
+"But my trunk!--my trunk, which contained all my things, all I had
+in the world, and, worse still, all the money I had left.  I asked
+for it, my heart filled with anxiety.  No one had either seen or
+heard of it.  Had the porter missed me in the crowd?  or had he
+basely availed himself of the accident to rob me?  This was hard to
+decide.
+
+"The good sisters promised that they would have it looked after,
+and that the police would certainly be able to find that man whom
+I had engaged near the intelligence-office.  But all these
+assurances failed to console me.  This blow was the finishing one.
+I was taken with fever; and for more than two weeks my life was
+despaired of.  I was saved at last: but my convalescence was long
+and tedious; and for over two months I lingered with alternations
+of better and of worse.
+
+"Yet such had been my misery for the past two years, that this
+gloomy stay in a hospital was for me like an oasis in the desert.
+The good sisters were very kind to me; and, when I was able, I
+helped them with their lighter work, or went to the chapel with
+them.  I shuddered at the thought that I must leave them as soon
+as I was entirely well; and then what would become of me?  For my
+trunk had not been found, and I was destitute of all.
+
+"And yet I had, at the hospital, more than one subject for gloomy
+reflections.  Twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, visitors were
+admitted; and there was not on those days a single patient who did
+not receive a relative or a friend.  But I, no one, nothing, never!
+
+"But I am mistaken.  I was commencing to get well, when one Sunday
+I saw by my bedside an old man, dressed all in black, of alarming
+appearance, wearing blue spectacles, and holding under his arm an
+enormous portfolio, crammed full of papers.
+
+"'You are Mlle. Lucienne, I believe,' he asked.
+
+"'Yes,' I replied, quite surprised.
+
+"'You are the person who was knocked down by a carriage on the corner
+of the Boulevard and the Faubourg St. Martin?'
+
+"'Yes sir.'
+
+"'Do you know whose equipage that was?'
+
+"'The Baronne de Thaller's, I was told.'
+
+"He seemed a little surprised, but at once,
+
+"'Have you seen that lady, or caused her to be seen in your behalf?'
+
+"'No.'
+
+"'Have you heard from her in any manner?'
+
+"'No.'
+
+"A smile came back upon his lips.
+
+"'Luckily for you I am here,' he said.  'Several times already I have
+called; but you were too unwell to hear me.  Now that you are better,
+listen.'
+
+"And thereupon, taking a chair, he commenced to explain his
+profession to me.
+
+"He was a sort of broker; and accidents were his specialty.  As
+soon as one took place, he was notified by some friends of his at
+police headquarters.  At once he started in quest of the victim,
+overtook her at home or at the hospital, and offered his services.
+For a moderate commission he undertook, if needs be, to recover
+damages.  He commenced suit when necessary; and, if he thought the
+case tolerably safe, he made advances.  He stated, for instance,
+that my case was a plain one, and that he would undertake to obtain
+four or five thousand francs, at least, from Mme. de Thaller.  All
+he wanted was my power of attorney.  But, in spite of his pressing
+instances, I declined his offers; and he withdrew, very much
+displeased, assuring me that I would soon repent.
+
+"Upon second thought, indeed, I regretted to have followed the first
+inspiration of my pride, and the more so, that the good sisters whom
+I consulted on the subject told me that I was wrong, and that my
+reclamation would be perfectly proper.  At their suggestion, I then
+adopted another line of conduct, which, they thought, would as surely
+bring about the same result.
+
+"As briefly as possible, I wrote out the history of my life from
+the day I had been left with the gardeners at Louveciennes.  I added
+to it a faithful account of my present situation; and I addressed
+the whole to Mme. de Thaller.
+
+"'You'll see if she don't come before a day or two,' said the sisters.
+
+"They were mistaken.  Mme. de Thaller came neither the next nor the
+following days; and I was still awaiting her answer, when, one
+morning, the doctor announced that I was well enough to leave the
+hospital.
+
+"I cannot say that I was very sorry.  I had lately made the
+acquaintance of a young workwoman, who had been sent to the hospital
+in consequence of a fall, and who occupied the bed next to mine.
+She was a girl of about twenty, very gentle, very obliging, and whose
+amiable countenance had attracted me from the first.
+
+"Like myself, she had no parents.  But she was rich, very rich.  She
+owned the furniture of the room, a sewing-machine, which had cost
+her three hundred francs, and, like a true child of Paris, she
+understood five or six trades, the least lucrative of which yielded
+her twenty-five or thirty cents a day.  In less than a week, we had
+become good friends; and, when she left the hospital,
+
+"'Believe me,' she said: 'when you come out yourself, don't waste
+your time looking for a place.  Come to me: I can accommodate you.
+I'll teach you what I know; and, if you are industrious, you'll make
+your living, and you'll be free.'
+
+"It was to her room that I went straight from the hospital, carrying,
+tied in a handkerchief, my entire baggage,--one dress, and a few
+undergarments that the good sisters had given me.
+
+"She received me like a sister, and after showing me her lodging,
+two little attic-rooms shining with cleanliness,
+
+"'You'll see,' she said, kissing me, 'how happy we'll be here.'"
+
+It was getting late.  M. Fortin had long ago come up and put out
+the gas on the stairs.  One by one, every noise had died away in
+the hotel.  Nothing now disturbed the silence of the night save
+the distant sound of some belated cab on the Boulevard.  But neither
+Maxence nor Mlle. Lucienne were noticing the flight of time, so
+interested were they, one in telling, and the other in listening to,
+this story of a wonderful existence.  However, Mlle. Lucienne's
+voice had become hoarse with fatigue.  She poured herself a glass
+of water, which she emptied at a draught, and then at once,
+
+"Never yet," she resumed, "had I been agitated by such a sweet
+sensation.  My eyes were full of tears; but they were tears of
+gratitude and joy.  After so many years of isolation, to meet with
+such a friend, so generous, and so devoted: it was like finding a
+family.  For a few weeks, I thought that fate had relented at last.
+My friend was an excellent workwoman; but with some intelligence,
+and the will to learn, I soon knew as much as she did.
+
+"There was plenty of work.  By working twelve hours, with the help
+of the thrice-blessed sewing-machine, we succeeded in making six,
+seven, and even eight francs a day.  It was a fortune.
+
+"Thus several months elapsed in comparative comfort.
+
+"Once more I was afloat, and I had more clothes than I had lost in
+my trunk.  I liked the life I was leading; and I would be leading
+it still, if my friend had not one day fallen desperately in love
+with a young man she had met at a ball.  I disliked him very much,
+and took no trouble to conceal my feelings: nevertheless, my friend
+imagined that I had designs upon him, and became fiercely jealous
+of me.  Jealousy does not reason; and I soon understood that we
+would no longer be able to live in common, and that I must look
+elsewhere for shelter.  But my friend gave me no time to do so.
+
+"Coming home one Monday night at about eleven, she notified me to
+clear out at once.  I attempted to expostulate: she replied with
+abuse.  Rather than enter upon a degrading struggle, I yielded,
+and went out.
+
+"That night I spent on a chair in a neighbor's room.  But the next
+day, when I went for my things, my former friend refused to give
+them, and presumed to keep every thing.  I was compelled, though
+reluctantly, to resort to the intervention of the commissary of
+police.
+
+"I gained my point.  But the good days had gone.  Luck did not follow
+me to the wretched furnished house where I hired a room.  I had no
+sewing-machine, and but few acquaintances.  By working fifteen or
+sixteen hours a day, I made thirty or forty cents.  That was not
+enough to live on.  Then work failed me altogether, and, piece by
+piece, every thing I had went to the pawnbroker's.  On a gloomy
+December morning, I was turned out of my room, and left on the
+pavement with a ten-cent-piece for my fortune.
+
+"Never had I been so low; and I know not to what extremities I might
+have come at last, when I happened to think of that wealthy lady
+whose horses had upset me on the Boulevard.  I had kept her card.
+Without hesitation, I went unto a grocery, and calling for some
+paper and a pen, I wrote, overcoming the last struggle of my pride,
+
+"'Do you remember, madame, a poor girl whom your carriage came near
+crushing to death?  Once before she applied to you, and received no
+answer.  She is to-day without shelter and without bread; and you
+are her supreme hope.'
+
+"I placed these few lines in an envelope, and ran to the address
+indicated on the card.  It was a magnificent residence, with a vast
+court-yard in front.  In the porter's lodge, five or six servants
+were talking as I came in, and looked at me impudently, from head
+to foot, when I requested them to take my letter to Mme. de Thaller.
+One of them, however, took pity on me,
+
+"'Come with me,' he said, 'come along!'
+
+"He made me cross the yard, and enter the vestibule; and then,
+
+"'Give me your letter,' he said, 'and wait here for me.'"
+
+Maxence was about to express the thoughts which Mme. de Thaller's
+name naturally suggested to his mind, but Mlle. Lucienne interrupted
+him,
+
+"In all my life," she went on, "I had never seen any thing so
+magnificent as that vestibule with its tall columns, its tessellated
+floor, its large bronze vases filled with the rarest flowers, and
+its red velvet benches, upon which tall footmen in brilliant livery
+were lounging.
+
+"I was, I confess, somewhat intimidated by all of this splendor; and
+I remained awkwardly standing, when suddenly the servants stood up
+respectfully.
+
+"A door had just opened, through which appeared a man already past
+middle age, tall, thin, dressed in the extreme of fashion, and
+wearing long red whiskers falling over his chest."
+
+"The Baron de Thaller," murmured Maxence.
+
+Mlle. Lucienne took no notice of the interruption.
+
+"The attitude of the servants," she went on, "had made me easily
+guess that he was the master.  I was bowing to him, blushing and
+embarrassed, when, noticing me, he stopped short, shuddering from
+head to foot.
+
+"'Who are you?' he asked me roughly.
+
+"I attributed his manner to the sad condition of my dress, which
+appeared more miserable and more dilapidated still amid the
+surrounding splendors; and, in a scarcely intelligible voice, I began,
+
+"'I am a poor girl, sir--'
+
+"But he interrupted me.
+
+"'To the point!  What do you want?'
+
+"'I am awaiting an answer, sir, to a request which I have just
+forwarded to the baroness.'
+
+"'What about?'
+
+"'Once sir, I was run over in the street by the baroness's carriage:
+I was severely wounded, and had to be taken to the hospital.'
+
+"I fancied there was something like terror in the man's look.
+
+"'It is you, then, who once before sent a long letter to my wife, in
+which you told the story of your life?'
+
+"'Yes, sir, it was I.'
+
+"'You stated in that letter that you had no parents, having been
+left by your mother with some gardeners at Louveciennes?'
+
+"'That is the truth.'
+
+"'What has become of these gardeners?'
+
+"'They are dead.'
+
+"'What was your mother's name?'
+
+"'I never knew.'
+
+"To M. de Thaller's first surprise had succeeded a feeling of
+evident irritation; but, the more haughty and brutal his manners,
+the cooler and the more self-possessed I became.
+
+"'And you are soliciting assistance?' he said.
+
+"I drew myself up, and, looking at him straight in the eyes,
+
+"'I beg your pardon,' I replied: 'it is a legitimate indemnity which
+I claim.'
+
+"Indeed, it seemed to me that my firmness alarmed him.  With a
+feverish haste, he began to feel in his pockets.  He took out their
+contents of gold and bank-notes all in a heap, and, thrusting it
+into my hands without counting,
+
+"'Here,' he said, 'take this.  Are you satisfied?'
+
+"I observed to him, that, having sent a letter to Mme. de Thaller,
+it would perhaps be proper to await her answer.  But he replied that
+it was not necessary, and, pushing me towards the door,
+
+"'You may depend upon it,' he said, 'I shall tell my wife that I
+saw you.'
+
+"I started to go out; but I had not gone ten steps across the yard,
+when I heard him crying excitedly to his servants,
+
+"'You see that beggar, don't you?  Well, the first one who allows
+her to cross the threshold of my door shall be turned out on the
+instant.'
+
+"A beggar, I!  Ah the wretch!  I turned round to cast his alms into
+his face; but already he had disappeared, and I only found before me
+the footman, chuckling stupidly.
+
+"I went out; and, as my anger gradually passed off, I felt thankful
+that I had been unable to follow the dictates of my wounded pride.
+
+"'Poor girl,' I thought to myself, 'where would you be at this hour?
+You would only have to select between suicide and the vilest
+existence; whereas now you are above want.'
+
+"I was passing before a small restaurant.  I went in; for I was
+very hungry, having, so to speak, eaten nothing for several days
+past.  Besides, I felt anxious to count my treasure.  The Baron de
+Thaller had given me nine hundred and thirty francs.
+
+"This sum, which exceeded the utmost limits of my ambition, seemed
+inexhaustible to me: I was dazzled by its possession.
+
+"'And yet,' I thought, 'had M. de Thaller happened to have ten
+thousand francs in his pockets he would have given them to me all
+the same.'
+
+"I was at a loss to explain this strange generosity.  Why his
+surprise when he first saw me, then his anger, and his haste to get
+rid of me?  How was it that a man whose mind must be filled with
+the gravest cares had so distinctly remembered me, and the letter
+I had written to his wife?  Why, after showing himself so generous,
+had he so strictly excluded me from his house?
+
+"After vainly trying for some time to solve this riddle, I concluded
+that I must be the victim of my own imagination; and I turned my
+attention to making the best possible use of my sudden fortune.  On
+the same day, I took a little room in the Faubourg St. Denis; and
+I bought myself a sewing-machine.  Before the week was over, I had
+work before me for several months.  Ah! this time it seemed indeed
+that I had nothing more to apprehend from destiny; and I looked
+forward, without fear, to the future.  At the end of a month, I was
+earning four to five francs a day, when, one afternoon, a stout man,
+very well dressed, looking honest and good-natured, and speaking
+French with some difficulty, made his appearance at my room.  He
+was an American he stated, and had been sent to me by the woman for
+whom I worked.  Having need of a skilled Parisian work-woman, he
+came to propose to me to follow him to New York, where he would
+insure me a brilliant position.
+
+"But I knew several poor girls, who, on the faith of dazzling
+promises, had expatriated themselves.  Once abroad, they had been
+shamefully abandoned, and had been driven, to escape starvation,
+to resort to the vilest expedients.  I refused, therefore, and
+frankly gave him my reasons for doing so.
+
+"My visitor at once protested indignantly.  Whom did I take him
+for?  It was a fortune that I was refusing.  He guaranteed me in
+New York board, lodging, and two hundred francs a month.  He would
+pay all traveling and moving expenses.  And, to prove to me the
+fairness of his intentions, he was ready, he said, to sign an
+agreement, and pay me a thousand down.
+
+"These offers were so brilliant, that I was staggered in my
+resolution.
+
+"'Well,' I said, 'give me twenty-four hours to decide.  I wish to
+see my employer.'
+
+"He seemed very much annoyed; but, as I remained firm in my purpose,
+he left, promising to return the next day to receive my final answer.
+
+"I ran at once to my employer.  She did not know what I was talking
+about.  She had sent no one, and was not acquainted with any American.
+
+"Of course, I never saw him again; and I couldn't help thinking of
+this singular adventure, when, one evening during the following
+week, as I was coming home at about eleven o'clock, two policemen
+arrested me, and, in spite of my earnest protestations, took me
+to the station-house, where I was locked up with a dozen unfortunates
+who had just been taken up on the Boulevards.  I spent the night
+crying with shame and anger; and I don't know what would have become
+of me, if the justice of the peace, who examined me the next morning,
+had not happened to be a just and kind man.  As soon as I had
+explained to him that I was the victim of a most humiliating error
+he sent an agent in quest of information, and having satisfied
+himself that I was an honest girl, working for my living, he
+discharged me.  But, before permitting me to go,
+
+"'Beware, my child,' he said to me: 'it is upon a formal and
+well-authenticated declaration that you were arrested.  Therefore
+you must have enemies.  People have an interest in getting rid of
+you.'"
+
+Mademoiselle Lucienne was evidently almost exhausted with fatigue:
+her voice was failing her.  But it was in vain that Maxence begged
+her to take a few moments of rest.
+
+"No," she answered, "I'd rather get through as quick as possible."
+
+And, making an effort, she resumed her narrative, hurrying more
+and more.
+
+"I returned home, my mind all disturbed by the judge's warnings.
+I am no coward; but it is a terrible thing to feel one's self
+incessantly threatened by an unknown and mysterious danger, against
+which nothing can be done.
+
+"In vain did I search my past life: I could think of no one who
+could have any interest in effecting my ruin.  Those alone have
+enemies who have had friends.  I had never had but one friend, the
+kind-hearted girl who had turned me out of her home in a fit of
+absurd jealousy.  But I knew her well enough to knew that she was
+incapable of malice, and that she must long since have forgotten
+the unlucky cause of our rupture.
+
+"Weeks after weeks passed without any new incident.  I had plenty
+of work and was earning enough money to begin saving.  So I felt
+comfortable, laughed at my former fears, and neglected the
+precautions which I had taken at first; when, one evening, my
+employer, having a very important and pressing order, sent for me.
+We did not get through our work until long after midnight.
+
+"She wished me to spend the rest of the night with her; but it would
+have been necessary to make up a bed for me, and disturb the whole
+household.
+
+"'Bash!' I said, 'this will not be the first time I cross Paris in
+the middle of the night.'
+
+"I started; and I was going along, walking as fast as I could, when,
+from the angle of a dark, narrow street, a man sprang upon me,
+threw me down, struck me, and would doubtless have killed me, but
+for two brave gentlemen who heard my screams and rushed to my
+assistance.  The man ran off; and I was able to walk the rest of
+the way home, having received but a very slight wound.
+
+"But the very next morning I ran to see my friend, the justice of
+the peace.  He listened to me gravely, and, when I had concluded,
+
+"'How were you dressed?' he inquired.
+
+"'All in black,' I replied, 'very modestly, like a workwoman.'
+
+"'Had you nothing on your person that could tempt a thief?'
+
+"'Nothing.  No watch-chain, no jewelry, no ear-rings even.'
+
+"'Then,' he uttered, knitting his brows, 'it is not a fortuitous
+crime: it is another attempt on the part of your enemies.'
+
+"Such was also my opinion.  And yet:
+
+"'But, sir,' I exclaimed, 'who can have any interest to destroy me,
+--a poor obscure girl as I am?  I have thought carefully and well,
+and I have not a single enemy that I can think of.'  And, as I had
+full confidence in his kindness, I went on telling him the story
+of my life.
+
+"'You are a natural child,' he said as soon as I had done, 'and you
+have been basely abandoned.  That fact alone would be sufficient to
+justify every supposition.  You do not know your parents; but it is
+quite possible that they may know you, and that they may never have
+lost sight of you.  Your mother was a working-girl, you think?  That
+may be.  But your father?  Do you know what interests your existence
+may threaten?  Do you know what elaborate edifice of falsehood and
+infamy your sudden appearance might tumble to the ground?'
+
+"I was listening dumfounded.
+
+"Never had such conjectures crossed my mind; and, whilst I doubted
+their probability, I had, at least, to admit their possibility.
+
+"'What must I do, then?' I inquired.
+
+"The peace-officer shook his head.
+
+"'Indeed, my poor child, I hardly know what to advise.  The police
+is not omnipotent.  It can do nothing to anticipate a crime conceived
+in the brain of an unknown scoundrel.'
+
+"I was terrified.  He saw it, and took pity on me.
+
+"'In your place,' he added, 'I would change my domicile.  You might,
+perhaps, thus make them lose your track.  And, above all, do not
+fail to give me your new address.  Whatever I can do to protect you,
+and insure your safety, I shall do.'
+
+"That excellent man has kept his word; and once again I owed my
+safety to him.  'Tis he who is now commissary of police in this
+district, and who protected me against Mme. Fortin.  I hastened to
+follow his advice, and two days later I had hired the room in this
+house in which I am still living.  In order to avoid every chance
+of discovery, I left my employer, and requested her to say, if any
+one came to inquire after me, that I had gone to America.
+
+"I soon found work again in a very fashionable dress-making
+establishment, the name of which you must have heard,--Van Klopen's.
+Unfortunately, war had just been declared.  Every day announced a new
+defeat.  The Prussians were coming; then the siege began.  Van Klopen
+had closed his shop, and left Paris.  I had a few savings, thank
+heaven; and I husbanded them as carefully as shipwrecked mariners do
+their last ration of food, when I unexpectedly found some work.
+
+"It was one Sunday, and I had gone out to see some battalions of
+National Guards passing along the Boulevard, when suddenly I saw
+one of the vivandieres, who was marching behind the band, stop, and
+run towards me with open arms.  It was my old friend from the
+Batignolles, who had recognized me.  She threw her arms around my
+neck, and, as we had at once become the centre of a group of at
+least five hundred idlers,
+
+"'I must speak to you,' she said.  'If you live in the neighborhood,
+let's go to your room.  The service can wait.'
+
+"I brought her here, and at once she commenced to excuse herself
+for her past conduct, begging me to restore her my friendship.  As
+I expected, she had long since forgotten the young man, cause of
+our rupture.  But she was now in love, and seriously this time, she
+declared, with a furniture-maker, who was a captain in the National
+Guards.  It was through him that she had become a vivandiere; and
+she offered me a similar position, if I wished it.  But I did not
+wish it; and, as I was complaining that I could find no work, she
+swore that she would get me some through her captain, who was a very
+influential man.
+
+"Through him, I did in fact obtain a few dozen jackets to make.
+This work was very poorly paid; but the little I earned was that
+much less to take from my humble resources.  In that way I managed
+to get through the siege without suffering too much.
+
+"After the armistice, unfortunately, M. Van Klopen had not yet
+returned.  I was unable to procure any work; my resources were
+exhausted; and I would have starved during the Commune, but for
+my old friend, who several times brought me a little money, and
+some provisions.  Her captain was now a colonel, and was about to
+become a member of the government; at least, so she assured me.
+The entrance of the troops into Paris put an end to her dream.
+One night she came to me livid with fright.  She supposed herself
+gravely compromised, and begged me to hide her.  For four days
+she remained with me.  On the fifth, just as we were sitting down
+to dinner, my room was invaded by a number of police-agents, who
+showed us an order of arrest, and commanded us to follow them.
+
+"My friend sank down upon a chair, stupid with fright.  But I
+retained my presence of mind, and persuaded one of the agents to
+go and notify my friend the justice.  He happened luckily to be at
+home, and at once hastened to my assistance.  He could do nothing,
+however, for the moment; the agents having positive orders to take
+us straight to Versailles.
+
+"'Well,' said he, 'I shall accompany you.'
+
+"From the very first steps he took the next morning, he discovered
+that my position was indeed grave.  But he also and very clearly
+recognized a new device of the enemy to bring about my destruction.
+The information filed against me stated that I had remained in the
+service of the Commune to the last moment; that I had been seen
+behind the barricades with a gun in my hand; and that I had formed
+one of a band of vile incendiaries.  This infamous scheme had
+evidently been suggested by my relations with my friend from the
+Batignolles, who was still more terribly compromised than she
+thought, the poor girl; her colonel having been captured, and
+convicted of pillage and murder, and herself charged with complicity.
+
+"Isolated as I was, without resources, and without relatives, I
+would certainly have perished, but for the devoted efforts of my
+friend the justice, whose official position gave him access
+everywhere, and enabled him to reach my judges.  He succeeded in
+demonstrating my entire innocence; and after forty-eight hours'
+detention, which seemed an age to me, I was set at liberty.
+
+"At the door; I found the man who had just saved me.  He was waiting
+for me, but would not suffer me to express the gratitude with which
+my heart overflowed.
+
+"'You will thank me,' he said, 'when I have deserved it better.  I
+have done nothing as yet that any honest man wouldn't have done in
+my place.  What I wish is to discover what interests you are
+threatening without knowing it, and which must be considerable, if
+I may judge by the passion and the tenacity of those who are
+pursuing you.  What I desire to do is to lay hands upon the cowardly
+rascals in whose way you seem to stand.'
+
+"I shook my head.
+
+"'You will not succeed,' I said to him.
+
+"'Who knows?  I've done harder things than that in my life.'
+
+"And taking a large envelope from his pocket,
+
+"'This,' he said, 'is the letter which caused your arrest.  I have
+examined it attentively; and I am certain that the handwriting is
+not disguised.  That's something to start with, and may enable me
+to verify my suspicions, should any occur to my mind.  In the mean
+time, return quietly to Paris, resume your ordinary occupations,
+answer vaguely any questions that may be asked about this matter,
+and above all, never mention my name.  Remain at the Hotel des
+Folies: it is in my district, in my legitimate sphere of action;
+besides, the proprietors are in a position where they dare not
+disobey my orders.  Never come to my office, unless something grave
+and unforeseen should occur.  Our chances of success would be
+seriously compromised, if they could suspect the interest I take
+in your welfare.  Keep your eyes open on every thing that is going
+on around you, and, if you notice any thing suspicious, write to me.
+I will myself organize a secret surveillance around you.  If I can
+bag one of the rascals who are watching you, that's all I want.'
+
+"'And now,' added this good man, 'good-by.  Patience and courage.'
+
+"Unfortunately he had not thought of offering me a little money: I
+had not dared to ask him for any, and I had but eight sous left.
+It was on foot, therefore, that I was compelled to return to Paris.
+
+"Mme. Fortin received me with open arms.  With me returned the hope
+of recovering the hundred and odd francs which I owed her, and
+which she had given up for lost.  Moreover, she had excellent news
+for me.  M. Van Klopen had sent for me during my absence, requesting
+me to call at his shop.  Tired as I was, I went to see him at once.
+I found him very much downcast by the poor prospects of business.
+Still he was determined to go on, and offered to employ me, not as
+work-woman, as heretofore, but to try on garments for customers, at
+a salary of one hundred and twenty francs a month.  I was not in a
+position to be very particular.  I accepted; and there I am still.
+
+"Every morning, when I get to the shop, I take off this simple
+costume, and I put on a sort of livery that belongs to M. Van Klopen,
+--wide skirts, and a black silk dress.
+
+"Then whenever a customer comes who wants a cloak, a mantle, or
+some other 'wrapping,' I step up and put on the garment, that the
+purchaser may see how it looks.  I have to walk, to turn around,
+sit down, etc.  It is absurdly ridiculous, often humiliating; and
+many a time, during the first days, I felt tempted to give back
+to M. Van Klopen his black silk dress.
+
+"But the conjectures of my friend the peace-officer were constantly
+agitating my brain.  Since I thought I had discovered a mystery in
+my existence, I indulged in all sorts of fancies, and was momentarily
+expecting some extraordinary occurrence, some compensation of destiny,
+and I remained.
+
+"But I was not yet at the end of my troubles."
+
+Since she had been speaking of M. Van Klopen, Mlle. Lucienne seemed
+to have lost her tone of haughty assurance and imperturbable
+coolness; and it was with a look of mingled confusion and sadness
+that she went on.
+
+"What I was doing at Van Klopen's was exceedingly painful to me;
+and yet he very soon asked me to do something more painful still.
+Gradually Paris was filling up again.  The hotels had re-opened;
+foreigners were pouring in; and the Bois Boulogne was resuming
+its wonted animation.  Still but few orders came in, and those for
+dresses of the utmost simplicity, of dark color and plain material,
+on which it was hard to make twenty-five per cent profit.  Van
+Klopen was disconsolate.  He kept speaking to me of the good old
+days, when some of his customers spent as much as thirty thousand
+francs a month for dresses and trifles, until one day,
+
+"'You are the only one,' he told me, 'who can help me out just
+now.  You are really good looking; and I am sure that in full dress,
+spread over the cushions of a handsome carriage, you would create
+quite a sensation, and that all the rest of the women would be
+jealous of you, and would wish to look like you.  There needs but
+one, you know, to give the good example.'"
+
+Maxence started up suddenly, and, striking his head with hand,
+
+"Ah, I understand now!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I thought that Van Klopen was jesting," went on the young girl.
+"But he had never been more in earnest; and, to prove it, he
+commenced explaining to me what he wanted.  He proposed to get up
+for me some of those costumes which are sure to attract attention;
+and two or three times a week he would send me a fine carriage, and
+I would go and show myself in the Bois.
+
+"I felt disgusted at the proposition.
+
+"'Never!' I said.
+
+"'Why not?'
+
+"'Because I respect myself too much to make a living advertisement
+of myself.'
+
+"He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"'You are wrong,' he said.  'You are not rich, and I would give you
+twenty francs for each ride.  At the rate of eight rides a month, it
+would be one hundred and sixty francs added to your wages.  Besides,'
+he added with a wink, 'it would be an excellent opportunity to make
+your fortune.  Pretty as you are, who knows but what some millionaire
+might take a fancy to you!'
+
+"I felt indignant.
+
+"'For that reason alone, if for no other,' I exclaimed, 'I refuse.'
+
+"'You are a little fool,' he replied.  'If you do not accept, you
+cease being in my employment.  Reflect!'
+
+"My mind was already made up, and I was thinking of looking out for
+some other occupation, when I received a note from my friend the
+peace-officer, requesting me to call at his office.
+
+"I did so, and, after kindly inviting me to a seat,
+
+"'Well,' he said, 'what is there new?'
+
+"'Nothing.  I have noticed no one watching me.'
+
+"He looked annoyed.
+
+"'My agents have not detected any thing, either,' he grumbled.
+'And yet it is evident that your enemies cannot have given it up
+so.  They are sharp ones: if they keep quiet, it is because they
+are preparing some good trick.  What it is I must and shall find
+out.  Already I have an idea which would be an excellent one, if I
+could discover some way of throwing you among what is called good
+society.'
+
+"I explained to him, that, being employed at Van Klopen's, I had an
+opportunity to see there many ladies of the best society.
+
+"'That is not enough,' he said.
+
+"Then M. Van Klopen's propositions came back to my mind, and I
+stated them to him.
+
+"'Just the thing!' he exclaimed, starting upon his chair: 'a manifest
+proof that luck is with us.  You must accept.'
+
+"I felt bound to tell him my objections, which reflection had much
+increased.
+
+"'I know but too well,' I said, 'what must happen if I accept this
+odious duty.  Before I have been four times to the Bois, I shall be
+noticed, and every one will imagine that they know for what purpose
+I come there.  I shall be assailed with vile offers.  True, I have no
+fears for myself.  I shall always be better guarded by my pride than
+by the most watchful of parents.  But my reputation will be lost.'
+
+"I failed to convince him.
+
+"'I know very well that you are an honest girl,' he said to me; 'but,
+for that very reason, what do you care what all these people will
+think, whom you do not know?  Your future is at stake.  I repeat it,
+you must accept.'
+
+"'If you command me to do so,' I said.
+
+"'Yes, I command you; and I'll explain to you why.'"
+
+For the first time, Mlle. Lucienne manifested some reticence, and
+omitted to repeat the explanations of the peace-officer.  And,
+after a few moments' pause,
+
+"You know the rest, neighbor," she said, "since you have seen me
+yourself in that inept and ridiculous role of living advertisement,
+of fashionable lay-figure; and the result has been just as I
+expected.  Can you find any one who believes in my honesty of
+purpose?  You have heard Mme. Fortin to-night?  Yourself, neighbor
+--what did you take me for?  And yet you should have noticed
+something of my suffering and my humiliation the day that you were
+watching me so closely in the Bois de Boulogne."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Maxence with a start, "you know?"
+
+"Have I not just told you that I always fear being watched and
+followed, and that I am always on the lookout?  Yes, I know that
+you tried to discover the secret of my rides."
+
+Maxence tried to excuse himself.
+
+"That will do for the present," she uttered.  "You wish to be my
+friend, you say?  Now that you know my whole life almost as well
+as I do myself, reflect, and to-morrow you will tell me the result
+of your thoughts."
+
+Whereupon she went out.
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+For about a minute Maxence remained stupefied at this sudden
+denouement; and, when he had recovered his presence of mind and his
+voice, Mlle. Lucienne had disappeared, and he could hear her bolting
+her door, and striking a match against the wall.
+
+He might also have thought that he was awaking from a dream, had he
+not had, to attest the reality, the vague perfume which filled his
+room, and the light shawl, which Mlle. Lucienne wore as she came in,
+and which she had forgotten, on a chair.
+
+The night was almost ended: six o'clock had just struck.  Still he
+did not feel in the least sleepy.  His head was heavy, his temples
+throbbing, his eyes smarting.  Opening his window, he leaned out to
+breathe the morning air.  The day was dawning pale and cold.  A
+furtive and livid light glanced along the damp walls of the narrow
+court of the Hotel des Folies, as at the bottom of a well.  Already
+arose those confused noises which announce the waking of Paris, and
+above which can be heard the sonorous rolling of the milkmen's carts,
+the loud slamming of doors, and the sharp sound of hurrying steps on
+the hard pavement.
+
+But soon Maxence felt a chill coming over him.  He closed the window,
+threw some wood in the chimney, and stretched himself on his chair,
+his feet towards the fire.  It was a most serious event which had
+just occurred in his existence; and, as much as he could, he
+endeavored to measure its bearings, and to calculate its consequences
+in the future.
+
+He kept thinking of the story of that strange girl, her haughty
+frankness when unrolling certain phases of her life, of her
+wonderful impassibility, and of the implacable contempt for humanity
+which her every word betrayed.  Where had she learned that dignity,
+so simple and so noble, that measured speech, that admirable respect
+of herself, which had enabled her to pass through so much filth
+without receiving a stain?
+
+"What a woman!" he thought.
+
+Before knowing her, he loved her.  Now he was convulsed by one of
+those exclusive passions which master the whole being.  Already he
+felt himself so much under the charm, subjugated, dominated,
+fascinated; he understood so well that he was going to cease being
+his own master; that his free will was about escaping from him;
+that he would be in Mlle. Lucienne's hands like wax under the
+modeler's fingers; he saw himself so thoroughly at the discretion
+of an energy superior to his own, that he was almost frightened.
+
+"It's my whole future that I am going to risk," he thought.
+
+And there was no middle path.  Either he must fly at once, without
+waiting for Mlle. Lucienne to awake, fly without looking behind, or
+else stay, and then accept all the chances of an incurable passion
+for a woman who, perhaps, might never care for him.  And he remained
+wavering, like the traveler who finds himself at the intersection
+of two roads, and, knowing that one leads to the goal, and the other
+to an abyss, hesitates which to take.
+
+With this difference, however, that if the traveler errs, and
+discovers his error, he is always free to retrace his steps; whereas
+man, in life, can never return to his starting-point.  Every step he
+takes is final; and if he has erred, if he has taken the fatal road,
+there is no remedy.
+
+"Well, no matter!" exclaimed Maxence.  "It shall not be said that
+through cowardice I have allowed that happiness to escape which
+passes within my reach.  I shall stay."  And at once he began to
+examine what reasonably he might expect; for there was no mistaking
+Mlle. Lucienne's intentions.  When she had said, "Do you wish to be
+friends?" she had meant exactly that, and nothing else,--friends,
+and only friends.
+
+"And yet," thought Maxence, "if I had not inspired her with a real
+interest, would she have so wholly confided unto me?  She is not
+ignorant of the fact that I love her; and she knows life too well
+to suppose that I will cease to love her when she has allowed me a
+certain amount of intimacy."
+
+His heart filled with hope at the idea.
+
+"My mistress," he thought, "never, evidently, but my wife.  Why not?"
+
+But the very next moment he became a prey to the bitterest
+discouragement.  He thought that perhaps Mlle. Lucienne might have
+some capital interest in thus making a confidant of him.  She had
+not told him the explanation given her by the peace-officer.  Had
+she not, perhaps, succeeded in lifting a corner of the veil which
+covered the secret of her birth?  Was she on the track of her
+enemies?  and had she discovered the motive of their animosity?
+
+"Is it possible," thought Maxence, "that I should be but one of the
+powers in the game she is playing?  How do I know, that, if she wins,
+she will not cast me off?"
+
+In the midst of these thoughts, he had gradually fallen asleep,
+murmuring to the last the name of Lucienne.
+
+The creaking of his opening door woke him up suddenly.  He started
+to his feet, and met Mlle. Lucienne coming in.
+
+"How is this?" said she.  "You did not go to bed?"
+
+"You recommended me to reflect," he replied.  "I've been reflecting."
+
+He looked at his watch: it was twelve o'clock.
+
+"Which, however," he added, "did not keep me from going to sleep."
+
+All the doubts that besieged him at the moment when he had been
+overcome by sleep now came back to his mind with painful vividness.
+
+"And not only have I been sleeping," he went on, "but I have been
+dreaming too."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne fixed upon him her great black eyes.
+
+"Can you tell me your dream?" she asked.
+
+He hesitated.  Had he had but one minute to reflect, perhaps he
+would not have spoken; but he was taken unawares.
+
+"I dreamed," he replied, "that we were friends in the noblest and
+purest acceptance of that word.  Intelligence, heart, will, all that
+I am, and all that I can,--I laid every thing at your feet.  You
+accepted the most entire devotion, the most respectful and the most
+tender that man is capable of.  Yes, we were friends indeed; and
+upon a glimpse of love, never expressed, I planned a whole future
+of love."  He stopped.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+"Well, when my hopes seemed on the point of being realized, it
+happened that the mystery of your birth was suddenly revealed to
+you.  You found a noble, powerful, and wealthy family.  You resumed
+the illustrious name of which you had been robbed; your enemies were
+crushed; and your rights were restored to you.  It was no longer
+Van Klopen's hired carriage that stopped in front of the Hotel des
+Folies, but a carriage bearing a gorgeous coat of arms.  That
+carriage was yours; and it came to take you to your own residence
+in the Faubourg St. Germain, or to your ancestral manor."
+
+"And yourself?" inquired the girl.
+
+Maxence repressed one of those nervous spasms which frequently break
+out in tears, and, with a gloomy look,
+
+"I," he answered, "standing on the edge of the pavement, I waited
+for a word or a look from you.  You had forgotten my very existence.
+Your coachman whipped his horses; they started at a gallop; and soon
+I lost sight of you.  And then a voice, the inexorable voice of fate,
+cried to me, 'Never more shalt thou see her!'"
+
+With a superb gesture Mlle. Lucienne drew herself up.
+
+"It is not with your heart, I trust, that you judge
+me, M. Maxence Favoral," she uttered.
+
+He trembled lest he had offended her.
+
+"I beseech you," he began.
+
+But she went on in a voice vibrating with emotion,
+
+"I am not of those who basely deny their past.  Your dream will
+never be realized.  Those things are only seen on the stage.  If
+it did realize itself, however, if the carriage with the
+coat-of-arms did come to the door, the companion of the evil days,
+the friend who offered me his month's salary to pay my debt, would
+have a seat by my side."
+
+That was more happiness than Maxence would have dared to hope for.
+He tried, in order to express his gratitude, to find some of those
+words which always seem to be lacking at the most critical moments.
+But he was suffocating; and the tears, accumulated by so many
+successive emotions, were rising to his eyes.
+
+With a passionate impulse, he seized Mlle. Lucienne's hand, and,
+taking it to his lips, he covered it with kisses.  Gently but
+resolutely she withdrew her hand, and, fixing upon him her beautiful
+clear gaze,
+
+"Friends," she uttered.
+
+Her accent alone would have been sufficient to dissipate the
+presumptuous illusions of Maxence, had he had any.  But he had none.
+
+"Friends only," he replied, "until the day when you shall be my wife.
+You cannot forbid me to hope.  You love no one?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Well since we are going to tread the path of life, let me think
+that we may find love at some turn of the road."
+
+She made no answer.  And thus was sealed between them a treaty of
+friendship, to which they were to remain so strictly faithful, that
+the word "love" never once rose to their lips.
+
+In appearance there was no change in their mode of life.
+
+Every morning, at seven o'clock, Mlle. Lucienne went to M. Van
+Klopen's, and an hour later Maxence started for his office.  They
+returned home at night, and spent their evenings together by the
+fireside.
+
+But what was easy to foresee now took place.
+
+Weak and undecided by nature, Maxence began very soon to feel the
+influence of the obstinate and energetic character of the girl.
+She infused, as it were, in his veins, a warmer and more generous
+blood.  Gradually she imbued him with her ideas, and from her own
+will gave him one.
+
+He had told her in all sincerity his history, the miseries of his
+home, M. Favoral's parsimony and exaggerated severity, his mother's
+resigned timidity, and Mlle. Gilberte's resolute nature.
+
+He had concealed nothing of his past life, of his errors and his
+follies, confessing even the worst of his actions; as, for instance,
+having abused his mother's and sister's affection to extort from
+them all the money they earned.
+
+He had admitted to her that it was only with great reluctance and
+under pressure of necessity, that he worked at all; that he was far
+from being rich; that although he took his dinner with his parents,
+his salary barely sufficed for his wants; and that he had debts.
+
+He hoped, however, he added, that it would not be always thus, and
+that, sooner or later, he would see the termination of all this
+misery and privation; for his father had at least fifty thousand
+francs a year and some day he must be rich.
+
+Far from smiling, Mlle. Lucienne frowned at such a prospect.
+
+"Ah! your father is a millionaire, is he?" she interrupted.  "Well,
+I understand now how, at twenty-five, after refusing all the
+positions which have been offered to you, you have no position.  You
+relied on your father, instead of relying on yourself.  Judging that
+he worked hard enough for two, you bravely folded your arms, waiting
+for the fortune which he is amassing, and which you seem to consider
+yours."
+
+Such morality seemed a little steep to Maxence.  "I think," he began,
+"that, if one is the son of a rich man--"
+
+"One has the right to be useless, I suppose?" added the girl.
+
+"I do not mean that; but--"
+
+"There is no but about it.  And the proof that your views are wrong,
+is that they have brought you where you are, and deprived you of your
+own free will.  To place one's self at the mercy of another, be that
+other your own father, is always silly; and one is always at the
+mercy of the man from whom he expects money that he has not earned.
+Your father would never have been so harsh, had he not believed that
+you could not do without him."
+
+He wanted to discuss: she stopped him.
+
+"Do you wish the proof that you are at M. Favoral's mercy?" she said.
+"Very well.  You spoke of marrying me."
+
+"Ah, if you were willing!"
+
+"Very well.  Go and speak of it to your father."
+
+"I suppose--"
+
+"You don't suppose any thing at all: you are absolutely certain that
+he will refuse you his consent."
+
+"I could do without it."
+
+"I admit that you could.  But do you know what he would do then?
+He would arrange things in such a way that you would never get a
+centime of his fortune."
+
+Maxence had never thought of that.
+
+"Therefore," the young girl went on gayly, "though there is as yet
+no question of marriage, learn to secure your independence; that
+is, the means of living.  And to that effect let us work."
+
+It was from that moment, that Mme. Favoral had noticed in her son
+the change that had surprised her so much.
+
+Under the inspiration, under the impulsion, of Mlle. Lucienne,
+Maxence had been suddenly taken with a zeal for work, and a desire
+to earn money, of which he could not have been suspected.
+
+He was no longer late at his office, and had not, at the end of each
+month, ten or fifteen francs' fines to pay.
+
+Every morning, as soon as she was up, Mlle. Lucienne came to knock
+at his door.  "Come, get up!" she cried to him.
+
+And quick he jumped out of bed and dressed, so that he might bid
+her good-morning before she left.
+
+In the evening, the last mouthful of his dinner was hardly swallowed,
+before he began copying the documents which he procured from M.
+Chapelain's successor.
+
+And often he worked quite late in the night whilst by his side Mlle.
+Lucienne applied herself to some work of embroidery.
+
+The girl was the cashier of the association; and she administered
+the common capital with such skillful and such scrupulous economy,
+that Maxence soon succeeded in paying off his creditors.
+
+"Do you know," she was saying at the end of December, "that, between
+us, we have earned over six hundred francs this month?"
+
+On Sundays only, after a week of which not a minute had been lost,
+they indulged in some little recreation.
+
+If the weather was not too bad, they went out together, dined in
+some modest restaurant, and finished the day at the theatre.
+
+Having thus a common existence, both young, free, and having their
+rooms divided only by a narrow passage it was difficult that people
+should believe in the innocence of their intercourse.  The
+proprietors of the Hotel des Folies believed nothing of the kind;
+and they were not alone in that opinion.
+
+Mlle. Lucienne having continued to show herself in the Bois on the
+afternoons when the weather was fine, the number of fools who annoyed
+her with their attentions had greatly increased.  Among the most
+obstinate could be numbered M. Costeclar, who was pleased to
+declare, upon his word of honor, that he had lost his sleep, and
+his taste for business, since the day when, together with M. Saint
+Pavin, he had first seen Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+The efforts of his valet, and the letters which he had written,
+having proved useless, M. Costeclar had made up his mind to act in
+person; and gallantly he had come to put himself on guard in front
+of the Hotel des Folies.
+
+Great was his surprise, when he saw Mlle. Lucienne coming out arm
+in arm with Maxence; and greater still was his spite.
+
+"That girl is a fool," he thought, "to prefer to me a fellow who
+has not two hundred francs a month to spend.  But never mind!  He
+laughs best who laughs last."
+
+And, as he was a man fertile in expedients, he went the next day
+to take a walk in the neighborhood of the Mutual Credit; and, having
+met M. Favoral by chance, he told him how his son Maxence was ruining
+himself for a young lady whose toilets were a scandal, insinuating
+delicately that it was his duty, as the head of the family, to put a
+stop to such a thing.
+
+This was precisely the time when Maxence was endeavoring to obtain
+a situation in the office of the Mutual Credit.
+
+It is true that the idea was not original with him, and that he had
+even vehemently rejected it, when, for the first time, Mlle.
+Lucienne had suggested it.
+
+"What!" had he exclaimed, "be employed in the same establishment as
+my father?  Suffer at the office the same intolerable despotism as
+at home?  I'd rather break stones on the roads."
+
+But Mlle. Lucienne was not the girl to give up so easily a project
+conceived and carefully matured by herself.
+
+She returned to the charge with that infinite art of women, who
+understand so marvelously well how to turn a position which they
+cannot carry in front.  She kept the matter so well before him, she
+spoke of it so often and so much, on every occasion, and under all
+pretexts, that he ended by persuading himself that it was the only
+reasonable and practical thing he could do, the only way in which
+he had any chance of making his fortune; and so, one evening
+overcoming his last hesitations,
+
+"I am going to speak about it to my father," he said to Mlle.
+Lucienne.
+
+But whether he had been influenced by M. Costeclar's insinuations,
+or for some other reason, M. Favoral had rejected indignantly his
+son's request, saying that it was impossible to trust a young man
+who was ruining himself for the sake of a miserable creature.
+
+Maxence had become crimson with rage on hearing the woman spoken of
+thus, whom he loved to madness, and who, far from ruining him, was
+making him.
+
+He returned to the Hotel des Folies in an indescribable state of
+exasperation.
+
+"There's the result," he said to Mlle. Lucienne, "of the step which
+you have urged me so strongly to take."
+
+She seemed neither surprised nor irritated.
+
+"Very well," she replied simply.
+
+But Maxence could not resign himself so quietly to such a cruel
+disappointment; and, not having the slightest suspicion of
+Costeclar's doings,
+
+"And such is," he added, "the result of all the gossip of these
+stupid shop-keepers who run to see you every time you go out in
+the carriage."
+
+The girl shrugged her shoulders contemptuously.  "I expected it,"
+she said, "the day when I accepted M. Van Klopen's offers."
+
+"Everybody believes that you are my mistress."
+
+"What matters it, since it is not so?"
+
+Maxence did not dare to confess that this was precisely what made
+him doubly angry; and he shuddered at the thought of the ridicule
+that would certainly be heaped upon him, if the true state of the
+case was known.
+
+"We ought to move," he suggested.
+
+"What's the use?  Wherever we should go, it would be the same thing.
+Besides, I don't want to leave this neighborhood."
+
+"And I am too much your friend not to tell you, that your reputation
+in it is absolutely lost."
+
+"I have no accounts to render to any one."
+
+"Except to your friend the commissary of police, however."
+
+A pale smile flitted upon her lips.  "Ah!" she uttered, "he knows
+the truth."
+
+"You have seen him again, then?"
+
+"Several times."
+
+"Since we have known each other?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you never told me anything about it?"
+
+"I did not think it necessary."
+
+Maxence insisted no more; but, by the sharp pang that he felt, he
+realized how dear Mlle. Lucienne had become to him.
+
+"She has secrets from me," thought he,--"from me who would deem it
+a crime to have any from her."
+
+What secrets?  Had she concealed from him that she was pursuing an
+object which had become, as it were, that of her whole life.  Had
+she not told him, that with the assistance of her friend the
+peace-officer, who had now become commissary of police of the
+district, she hoped to penetrate the mystery of her birth, and to
+revenge herself on the villains, who, three times, had attempted to
+do away with her?
+
+She had never mentioned her projects again; but it was evident that
+she had not abandoned them, for she would at the same time have
+given up her rides to the bois, which were to her an abominable
+torment.
+
+But passion can neither reason nor discuss.
+
+"She mistrusts me, who would give my life for hers," repeated Maxence.
+
+And the idea was so painful to him, that he resolved to clear his
+doubts at any cost, preferring the worst misery to the anxiety which
+was gnawing at his heart.
+
+And as soon as he found himself alone with Mlle. Lucienne, arming
+himself with all his courage, and looking her straight in the eyes,
+
+"You never speak to me any more of your enemies?" he said.
+
+She doubtless understood what was passing within him.
+
+"It's because I don't hear any thing of them myself," she answered
+gently.
+
+"Then you have given up your purpose?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"What are your hopes, then, and what are your prospects?"
+
+"Extraordinary as it may seem to you, I must confess that I know
+nothing about it.  My friend the commissary has his plan, I am
+certain; and he is following it with an indefatigable obstinacy.
+I am but an instrument in his hands.  I never do any thing without
+consulting him; and what he advises me to do I do."
+
+Maxence started upon his chair.
+
+"Was it he, then," he said in a tone of bitter irony, "who suggested
+to you the idea of our fraternal association?"
+
+A frown appeared upon the girl's countenance.  She evidently felt
+hurt by the tone of this species of interrogatory.
+
+"At least he did not disapprove of it," she replied.
+
+But that answer was just evasive enough to excite Maxence's anxiety.
+
+"Was it from him too," he went on, "that came the lovely idea of
+having me enter the Mutual Credit?"
+
+"Yes, it was from him."
+
+"For what purpose?"
+
+"He did not explain."
+
+"Why did you not tell me?"
+
+"Because he requested me not to do so."
+
+From being red at the start, Maxence had now become very pale.
+
+"And so," he resumed, "it is that man, that police-agent, who is
+the real arbiter of my fate; and if to-morrow he commanded you to
+break off with me--"
+
+Mlle. Lucienne drew herself up.
+
+"Enough!" she interrupted in a brief tone, "enough!  There is not
+in my whole existence a single act which would give to my bitterest
+enemy the right to suspect my loyalty; and now you accuse me of
+the basest treason.  What have you to reproach me with?  Have I
+not been faithful to the pact sworn between us.  Have I not always
+been for you the best of comrades and the most devoted of friends?
+I remained silent, because the man in whom I have the fullest
+confidence requested me to do so; but he knew, that, if you
+questioned me, I would speak.  Did you question me?  And now what
+more do you want?  That I should stoop to quiet the suspicions of
+your morbid mind?  That I do not mean to do."
+
+She was not, perhaps, entirely right; but Maxence was certainly
+wrong.  He acknowledged it, wept, implored her pardon, which was
+granted; and this explanation only served to rivet more closely
+the fetters that bound him.
+
+It is true, that, availing himself of the permission that had been
+granted him, he kept himself constantly informed of Mlle. Lucienne's
+doings.  He learnt from her that her friend the commissary had held
+a most minute investigation at Louveciennes, and that the footman
+who went to the bois with her was now, in reality, a detective.
+And at last, one day,
+
+"My friend the commissary," she said, "thinks he is on the right
+track now."
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+Such was the exact situation of Maxence and Mlle. Lucienne on that
+eventful Saturday evening in the month of April, 1872, when the
+police came to arrest M. Vincent Favoral, on the charge of
+embezzlement and forgery.
+
+It will be remembered, how, at his mother's request, Maxence had
+spent that night in the Rue St. Gilles, and how, the next morning,
+unable any longer to resist his eager desire to see Mlle. Lucienne,
+he had started for the Hotel des Folies, leaving his sister alone
+at home.
+
+He retired to his room, as she had requested him, and, sinking
+upon his old arm-chair in a fit of the deepest distress,
+
+"She is singing," he murmured: "Mme. Fortin has not told her any
+thing."
+
+And at the same moment Mlle. Lucienne had resumed her song, the
+words of which reached him like a bitter raillery,
+
+          "Hope!  O sweet, deceiving word!
+           Mad indeed is he,
+           Who does think he can trust thee,
+           And take thy coin can afford.
+           Over his door every one
+           Will hang thee to his sorrow,
+           Then saying of days begone,
+          'Cash to-day, credit to-morrow!'
+          'Tis very nice to run;
+           But to have is better fun!"
+
+"What will she say," thought Maxence, "when she learns the horrible
+truth?"
+
+And he felt a cold perspiration starting on his temples when he
+remembered Mlle. Lucienne's pride, and that honor has her only faith,
+the safety-plank to which she had desperately clung in the midst of
+the storms of her life.  What if she should leave him, now that the
+name he bore was disgraced!
+
+A rapid and light step on the landing drew him from his gloomy
+thoughts.  Almost immediately, the door opened, and Mlle. Lucienne
+came in.
+
+She must have dressed in haste; for she was just finishing hooking
+her dress, the simplicity of which seemed studied, so marvelously
+did it set off the elegance of her figure, the splendors of her
+waist, and the rare perfections of her shoulders and of her neck.
+
+A look of intense dissatisfaction could be read upon her lovely
+features; but, as soon as she had seen Maxence, her countenance
+changed.
+
+And, in fact, his look of utter distress, the disorder of his
+garments, his livid paleness, and the sinister look of his eyes,
+showed plainly enough that a great misfortune had befallen him.
+In a voice whose agitation betrayed something more than the anxiety
+and the sympathy of a friend,
+
+"What is the matter?  What has happened?" inquired the girl.
+
+"A terrible misfortune," he replied.
+
+He was hesitating: he wished to tell every thing at once, and knew
+not how to begin.
+
+"I have told you," he said, "that my family was very rich."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, we have nothing left, absolutely nothing!"  She seemed to
+breathe more freely, and, in a tone of friendly irony,
+
+"And it is the loss of your fortune," she said, "that distresses
+you thus?"
+
+He raised himself painfully to his feet, and, in a low hoarse voice,
+
+"Honor is lost too," he uttered.
+
+"Honor?"
+
+"Yes.  My father has stolen: my father has forged!"
+
+She had become whiter than her collar.
+
+"Your father!" she stammered.
+
+"Yes.  For years he has been using the money that was intrusted to
+him, until the deficit now amounts to twelve millions."
+
+"Great heavens!"
+
+"And, notwithstanding the enormity of that sum, he was reduced,
+during the latter months, to the most miserable expedients,--going
+from door to door in the neighborhood, soliciting deposits, until
+he actually basely swindled a poor newspaper-vender out of five
+hundred francs."
+
+"Why, this is madness!  And how did you find out?"
+
+"Last night they came to arrest him.  Fortunately we had been
+notified; and I helped him to escape through a window of my sister's
+room, which opens on the yard of an adjoining house."
+
+"And where is he now?"
+
+"Who knows?"
+
+"Had he any money?"
+
+"Everybody thinks that he carries off millions.  I do not believe
+it.  He even refused to take the few thousand francs which M. de
+Thaller had brought him to facilitate his flight."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne shuddered.
+
+"Did you see M. de Thaller?" she asked.
+
+"He got to the house a few moments in advance of the commissary of
+police; and a terrible scene took place between him and my father."
+
+"What was he saying?"
+
+"That my father had ruined him."
+
+"And your father?"
+
+"He stammered incoherent phrases.  He was like a man who has
+received a stunning blow.  But we have discovered incredible things.
+My father, so austere and so parsimonious at home, led a merry life
+elsewhere, spending money without stint.  It was for a woman that
+he robbed."
+
+"And--do you know who that woman is?"
+
+"No.  But I can find out from the writer of the article in this
+paper, who says that he knows her.  See!"
+
+Mlle. Lucienne took the paper which Maxence was holding out to her:
+but she hardly condescended to look at it.
+
+"But what's your idea now?"
+
+"I do not believe that my father is innocent; but I believe that
+there are people more guilty than he,--skillful and prudent knaves,
+who have made use of him as a man of straw,--villains who will
+quietly digest their share of the millions (the biggest one, of
+course), while he will be sent to prison."
+
+A fugitive blush colored Mlle. Lucienne's cheeks.
+
+"That being the case," she interrupted, "what do you expect to do?"
+
+"Avenge my father, if possible, and discover his accomplices, if he
+has any."
+
+She held out her hand to him.
+
+"That's right," she said.  "But how will you go about it?"
+
+"I don't know yet.  At any rate, I must first of all run to the
+newspaper office, and get that woman's address."
+
+But Mlle. Lucienne stopped him.
+
+"No," she uttered: "it isn't there that you must go.  You must come
+with me to see my friend the commissary."
+
+Maxence received this suggestion with a gesture of surprise, almost
+of terror.
+
+"Why, how can you think of such a thing?" he exclaimed.  "My father
+is fleeing from justice; and you want me to take for my confidant a
+commissary of police,--the very man whose duty it is to arrest him,
+if he can find him!"
+
+But he interrupted himself for a moment, staring and gaping, as if
+the truth had suddenly flashed upon his mind in dazzling evidence.
+
+"For my father has not gone abroad," he went on.  "It is in Paris
+that he is hiding: I am sure of it.  You have seen him?"
+
+Mlle. Lucienne really thought that Maxence was losing his mind.
+
+"I have seen your father--I?" she said.
+
+"Yes, last evening.  How could I have forgotten it?  While you were
+waiting for me down stairs, between eleven and half-past eleven a
+middle-aged man, thin, wearing a long overcoat, came and asked for
+me."
+
+"Yes, I remember."
+
+"He spoke to you in the yard."
+
+"That's a fact."
+
+"What did he tell you?"
+
+She hesitated for a moment, evidently trying to tax her memory; then,
+
+"Nothing," she replied, "that he had not already said before the
+Fortins; that he wanted to see you on important business, and was
+sorry not to find you in.  What surprised me, though, is, that he
+was speaking as if he knew me, and knew that I was a friend of yours."
+Then, striking her forehead,
+
+"Perhaps you are right," she went on.  "Perhaps that man was indeed
+your father.  Wait a minute.  Yes, he seemed quite excited, and at
+every moment he looked around towards the door.  He said it would be
+impossible for him to return, but that he would write to you, and
+that probably he would require your assistance and your services."
+
+"You see," exclaimed Maxence, almost crazy with subdued excitement,
+"it was my father.  He is going to write; to return, perhaps; and,
+under the circumstances, to apply to a commissary of police would
+be sheer folly, almost treason."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"So much the more reason," she uttered, "why you should follow my
+advice.  Have you ever had occasion to repent doing so?"
+
+"No, but you may be mistaken."
+
+"I am not mistaken."
+
+She expressed herself in a tone of such absolute certainty, that
+Maxence, in the disorder of his mind, was at a loss to know what to
+imagine, what to believe.
+
+"You must have some reason to urge me thus," he said.
+
+"I have."
+
+"Why not tell it to me then?"
+
+"Because I should have no proofs to furnish you of my assertions.
+Because I should have to go into details which you would not
+understand.  Because, above all, I am following one of those
+inexplicable presentiments which never deceive."
+
+It was evident that she was not willing to unveil her whole mind;
+and yet Maxence felt himself terribly staggered.
+
+"Think of my agony," he said, "if I were to cause my father's arrest."
+
+"Would my own be less?  Can any misfortune strike you without
+reaching me?  Let us reason a little.  What were you saying a moment
+since?  That certainly your father is not as guilty as people think;
+at any rate, that he is not alone guilty; that he has been but the
+instrument of rascals more skillful and more powerful than himself;
+and that he has had but a small share of the twelve millions?"
+
+"Such is my absolute conviction."
+
+"And that you would like to deliver up to justice the villains who
+have benefitted by your father's crime, and who think themselves sure
+of impunity?"
+
+Tears of anger fell from Maxence's eyes.
+
+"Do you wish to take away all my courage?" he murmured.
+
+"No; but I wish to demonstrate to you the necessity of the step
+which I advise you to take.  The end justifies the means; and we
+have not the choice of means.  Come, 'tis to an honest man and a
+tried friend that I shall take you.  Fear nothing.  If he remembers
+that he is commissary of police, it will be to serve us, not to
+injure you.  You hesitate?  Perhaps at this moment he already
+knows more than we do ourselves."
+
+Maxence took a sudden resolution.
+
+"Very well," he said: "let us go."
+
+In less than five minutes they were off; and, as they went out, they
+had to disturb Mme. Fortin, who stood at the door, gossiping with
+two or three of the neighboring shop-keepers.
+
+As soon as Maxence and Mlle. Lucienne were out of hearing,
+
+"You see that young man," said the honorable proprietress of the
+Hotel des Folies to her interlocutors.  "Well, he is the son of that
+famous cashier who has just run off with twelve millions, after
+ruining a thousand families.  It don't seem to trouble him, either;
+for there he is, going out to spend a pleasant day with his mistress,
+and to treat her to a fine dinner with the old man's money."
+
+Meantime, Maxence and Lucienne reached the commissary's house.  He
+was at home; they walked in.  And, as soon as they appeared,
+
+"I expected you," he said.
+
+He was a man already past middle age, but active and vigorous still.
+With his white cravat and long frock-coat, he looked like a notary.
+Benign was the expression of his countenance; but the lustre of his
+little gray eyes, and the mobility of his nostrils, showed that it
+should not be trusted too far.
+
+"Yes, I expected you," he repeated, addressing himself as much to
+Maxence as to Mlle. Lucienne.  "It is the Mutual Credit matter which
+brings you here?"
+
+Maxence stepped forward,
+
+"I am Vincent Favoral's son, sir," he replied.  "I have still my
+mother and a sister.  Our situation is horrible.  Mlle. Lucienne
+suggested that you might be willing to give me some advice; and here
+we are."
+
+The commissary rang, and, on the bell being answered,
+
+"I am at home for no one," he said.
+
+And then turning to Maxence,
+
+"Mlle. Lucienne did well to bring you," he said; "for it may be,
+that, whilst rendering her an important service, I may also render
+you one.  But I have no time to lose.  Sit down, and tell me all
+about it."  With the most scrupulous exactness Maxence told the
+history of his family, and the events of the past twenty-four hours.
+
+Not once did the commissary interrupt him; but, when he had done,
+
+"Tell me your father's interview with M. de Thaller all over again,"
+he requested, "and, especially, do not omit any thing that you have
+heard or seen, not a word, not a gesture, not a look."
+
+And, Maxence having complied,
+
+"Now," said the commissary, "repeat every thing your father said at
+the moment of going."
+
+He did so.  The commissary took a few notes, and then,
+
+"What were," he inquired, "the relations of your family with the
+Thaller family?"
+
+"There were none."
+
+"What!  Neither Mme. nor Mlle. de Thaller ever visited you?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Do you know the Marquis de Tregars?"
+
+Maxence stared in surprise.
+
+"Tregars!" he repeated.  "It's the first time that I hear that
+name."
+
+The usual clients of the commissary would have hesitated to recognize
+him, so completely had he set aside his professional stiffness, so
+much had his freezing reserve given way to the most encouraging
+kindness.
+
+"Now, then," he resumed, "never mind M. de Tregars: let us talk of
+the woman, who, you seem to think, has been the cause of M. Favoral's
+ruin."
+
+On the table before him lay the paper in which Maxence had read in
+the morning the terrible article headed: "Another Financial Disaster."
+
+"I know nothing of that woman," he replied; "but it must be easy to
+find out, since the writer of this article pretends to know."
+
+The commissary smiled, not having quite as much faith in newspapers
+as Maxence seemed to have.
+
+"Yes, I read that," he said.
+
+"We might send to the office of that paper," suggested Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+"I have already sent, my child."
+
+And, without noticing the surprise of Maxence and of the young girl,
+he rang the bell, and asked whether his secretary had returned.  The
+secretary answered by appearing in person.
+
+"Well?" inquired the commissary.
+
+"I have attended to the matter, sir," he replied.  "I saw the
+reporter who wrote the article in question; and, after beating about
+the bush for some time, he finally confessed that he knew nothing
+more than had been published, and that he had obtained his
+information from two intimate friends of the cashier, M. Costeclar
+and M. Saint Pavin."
+
+"You should have gone to see those gentlemen."
+
+"I did."
+
+"Very well.  What then?"
+
+"Unfortunately, M. Costeclar had just gone out.  As to M. Saint
+Pavin, I found him at the office of his paper, 'The Financial Pilot.'
+He is a coarse and vulgar personage, and received me like a
+pickpocket.  I had even a notion to--"
+
+"Never mind that!  Go on."
+
+"He was closeted with another gentleman, a banker, named Jottras,
+of the house of Jottras and Brother.  They were both in a terrible
+rage, swearing like troopers, and saying that the Favoral
+defalcation would ruin them; that they had been taken in like fools,
+but that they were not going to take things so easy, and they were
+preparing a crushing article."
+
+But he stopped, winking, and pointing to Maxence and Mlle. Lucienne,
+who were listening as attentively as they could.
+
+"Speak, speak!" said the commissary.  "Fear nothing."
+
+"Well," he went on, "M. Saint Pavin and M. Jottras were saying that
+M. Favoral was only a poor dupe, but that they would know how to
+find the others."
+
+"What others?"
+
+"Ah! they didn't say."
+
+The commissary shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "you find yourself in presence of two men
+furious to have been duped, who swear and threaten, and you can't
+get from them a name that you want?  You are not very smart,
+my dear!"
+
+And as the poor secretary, somewhat put out of countenance, looked
+down, and said nothing,
+
+"Did you at least ask them," he resumed, "who the woman is to whom
+the article refers, and whose existence they have revealed to the
+reporter?"
+
+"Of course I did, sir."
+
+"And what did they answer?"
+
+"That they were not spies, and had nothing to say.  M. Saint Pavin
+added, however, that he had said it without much thought, and only
+because he had once seen M. Favoral buying a three thousand francs
+bracelet, and also because it seemed impossible to him that a man
+should do away with millions without the aid of a woman."
+
+The commissary could not conceal his ill humor.
+
+"Of course!" he grumbled.  "Since Solomon said, 'Look for the woman'
+(for it was King Solomon who first said it), every fool thinks it
+smart to repeat with a cunning look that most obvious of truths.
+What next?"
+
+"M. Saint Pavin politely invited me to go to--well, not here."
+
+The commissary wrote rapidly a few lines, put them in an envelope,
+which he sealed with his private seal, and handed it to his
+secretary, saying,
+
+"That will do.  Take this to the prefecture yourself."  And, after
+the secretary had gone out,
+
+"Well, M. Maxence," he said, "you have heard?"  Of course he had.
+Only Maxence was thinking much less of what he had just heard than
+of the strange interest this commissary had taken in his affairs,
+even before he had seen him.
+
+"I think," he stammered, "that it is very unfortunate the woman
+cannot be found."
+
+With a gesture full of confidence,
+
+"Be easy," said the commissary: "she shall be found.  A woman cannot
+swallow millions at that rate, without attracting attention.
+Believe me, we shall find her, unless--"
+
+He paused for a moment, and, speaking slowly and emphatically,
+
+"Unless," he added, "she should have behind her a very skillful and
+very prudent man.  Or else that she should be in a situation where
+her extravagance could not have created any scandal."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne started.  She fancied she understood the commissary's
+idea, and could catch a glimpse of the truth.
+
+"Good heavens!" she murmured.
+
+But Maxence didn't notice any thing, his mind being wholly bent upon
+following the commissary's deductions.
+
+"Or unless," he said, "my father should have received almost nothing
+for his share of the enormous sums subtracted from the Mutual Credit,
+in which case he could have given relatively but little to that woman.
+M. Saint Pavin himself acknowledges that my father has been
+egregiously taken in."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+Maxence hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I think," he said at last, "and several friends of my family (among
+whom M. Chapelain, an old lawyer) think as I do, that it is very
+strange that my father should have drawn millions from the Mutual
+Credit without any knowledge of the fact on the part of the manager."
+
+"Then, according to you, M. de Thaller must be an accomplice."
+
+Maxence made no answer.
+
+"Be it so," insisted the commissary.  "I admit M. de Thaller's
+complicity; but then we must suppose that he had over your father
+some powerful means of action."
+
+"An employer always has a great deal of influence over his
+subordinates."
+
+"An influence sufficiently powerful to make them run the risk of
+the galleys for his benefit!  That is not likely.  We must try and
+imagine something else."
+
+"I am trying; but I don't find any thing."
+
+"And yet it is not all.  How do you explain your father's silence
+when M. de Thaller was heaping upon him the most outrageous insults?"
+
+"My father was stunned, as it were."
+
+"And at the moment of escaping, if he did have any accomplices, how
+is it that he did not mention their names to you, to your mother,
+or to your sister?"
+
+"Because, doubtless, he had no proofs of their complicity to offer."
+
+"Would you have asked him for any?"
+
+"O sir!"
+
+"Therefore such is not evidently the motive of his silence; and it
+might better be attributed to some secret hope that he still had
+left."
+
+The commissary now had all the information, which, voluntarily or
+otherwise, Maxence was able to give him.  He rose, and in the
+kindest tone,
+
+"You have come," he said to him, "to ask me for advice.  Here it is:
+say nothing, and wait.  Allow justice and the police to pursue their
+work.  Whatever may be your suspicions, hide them.  I shall do for
+you as I would for Lucienne, whom I love as if she were my own
+child; for it so happens, that, in helping you, I shall help her."
+
+He could not help laughing at the astonishment, which at those words
+depicted itself upon Maxence's face; and gayly,
+
+"You don't understand," he added.  "Well, never mind.  It is not
+necessary that you should."
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+Two o'clock struck as Mlle. Lucienne and Maxence left the office
+of the commissary of police, she pensive and agitated, he gloomy and
+irritated.  They reached the Hotel des Folies without exchanging a
+word.  Mme. Fortin was again at the door, speechifying in the midst
+of a group with indefatigable volubility.  Indeed, it was a perfect
+godsend for her, the fact of lodging the son of that cashier who
+had stolen twelve millions, and had thus suddenly become a celebrity.
+Seeing Maxence and Mlle. Lucienne coming, she stepped toward them,
+and, with her most obsequious smile,
+
+"Back already?" she said.
+
+But they made no answer; and, entering the narrow corridor, they
+hurried to their fourth story.  As he entered his room, Maxence
+threw his hat upon his bed with a gesture of impatience; and, after
+walking up and down for a moment, he returned to plant himself in
+front of Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+"Well," he said, "are you satisfied now?"
+
+She looked at him with an air of profound commiseration, knowing
+his weakness too well to be angry at his injustice.
+
+"Of what should I be satisfied?" she asked gently.
+
+"I have done what you wished me to."
+
+"You did what reason dictated, my friend."
+
+"Very well: we won't quarrel about words.  I have seen your friend
+the commissary.  Am I any better off?"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly.
+
+"What did you expect of him, then?" she asked.  "Did you think that
+he could undo what is done?  Did you suppose, that, by the sole
+power of his will, he would make up the deficit in the Mutual
+Credit's cash, and rehabilitate your father?"
+
+"No, I am not quite mad yet."
+
+"Well, then, could he do more than promise you his most ardent and
+devoted co-operation?"
+
+But he did not allow her to proceed.
+
+"And how do I know," he exclaimed, "that he is not trifling with me?
+If he was sincere, why his reticence and his enigmas?  He pretends
+that I may rely on him, because to serve me is to serve you.  What
+does that mean?  What connection is there between your situation and
+mine, between your enemies and those of my father?  And I--I replied
+to all his questions like a simpleton.  Poor fool!  But the man who
+drowns catches at straws; and I am drowning, I am sinking, I am
+foundering."
+
+He sank upon a chair, and, hiding his face in his hands,
+
+"Ah, how I do suffer!" he groaned.
+
+Mlle. Lucienne approached him, and in a severe tone, despite her
+emotion,
+
+"Are you, then, such a coward?" she uttered.  "What! at the first
+misfortune that strikes you,--and this is the first real misfortune
+of your life, Maxence,--you despair.  An obstacle rises, and,
+instead of gathering all your energy to overcome it, you sit down
+and weep like a woman.  Who, then, is to inspire courage in your
+mother and in your sister, if you give up so?"
+
+At the sound of these words, uttered by that voice which was
+all-powerful over his soul, Maxence looked up.
+
+"I thank you, my friend," he said.  "I thank you for reminding me
+of what I owe to my mother and sister.  Poor women!  They are
+wondering, doubtless, what has become of me."
+
+"You must return to them," interrupted the girl.
+
+He got up resolutely.
+
+"I will," he replied.  "I should be unworthy of you if I could not
+raise my own energy to the level of yours."
+
+And, having pressed her hand, he left.  But it was not by the usual
+route that he reached the Rue St. Gilles.  He made a long detour, so
+as not to meet any of his acquaintances.
+
+"Here you are at last," said the servant as she opened the door.
+"Madame was getting very uneasy, I can tell you.  She is in the
+parlor, with Mlle. Gilberte and M. Chapelain."
+
+It was so.  After his fruitless attempt to reach M. de Thaller, M.
+Chapelain had breakfasted there, and had remained, wishing, he said,
+to see Maxence.  And so, as soon as the young man appeared, availing
+himself of the privileges of his age and his old intimacy,
+
+"How," said he, "dare you leave your mother and sister alone in a
+house where some brutal creditor may come in at any moment?"
+
+"I was wrong," said Maxence, who preferred to plead guilty rather
+than attempt an explanation.
+
+"Don't do it again then," resumed M. Chapelain.  "I was waiting for
+you to say that I was unable to see M. de Thaller, and that I do not
+care to face once more the impudence of his valets.  You will,
+therefore, have to take back the fifteen thousand francs he had
+brought to your father.  Place them in his own hands; and don't
+give them up without a receipt."
+
+After some further recommendations, he went off, leaving Mme. Favoral
+alone at last with her children.  She was about to call Maxence to
+account for his absence, when Mlle. Gilberte interrupted her.
+
+"I have to speak to you, mother," she said with a singular
+precipitation, "and to you also, brother."
+
+And at once she began telling them of M. Costeclar's strange visit,
+his inconceivable audacity, and his offensive declarations.
+
+Maxence was fairly stamping with rage.
+
+"And I was not here," he exclaimed, "to put him out of the house!"
+
+But another was there; and this was just what Mlle. Gilberte wished
+to come to.  But the avowal was difficult, painful even; and it was
+not without some degree of confusion that she resumed at last,
+
+"You have suspected for a long time, mother, that I was hiding
+something from you.  When you questioned me, I lied; not that I had
+any thing to blush for, but because I feared for you my father's
+anger."
+
+Her mother and her brother were gazing at her with a look of blank
+amazement.
+
+"Yes, I had a secret," she continued.  "Boldly, without consulting
+any one, trusting the sole inspirations of my heart, I had engaged
+my life to a stranger: I had selected the man whose wife I wished
+to be."
+
+Mme. Favoral raised her hands to heaven.
+
+"But this is sheer madness!" she said.
+
+"Unfortunately," went on the girl, "between that man, my affianced
+husband before God, and myself, rose a terrible obstacle.  He was
+poor: he thought my father very rich; and he had asked me a delay
+of three years to conquer a fortune which might enable him to aspire
+to my hand."
+
+She stopped: all the blood in her veins was rushing to her face.
+
+"This morning," she said, "at the news of our disaster, he came . . ."
+
+"Here?" interrupted Maxence.
+
+"Yes, brother, here.  He arrived at the very moment, when, basely
+insulted by M. Costeclar, I commanded him to withdraw, and, instead
+of going, he was walking towards me with outstretched arms."
+
+"He dared to penetrate here!" murmured Mme. Favoral.
+
+"Yes, mother: he came in just in time to seize M. Costeclar by his
+coat-collar, and to throw him at my feet, livid with fear, and
+begging for mercy.  He came, notwithstanding the terrible calamity
+that has befallen us.  Notwithstanding ruin, and notwithstanding
+shame, he came to offer me his name, and to tell me, that, in the
+course of the day, he would send a friend of his family to apprise
+you of his intentions."
+
+Here she was interrupted by the servant, who, throwing open the
+parlor-door, announced,
+
+"The Count de Villegre."
+
+If it had occurred to the mind of Mme. Favoral or Maxence that Mlle.
+Gilberte might have been the victim of some base intrigue, the mere
+appearance of the man who now walked in must have been enough to
+disabuse them.
+
+He was of a rather formidable aspect, with his military bearing, his
+bluff manners, his huge white mustache, and the deep scar across
+his forehead.
+
+But in order to be re-assured, and to feel confident, it was enough
+to look at his broad face, at once energetic and debonair, his clear
+eye, in which shone the loyalty of his soul, and his thick red lips,
+which had never opened to utter an untruth.
+
+At this moment, however, he was hardly in possession of all his
+faculties.
+
+That valiant man, that old soldier, was timid; and he would have
+felt much more at ease under the fire of a battery than in that
+humble parlor in the Rue St. Gilles, under the uneasy glance of
+Maxence and Mme. Favoral.
+
+Having bowed, having made a little friendly sign to Mlle. Gilberte,
+he had stopped short, two steps from the door, his hat in his hand.
+
+Eloquence was not his forte.  He had prepared himself well in
+advance; but though he kept coughing: hum! broum! though he kept
+running his finger around his shirt-collar to facilitate his
+delivery, the beginning of his speech stuck in his throat.
+
+Seeing how urgent it was to come to his assistance,
+
+"I was expecting you, sir," said Mlle. Gilberte.  With this
+encouragement, he advanced towards Mme. Favoral, and, bowing low,
+
+"I see that my presence surprises you, madame," he began; "and I
+must confess that--hum!--it does not surprise me less than it does
+you.  But extraordinary circumstances require exceptional action.
+On any other occasion, I would not fall upon you like a bombshell.
+But we had no time to waste in ceremonious formalities.  I will,
+therefore, ask your leave to introduce myself: I am General Count
+de Villegre."
+
+Maxence had brought him a chair.
+
+"I am ready to hear you, sir," said Mme. Favoral.  He sat down, and,
+with a further effort,
+
+"I suppose, madame," he resumed, "that your daughter has explained
+to you our singular situation, which, as I had the honor of telling
+you--hum!--is not strictly in accordance with social usage."
+
+Mlle. Gilberte interrupted him.
+
+"When you came in, general, I was only just beginning to explain
+the facts to my mother and brother."
+
+The old soldier made a gesture, and a face which showed plainly that
+he did not much relish the prospect of a somewhat difficult
+explanation--broum!  Nevertheless, making up his mind bravely,
+
+"It is very simple," he said: "I come in behalf of M. de Tregars."
+
+Maxence fairly bounced upon his chair.  That was the very name which
+he had just heard mentioned by the commissary of police.
+
+"Tregars!" he repeated in a tone of immense surprise.
+
+"Yes," said M. de Villegre.  "Do you know him, by chance?"
+
+"No, sir, no!"
+
+"Marius de Tregars is the son of the most honest man I ever knew, of
+the best friend I ever had,--of the Marquis de Tregars, in a word,
+who died of grief a few years ago, after--hum!--some quite
+inexplicable--broum!--reverses of fortune.  Marius could not be
+dearer to me, if he were my own son.  He has lost his parents: I
+have no relatives; and I have transferred to him all the feelings
+of affection which still remained at the bottom of my old heart.
+
+"And I can say that never was a man more worthy of affection.  I
+know him.  To the most legitimate pride and the most scrupulous
+integrity, he unites a keen and supple mind, and wit enough to get
+the better of the toughest rascal.  He has no fortune for the reason
+that--hum!--he gave up all he had to certain pretended creditors
+of his father.  But whenever he wishes to be rich, he shall be; and
+--broum!--he may be so before long.  I know his projects, his hopes,
+his resources."
+
+But, as if feeling that he was treading on dangerous ground, the
+Count de Villegre stopped short, and, after taking breath for a
+moment,
+
+"In short," he went on, "Marius has been unable to see Mlle.
+Gilberte, and to appreciate the rare qualities of her heart,
+without falling desperately in love with her."
+
+Mme. Favoral made a gesture of protest,
+
+"Allow me, sir," she began.
+
+But he interrupted her.
+
+"I understand you, madame," he resumed.  "You wonder how M. de
+Tregars can have seen your daughter, have known her, and have
+appreciated her, without your seeing or hearing any thing of it.
+Nothing is more simple, and, if I may venture to say--hum!--more
+natural."
+
+And the worthy old soldier began to explain to Mme. Favoral the
+meetings in the Place-Royale, his conversations with Marius,
+intended really for Mlle. Gilberte, and the part he had consented
+to play in this little comedy.  But he became embarrassed in his
+sentences, he multiplied his hum! and his broum! in the most
+alarming manner; and his explanations explained nothing.
+
+Mlle. Gilberte took pity on him; and, kindly interrupting him, she
+herself told her story, and that of Marius.
+
+She told the pledge they had exchanged, how they had seen each other
+twice, and how they constantly heard of each other through the very
+innocent and very unconscious Signor Gismondo Pulei.
+
+Maxence and Mme. Favoral were dumbfounded.  They would have
+absolutely refused to believe such a story, had it not been told by
+Mlle. Gilberte herself.
+
+"Ah, my dear sister!" thought Maxence, "who could have suspected
+such a thing, seeing you always so calm and so meek!"
+
+"Is it possible," Mme. Favoral was saying to herself; "that I can
+have been so blind and so deaf?"
+
+As to the Count de Villegre, he would have tried in vain to express
+the gratitude he felt towards Mlle. Gilberte for having spared him
+these difficult explanations.
+
+"I could not have done half as well myself, by the eternal!" he
+thought, like a man who has no illusions on his own account.
+
+But, as soon as she had done, addressing himself to Mme. Favoral,
+
+"Now, madame," he said, "you know all; and you will understand
+that the irreparable disaster that strikes you has removed the
+only obstacle which had hitherto stood in the way of Marius."
+
+He rose, and in a solemn tone, without any hum or broum, this time,
+
+"I have the honor, madame," he uttered, "to solicit the hand of Mlle.
+Gilberte, your daughter, for my friend Yves-Marius de Genost, Marquis
+de Tregars."
+
+A profound silence followed this speech.  But this silence the Count
+de Villegre doubtless interpreted in his own favor; for, stepping to
+the parlor-door, he opened it, and called, "Marius!"
+
+Marius de Tregars had foreseen all that had just taken place, and
+had so informed the Count de Villegre in advance.
+
+Being given Mme. Favoral's disposition, he knew what could be
+expected of her; and he had his own reasons to fear nothing from
+Maxence.  And, if he mistrusted somewhat the diplomatic talents
+of his ambassador, he relied absolutely upon Mlle. Gilberte's energy.
+
+And so confident was he of the correctness of his calculations, that
+he had insisted upon accompanying his old friend, so as to be on
+hand at the critical moment.
+
+When the servant had opened the door to them, he had ordered her to
+introduce M. de Villegre, stating that he would himself wait in the
+dining-room.  This arrangement had not seemed entirely natural to
+the girl; but so many strange things had happened in the house for
+the past twenty-four hours, that she was prepared for any thing.
+
+Besides recognizing Marius as the gentleman who had had a violent
+altercation in the morning with M. Costeclar, she did as he
+requested, and, leaving him alone in the dining-room, went to
+attend to her duties.
+
+He had taken a seat, impassive in appearance, but in reality
+agitated by that internal trepidation of which the strongest men
+cannot free themselves in the decisive moments of their life.
+
+To a certain extent, the prospects of his whole life were to be
+decided on the other side of that door which had just closed behind
+the Count de Villegre.  To the success of his love, other interests
+were united, which required immediate success.
+
+And, counting the seconds by the beatings of his heart,
+
+"How very slow they are!" he thought.
+
+And so, when the door opened at last, and his old friend called him,
+he jumped to his feet, and collecting all his coolness and
+self-possession, he walked in.
+
+Maxence had risen to receive him; but, when he saw him, he stepped
+back, his eyes glaring in utter surprise.
+
+"Ah, great heavens!" he muttered in a smothered voice.
+
+But M. de Tregars seemed not to notice his stupor.  Quite
+self-possessed, notwithstanding his emotion, he cast a rapid glance
+over the Count de Villegre, Mme. Favoral and Mlle. Gilberte.  At
+their attitude, and at the expression of their countenance, he
+easily guessed the point to which things had come.
+
+And, advancing towards Mme. Favoral, he bowed with an amount of
+respect which was certainly not put on.
+
+"You have heard the Count de Villegre, madame," he said in a
+slightly altered tone of voice.  "I am awaiting my fate."
+
+The poor woman had never before in all her life been so fearfully
+perplexed.  All these events, which succeeded each other so rapidly,
+had broken the feeble springs of her soul.  She was utterly incapable
+of collecting her thoughts, or of taking a determination.
+
+"At this moment, sir," she stammered, taken unawares, "it would be
+impossible for me to answer you.  Grant me a few days for reflection.
+We have some old friends whom I ought to consult."
+
+But Maxence, who had got over his stupor, interrupted her.
+
+"Friends, mother!" he exclaimed.  "And who are they?  People in our
+position have no friends.  What! when we are perishing, a man of
+heart holds out his hand to us, and you ask to reflect?  To my
+sister, who bears a name henceforth disgraced, the Marquis de
+Tregars offers his name, and you think of consulting."
+
+The poor woman was shaking her head.
+
+"I am not the mistress, my son," she murmured; "and your father--"
+
+"My father!" interrupted the young man,--"my father!  What rights
+can he have over us hereafter?"  And without further discussion,
+without awaiting an answer, he took his sister's hand, and,
+placing it in M. de Tregars' hand,
+
+"Ah! take her, sir," he uttered.  "Never, whatever she may do, will
+she acquit the debt of eternal gratitude which we this day contract
+towards you."
+
+A tremor that shook their frames, a long look which they exchanged,
+betrayed alone the feelings of Marius and Mlle. Gilberte.  They had
+of life a too cruel experience not to mistrust their joy.
+
+Returning to Mme. Favoral,
+
+"You do not understand, madame," he went on, "why I should have
+selected for such a step the very moment when an irreparable calamity
+befalls you.  One word will explain all.  Being in a position to
+serve you, I wished to acquire the right of doing so."
+
+Fixing upon him a look in which the gloomiest despair could be read,
+
+"Alas!" stammered the poor woman, "what can you do for me, sir?  My
+life is ended.  I have but one wish left,--that of knowing where
+my husband is hid.  It is not for me to judge him.  He has not given
+me the happiness which I had, perhaps, the right to expect; but he
+is my husband, he is unhappy: my duty is to join him wherever he may
+be, and to share his sufferings."
+
+She was interrupted by the servant, who was calling her at the
+parlor-door, "Madame, madame!"
+
+"What is the matter?" inquired Maxence.
+
+"I must speak to madame at once."
+
+Making an effort to rise and walk, Mme. Favoral went out.  She was
+gone but a minute; and, when she returned, her agitation had further
+increased.  "It is the hand of Providence, perhaps," she said.  The
+others were all looking at her anxiously.  She took a seat, and,
+addressing herself more especially to M. de Tregars,
+
+"This is what happens," she said in a feeble voice.  "M. Favoral
+was in the habit of always changing his coat as soon as he came home.
+As usual, he did so last evening.  When they came to arrest him, he
+forgot to change again, and went off with the coat he had on.  The
+other remained hanging in the room, where the girl took it just now
+to brush it, and put it away; and this portfolio, which my husband
+always carries with him, fell from its pocket."
+
+It was an old Russia leather portfolio, which had once been red, but
+which time and use had turned black.  It was full of papers.
+
+"Perhaps, indeed," exclaimed Maxence, "we may find some information
+there."
+
+He opened it, and had already taken out three-fourths of its contents
+without finding any thing of any consequence, when suddenly he
+uttered an exclamation.  He had just opened an anonymous note,
+evidently written in a disguised hand, and at one glance had read,
+
+"I cannot understand your negligence.  You should get through that
+Van Klopen matter.  There is the danger."
+
+"What is that note?" inquired M. de Tregars.
+
+Maxence handed it to him.
+
+"See!" said he, "but you will not understand the immense interest
+it has for me."
+
+But having read it,
+
+"You are mistaken," said Marius.  "I understand perfectly; and I'll
+prove it to you."
+
+The next moment, Maxence took out of the portfolio, and read aloud,
+the following bill, dated two days before.
+
+"Sold to ---- two leather trunks with safety locks at 220 francs each;
+say, francs 440."
+
+M. de Tregars started.
+
+"At last," he said, "here is doubtless one end of the thread which
+will guide us to the truth through this labyrinth of iniquities."
+
+And, tapping gently on Maxence's shoulders,
+
+"We must talk," he said, "and at length.  To-morrow, before you go
+to M. de Thaller's with his fifteen thousand francs, call and see
+me: I shall expect you.  We are now engaged upon a common work; and
+something tells me, that, before long, we shall know what has become
+of the Mutual Credit's millions."
+
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+
+FISHING IN TROUBLED WATERS.
+
+
+I
+
+"When I think," said Coleridge, "that every morning, in Paris alone,
+thirty thousand fellows wake up, and rise with the fixed and settled
+idea of appropriating other people's money, it is with renewed wonder
+that every night, when I go home, I find my purse still in my pocket."
+
+And yet it is not those who simply aim to steal your portemonnaie
+who are either the most dishonest or the most formidable.
+
+To stand at the corner of some dark street, and rush upon the first
+man that comes along, demanding, "Your money or your life," is but a
+poor business, devoid of all prestige, and long since given up to
+chivalrous natures.
+
+A man must be something worse than a simpleton to still ply his
+trade on the high-roads, exposed to all sorts of annoyances on the
+part of the gendarmes, when manufacturing and financial enterprises
+offer such a magnificently fertile field to the activity of
+imaginative people.
+
+And, in order to thoroughly understand the mode of proceeding in
+this particular field, it is sufficient to open from time to time a
+copy of "The Police Gazette," and to read some trial, like that, for
+instance, of one Lefurteux, ex-president of the Company for the
+Drainage and Improvement of the Orne Swamps.
+
+This took place less than a month ago in one of the police-courts.
+
+The Judge to the Accused--Your profession?
+
+M. Lefurteux--President of the company.
+
+Question--Before that what were you doing?
+
+Answer--I speculated at the bourse.
+
+Q--You had no means?
+
+A--I beg your pardon: I was making money.
+
+Q--And it was under such circumstances that you had the audacity
+to organize a company with a capital stock of three million of
+francs, divided in shares of five hundred francs?
+
+A--Having discovered an idea, I did not suppose that I was forbidden
+to work it up.
+
+Q--What do you call an idea?
+
+A--The idea of draining swamps, and making them productive.
+
+Q--What swamps?  Yours never had any existence, except in your
+prospectus.
+
+A--I expected to buy them as soon as my capital was paid in.
+
+Q--And in the mean time you promised ten per cent to your
+stockholders.
+
+A--That's the least that draining operations ever pay.
+
+Q--You have advertised?
+
+A--Of course.
+
+Q--To what extent?
+
+A--To the extent of about sixty thousand francs.
+
+Q--Where did you get the money?
+
+A--I commenced with ten thousand francs, which a friend of mine had
+lent me; then I used the funds as they came in.
+
+Q--In other words, you made use of the money of your first dupes to
+attract others?
+
+A--Many people thought it was a good thing.
+
+Q--Who?  Those to whom you sent your prospectus with a plan of your
+pretended swamps?
+
+A--Excuse me.  Others too.
+
+Q--How much money did you ever receive?
+
+A--About six hundred thousand francs, as the expert has stated.
+
+Q--And you have spent the whole of the money?
+
+A--Permit me?  I have never applied to my personal wants anything
+beyond the salary which was allowed me by the By-laws.
+
+Q--How is it, then, that, when you were arrested, there were only
+twelve hundred and fifty francs found in your safe, and that amount
+had been sent you through the post-office that very morning?  What
+has become of the rest?
+
+A--The rest has been spent for the good of the company.
+
+Q--Of course!  You had a carriage?
+
+A--It was allowed to me by Article 27 of the By-laws.
+
+Q--For the good of the company too, I suppose.
+
+A--Certainly.  I was compelled to make a certain display.  The head
+of an important company must endeavor to inspire confidence.
+
+The Judge, with an Ironical Look--Was it also to inspire confidence
+that you had a mistress, for whom you spent considerable sums of
+money?
+
+The Accused, in a Tone of Perfect Candor--Yes, sir.
+
+After a pause of a few moments, the judge resumes,
+
+Q--Your offices were magnificent.  They must have cost you a great
+deal to furnish.
+
+A--On the contrary, sir, almost nothing.  The furniture was all
+hired.  You can examine the upholsterer.
+
+The upholsterer is sent for, and in answer to the judge's questions,
+
+"What M. Lefurteux has stated," he says, "is true.  My specialty is
+to hire office-fixtures for financial and other companies.  I furnish
+every thing, from the book-keepers' desks to the furniture for the
+president's private room: from the iron safe to the servant's livery.
+In twenty-four hours, every thing is ready, and the subscribers can
+come.  As soon as a company is organized, like the one in question,
+the officers call on me, and, according to the magnitude of the
+capital required, I furnish a more or less costly establishment.  I
+have a good deal of experience, and I know just what's wanted.
+When M. Lefurteux came to see me, I gauged his operation at a glance.
+Three millions of capital, swamps in the Orne, shares of five hundred
+francs, small subscribers, anxious and noisy.
+
+"'Very well,' I said to him, 'it's a six-months' job.  Don't go into
+useless expenses.  Take reps for your private office: that's good
+enough.'"
+
+The Judge, in a tone of Profound Surprise--You told him that?
+
+The Upholsterer, in the Simple Accent of an Honest Man--Exactly as
+I am telling your Honor.  He followed my advice; and I sent him red
+hot the furniture and fixtures which had been used by the River
+Fishery Company, whose president had just been sent to prison for
+three years.
+
+When, after such revelations, renewed from week to week, with
+instructive variations, purchasers may still be found for the shares
+of the Tiffla Mines, the Bretoneche Lands, and the Forests of
+Formanoid, is it to be wondered that the Mutual Credit Company found
+numerous subscribers?
+
+It had been admirably started at that propitious hour of the
+December Coup d'Etat, when the first ideas of mutuality were
+beginning to penetrate the financial world.
+
+It had lacked neither capital nor powerful patronage at the start,
+and had been at once admitted to the honor of being quoted at the
+bourse.
+
+Beginning business ostensibly as an accommodation bank for
+manufacturers and merchants, the Mutual Credit had had, for a number
+of years, a well-determined specialty.
+
+But gradually it had enlarged the circle of its operations, altered
+its by-laws, changed its board of directors; and at the end the
+original subscribers would have been not a little embarrassed to
+tell what was the nature of its business, and from what sources it
+drew its profits.
+
+All they knew was, that it always paid respectable dividends; that
+their manager, M. de Thaller, was personally very rich; and that
+they were willing to trust him to steer clear of the code.
+
+There were some, of course, who did not view things in quite so
+favorable a light; who suggested that the dividends were suspiciously
+large; that M. de Thaller spent too much money on his house, his
+wife, his daughter, and his mistress.
+
+One thing is certain, that the shares of the Mutual Credit Society
+were much above par, and were quoted at 580 francs on that Saturday,
+when, after the closing of the bourse, the rumor had spread that
+the cashier, Vincent Favoral, had run off with twelve millions.
+
+"What a haul!" thought, not without a feeling of envy, more than
+one broker, who, for merely one-twelfth of that amount would have
+gayly crossed the frontier.  It was almost an event in Paris.
+
+Although such adventures are frequent enough, and not taken much
+notice of, in the present instance, the magnitude of the amount
+more than made up for the vulgarity of the act.
+
+Favoral was generally pronounced a very smart man; and some persons
+declared, that to take twelve millions could hardly be called
+stealing.
+
+The first question asked was,
+
+"Is Thaller in the operation?  Was he in collusion with his cashier?"
+
+"That's the whole question."
+
+"If he was, then the Mutual Credit is better off than ever:
+otherwise, it is gone under."
+
+"Thaller is pretty smart."
+
+"That Favoral was perhaps more so still."
+
+This uncertainty kept up the price for about half an hour.  But soon
+the most disastrous news began to spread, brought, no one knew
+whence or by whom; and there was an irresistible panic.
+
+From 425, at which price it had maintained itself for a time, the
+Mutual Credit fell suddenly to 300, then 200, and finally to 150
+francs.
+
+Some friends of M. de Thaller, M. Costeclar, for instance, had
+endeavored to keep up the market; but they had soon recognized the
+futility of their efforts, and then they had bravely commenced
+doing like the rest.
+
+The next day was Sunday.  From the early morning, it was reported,
+with the most circumstantial details, that the Baron de Thaller
+had been arrested.
+
+But in the evening this had been contradicted by people who had
+gone to the races, and who had met there Mme. de Thaller and her
+daughter, more brilliant than ever, very lively, and very talkative.
+To the persons who went to speak to them,
+
+"My husband was unable to come," said the baroness.  "He is busy
+with two of his clerks, looking over that poor Favoral's accounts.
+It seems that they are in the most inconceivable confusion.  Who
+would ever have thought such a thing of a man who lived on bread and
+nuts?  But he operated at the bourse; and he had organized, under a
+false name, a sort of bank, in which he has very foolishly sunk
+large sums of money."
+
+And with a smile, as if all danger had been luckily averted,
+
+"Fortunately," she added, "the damage is not as great as has been
+reported, and this time, again, we shall get off with a good fright."
+
+But the speeches of the baroness were hardly sufficient to quiet
+the anxiety of the people who felt in their coat-pockets the
+worthless certificates of Mutual Credit stock.
+
+And the next day, Monday, as early as eight o'clock, they began to
+arrive in crowds to demand of M. de Thaller some sort of an
+explanation.
+
+They were there, at least a hundred, huddled together in the
+vestibule, on the stairs, and on the first landing, a prey to the
+most painful emotion and the most violent excitement; for they had
+been refused admittance.
+
+To all those who insisted upon going in, a tall servant in livery,
+standing before the door, replied invariably, "The office is not
+open, M. de Thaller has not yet come."
+
+Whereupon they uttered such terrible threats and such loud
+imprecations, that the frightened concierge had run, and hid himself
+at the very bottom of his lodge.
+
+No one can imagine to what epileptic contortions the loss of money
+can drive an assemblage of men, who has not seen a meeting of
+shareholders on the morrow of a great disaster, with their clinched
+fists, their convulsed faces, their glaring eyes, and foaming lips.
+
+They felt indignant at what had once been their delight.  They laid
+the blame of their ruin upon the splendor of the house, the
+sumptuousness of the stairs, the candelabras of the vestibule, the
+carpets, the chairs, every thing.
+
+"And it is our money too," they cried, "that has paid for all that!"
+
+Standing upon a bench, a little short man was exciting transports
+of indignation by describing the magnificence of the Baron de
+Thaller's residence, where he had once had some dealings.
+
+He had counted five carriages in the carriage-house, fifteen horses
+in the stables, and Heaven knows how many servants.
+
+He had never been inside the apartments, but he had visited the
+kitchen; and he declared that he had been dazzled by the number
+and brightness of the saucepans, ranged in order of size over
+the furnace.
+
+Gathered in a group under the vestibule, the most sensible deplored
+their rash confidence.
+
+"That's the way," concluded one, "with all these adventurous affairs."
+
+"That's a fact.  There's nothing, after all, like government bonds."
+
+"Or a first mortgage on good property, with subrogation of the wife's
+rights."
+
+But what exasperated them all was not to be admitted to the presence
+of M. de Thaller, and to see that servant mounting guard before
+the door.
+
+"What impudence," they growled, "to leave us on the stairs!--we who
+are the masters, after all."
+
+"Who knows where M. de Thaller may be?"
+
+"He is hiding, of course."
+
+"No matter: I will see him," clamored a big fat man, with a
+brick-colored face, "if I shouldn't stir from here for a week."
+
+"You'll see nothing at all," giggled his neighbor.  "Do you suppose
+they don't have back-stairs and private entrances in this infernal
+shop?"
+
+"Ah! if I believed any thing of the kind," exclaimed the big man
+in a voice trembling with passion.  "I'd soon break in some of these
+doors: it isn't so hard, after all."
+
+Already he was gazing at the servant with an alarming air, when an
+old gentleman with a discreet look, stepped up to him, and inquired,
+
+"Excuse me, sir: how many shares have you?"
+
+"Three," answered the man with the brick-colored face.
+
+The other sighed.
+
+"I have two hundred and fifty," he said.  "That's why, being at
+least as interested as yourself in not losing every thing, I beg of
+you to indulge in no violent proceedings."
+
+There was no need of further speaking.
+
+The door which the servant was guarding flew open.  A clerk appeared,
+and made sign that he wished to speak.
+
+"Gentlemen," he began, "M. de Thaller has just come; but he is just
+now engaged with the examining judge."
+
+Shouts having drowned his voice, he withdrew precipitately.
+
+"If the law gets its finger in," murmured the discreet gentleman,
+"good-by!"
+
+"That's a fact," said another.  "But we will have the precious
+advantage of hearing that dear baron condemned to one year's
+imprisonment, and a fine of fifty francs.  That's the regular rate.
+He wouldn't get off so cheap, if he had stolen a loaf of bread from
+a baker."
+
+"Do you believe that story about the judge?" interrupted rudely the
+big man.
+
+They had to believe it, when they saw him appear, followed by a
+commissary of police and a porter, carrying on his back a load of
+books and papers.  They stood aside to let them pass; but there was
+no time to make any comments, as another clerk appeared immediately
+who said,
+
+"M. de Thaller is at your command, gentlemen.  Please walk in."
+
+There was then a terrible jamming and pushing to see who would get
+first into the directors' room, which stood wide open.
+
+M. de Thaller was standing against the mantel-piece, neither paler
+nor more excited than usual, but like a man who feels sure of
+himself and of his means of action.  As soon as silence was restored,
+
+"First of all, gentlemen," he began, "I must tell you that the board
+of directors is about to meet, and that a general meeting of the
+stockholders will be called."
+
+Not a murmur.  As at the touch of a magician's wand, the dispositions
+of the shareholders seemed to have changed.
+
+"I have nothing new to inform you of," he went on.  "What happened
+is a misfortune, but not a disaster.  The thing to do was to save
+the company; and I had first thought of calling for funds."
+
+"Well," said two or three timid voices, "If it was absolutely
+necessary--"
+
+"But there is no need of it."
+
+"Ah, ah!"
+
+"And I can manage to carry every thing through by adding to our
+reserve fund my own personal fortune."
+
+This time the hurrahs and the bravos drowned the voice.
+
+M. de Thaller received them like a man who deserves them, and,
+more slowly,
+
+"Honor commanded it," he continued.  "I confess it, gentlemen, the
+wretch who has so basely deceived us had my entire confidence.  You
+will understand my apparent blindness when you know with what
+infernal skill he managed."
+
+Loud imprecations burst on all sides against Vincent Favoral.  But
+the president of the Mutual Credit proceeded,
+
+"For the present, all I have to ask of you is to keep cool, and
+continue to give me your confidence."
+
+"Yes, yes!"
+
+"The panic of night before last was but a stock-gambling manoeuvre,
+organized by rival establishments, who were in hopes of taking our
+clients away from us.  They will be disappointed, gentlemen.  We
+will triumphantly demonstrate our soundness; and we shall come out
+of this trial more powerful than ever."
+
+It was all over.  M. de Thaller understood his business.  They
+offered him a vote of thanks.  A smile was beaming upon the same
+faces that were a moment before contracted with rage.
+
+One stockholder alone did not seem to share the general enthusiasm:
+he was no other than our old friend, M. Chapelain, the ex-lawyer.
+
+"That fellow, Thaller, is just capable of getting himself out of
+the scrape," he grumbled.  "I must tell Maxence."
+
+
+
+II
+
+We have every species of courage in France, and to a superior
+degree, except that of braving public opinion.  Few men would have
+dared, like Marius de Tregars, to offer their name to the daughter
+of a wretch charged with embezzlement and forgery, and that at the
+very moment when the scandal of the crime was at its height.  But,
+when Marius judged a thing good and just, he did it without
+troubling himself in the least about what others would think.  And
+so his mere presence in the Rue. St. Gilles had brought back hope
+to its inmates.  Of his designs he had said but a word,--"I have
+the means of helping you: I mean, by marrying Gilberte, to acquire
+the right of doing so."
+
+But that word had been enough.  Mme. Favoral and Maxence had
+understood that the man who spoke thus was one of those cool and
+resolute men whom nothing disconcerts or discourages, and who knows
+how to make the best of the most perilous situations.
+
+And, when he had retired with the Count de Villegre,
+
+"I don't know what he will do," said Mlle. Gilberte to her mother
+and her brother: "but he will certainly do something; and, if it
+is humanly possible to succeed, he will succeed."
+
+And how proudly she spoke thus!  The assistance of Marius was the
+justification of her conduct.  She trembled with joy at the thought
+that it would, perhaps, be to the man whom she had alone and boldly
+selected, that her family would owe their salvation.  Shaking his
+head, and making allusion to events of which he kept the secret,
+
+"I really believe," approved Maxence, "that, to reach the enemies
+of our father, M. de Tregars possesses some powerful means; and what
+they are we will doubtless soon know, since I have an appointment
+with him for to-morrow morning."
+
+It came at last, that morrow, which he had awaited with an impatience
+that neither his mother nor his sister could suspect.  And towards
+half-past nine he was ready to go out, when M. Chapelain came in.
+Still irritated by the scenes he had just witnessed at the Mutual
+Credit office, the old lawyer had a most lugubrious countenance.
+
+"I bring bad news," he began.  "I have just seen the Baron de
+Thaller."
+
+He had said so much the day before about having nothing more to do
+with it, that Maxence could not repress a gesture of surprise.
+
+"Oh! it isn't alone that I saw him," added M. Chapelain, "but
+together with at least a hundred stockholders of the Mutual Credit."
+
+"They are going to do something, then?"
+
+"No: they only came near doing something.  You should have seen them
+this morning!  They were furious; they threatened to break every
+thing; they wanted M. de Thaller's blood.  It was terrible.  But M.
+de Thaller condescended to receive them; and they became at once as
+meek as lambs.  It is perfectly simple.  What do you suppose
+stockholders can do, no matter how exasperated they may be, when
+their manager tells them?
+
+"'Well, yes, it's a fact you have been robbed, and your money is in
+great jeopardy; but if you make any fuss, if you complain thus, all
+is sure to be lost.' Of course, the stockholders keep quiet.  It is
+a well-known fact that a business which has to be liquidated through
+the courts is gone; and swindled stockholders fear the law almost as
+much as the swindling manager.  A single fact will make the situation
+clearer to you.  Less than an hour ago, M. de Thaller's stockholders,
+offered him money to make up the loss."
+
+And, after a moment of silence,
+
+"But this is not all.  Justice has interfered; and M. de Thaller
+spent the morning with an examining-magistrate."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, I have enough experience to affirm that you must not rely
+any more upon justice than upon the stockholders.  Unless there are
+proofs so evident that they are not likely to exist, M. de Thaller
+will not be disturbed."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Why?  Because, my dear, in all those big financial operations,
+justice, as much as possible, remains blind.  Not through corruption
+or any guilty connivance, but through considerations of public
+interest.  If the manager was prosecuted he would be condemned to a
+few years' imprisonment; but his stockholders would at the same time
+be condemned to lose what they have left; so that the victims would
+be more severely punished than the swindler.  And so, powerless,
+justice does not interfere.  And that's what accounts for the
+impudence and impunity of all these high-flown rascals who go about
+with their heads high, their pockets filled with other people's money,
+and half a dozen decorations at their button-hole."
+
+"And what then?" asked Maxence.
+
+"Then it is evident that your father is lost.  Whether or not he
+did have accomplices, he will be alone sacrificed.  A scapegoat is
+needed to be slaughtered on the altar of credit.  Well, they will
+give that much satisfaction to the swindled stockholders.  The
+twelve millions will be lost; but the shares of the Mutual Credit
+will go up, and public morality will be safe."
+
+Somewhat moved by the old lawyer's tone,
+
+"What do you advise me to do, then?" inquired Maxence.
+
+"The very reverse of what, on the first impulse, I advised you to
+do.  That's why I have come.  I told you yesterday, 'Make a row,
+act, scream.  It is impossible that your father be alone guilty;
+attack M. de Thaller.'  To-day, after mature deliberation, I say,
+'Keep quiet, hide yourself, let the scandal drop.'"
+
+A bitter smile contracted Maxence's lips.
+
+"It is not very brave advice you are giving me there," he said.
+
+"It is a friend's advice,--the advice of a man who knows life
+better than yourself.  Poor young man, you are not aware of the
+peril of certain struggles.  All knaves are in league and sustain
+each other.  To attack one is to attack them all.  You have no
+idea of the occult influences of which a man can dispose who
+handles millions, and who, in exchange for a favor, has always a
+bonus to offer, or a good operation to propose.  If at least I
+could see any chance of success!  But you have not one.  You never
+can reach M. de Thaller, henceforth backed by his stockholders.
+You will only succeed in making an enemy whose hostility will weigh
+upon your whole life."
+
+"What does it matter?"
+
+M. Chapelain shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"If you were alone," he went on, "I would say as you do, 'What does
+it matter?' But you are no longer alone: you have your mother and
+sister to take care of.  You must think of food before thinking of
+vengeance.  How much a month do you earn?  Two hundred francs!  It
+is not much for three persons.  I would never suggest that you
+should solicit M. de Thaller's protection; but it would be well,
+perhaps, to let him know that he has nothing to fear from you.  Why
+shouldn't you do so when you take his fifteen thousand francs back
+to him?  If, as every thing indicates, he has been your father's
+accomplice, he will certainly be touched by the distress of your
+family, and, if he has any heart left, he will manage to make you
+find, without appearing to have any thing to do with it, a situation
+better suited to your wants.  I know that such a step must be very
+painful; but I repeat it, my dear child, you can no longer think of
+yourself alone; and what one would not do for himself, one does for
+a mother and a sister."
+
+Maxence said nothing.  Not that he was in any way affected by the
+worthy old lawyer's speech; but he was asking himself whether or
+not he should confide to him the events which in the past twenty-four
+hours had so suddenly modified the situation.  He did not feel
+authorized to do so.
+
+Marius de Tregars had not bound him to secrecy; but an indiscretion
+might have fatal consequences.  And, after a moment of thought,
+
+"I am obliged to you, sir," he replied evasively, "for the interest
+you have manifested in our welfare; and we shall always greatly
+prize your advice.  But for the present you must allow me to leave
+you with my mother and sister.  I have an appointment with--a
+friend."
+
+And, without waiting for an answer, he slipped M. de Thaller's
+fifteen thousand francs in his pocket, and hurried out.  It was not
+to M. de Tregars that he went first, however, but to the Hotel des
+Folies.
+
+"Mlle. Lucienne has just come home with a big bundle," said Mme.
+Fortin to Maxence, with her pleasantest smile, as soon as she had
+seen him emerge from the shades of the corridor.
+
+For the past twenty-four hours, the worthy hostess had been watching
+for her guest, in the hopes of obtaining some information which she
+might communicate to the neighbors.  Without even condescending to
+answer, a piece of rudeness at which she felt much hurt, he crossed
+the narrow court of the hotel at a bound, and started up stairs.
+
+Mlle. Lucienne's room was open.  He walked in, and, still out of
+breath from his rapid ascension,
+
+"I am glad to find you in," he exclaimed.  The young girl was busy,
+arranging upon her bed a dress of very light colored silk, trimmed
+with ruches and lace, an overdress to match, and a bonnet of
+wonderful shape, loaded with the most brilliant feathers and flowers.
+
+"You see what brings me here," she replied.  "I came home to dress.
+At two o'clock the carriage is coming to take me to the bois, where
+I am to exhibit this costume, certainly the most ridiculous that Van
+Klopen has yet made me wear."
+
+A smile flitted upon Maxence's lips.
+
+"Who knows," said he, "if this is not the last time you will have
+to perform this odious task?  Ah, my friend! what events have taken
+place since I last saw you!"
+
+"Fortunate ones?"
+
+"You will judge for yourself."
+
+He closed the door carefully, and, returning to Mlle. Lucienne,
+
+"Do you know the Marquis de Tregars?" he asked.
+
+"No more than you do.  It was yesterday, at the commissary of police,
+that I first heard his name."
+
+"Well, before a month, M. de Tregars will be Mlle. Gilberte Favoral's
+husband."
+
+"Is it possible?" exclaimed Mlle. Lucienne with a look of extreme
+surprise.
+
+But, instead of answering,
+
+"You told me," resumed Maxence, "that once, in a day of supreme
+distress, you had applied to Mme. de Thaller for assistance, whereas
+you were actually entitled to an indemnity for having been run over
+and seriously hurt by her carriage."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"Whilst you were in the vestibule, waiting for an answer to your
+letter, which a servant had taken up stairs, M. de Thaller came in;
+and, when he saw you, he could not repress a gesture of surprise,
+almost of terror."
+
+"That is true too."
+
+"This behavior of M. de Thaller always remained an enigma to you."
+
+"An inexplicable one."
+
+"Well, I think that I can explain it to you now."
+
+"You?"
+
+Lowering his voice; for he knew that at the Hotel des Folies there
+was always to fear some indiscreet ear.
+
+"Yes, I," he answered; "and for the reason that yesterday, when M.
+de Tregars appeared in my mother's parlor, I could not suppress an
+exclamation of surprise, for the reason, Lucienne, that, between
+Marius de Tregars and yourself, there is a resemblance with which it
+is impossible not to be struck."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne had become very pale.
+
+"What do you suppose, then?" she asked.
+
+"I believe, my friend, that we are very near penetrating at once the
+mystery of your birth and the secret of the hatred that has pursued
+you since the day when you first set your foot in M. de Thaller's
+house."
+
+Admirably self-possessed as Mlle. Lucienne usually was, the
+quivering of her lips betrayed at this moment the intensity of her
+emotion.
+
+After more than a minute of profound meditation,
+
+"The commissary of police," she said, "has never told me his hopes,
+except in vague terms.  He has told me enough, however, to make me
+think that he has already had suspicions similar to yours."
+
+"Of course!  Would he otherwise have questioned me on the subject
+of M. de Tregars?"
+
+Mlle. Lucienne shook her head.
+
+"And yet," she said, "even after your explanation, it is in vain
+that I seek why and how I can so far disturb M. de Thaller's security
+that he wishes to do away with me."
+
+Maxence made a gesture of superb indifference.  "I confess," he
+said, "that I don't see it either.  But what matters it?  Without
+being able to explain why, I feel that the Baron de Thaller is the
+common enemy, yours, mine, my father's, and M. de Tregars'.  And
+something tells me, that, with M. de Tregars' help, we shall triumph.
+You would share my confidence, Lucienne, if you knew him.  There is
+a man! and my sister has made no vulgar choice.  If he has told my
+mother that he has the means of serving her, it is because he
+certainly has."
+
+He stopped, and, after a moment of silence, "Perhaps," he went on,
+"the commissary of police might readily understand what I only dimly
+suspect; but, until further orders, we are forbidden to have recourse
+to him.  It is not my own secret that I have just told you; and, if
+I have confided it to you, it is because I feel that it is a great
+piece of good fortune for us; and there is no joy for me, that you
+do not share."
+
+Mlle. Lucienne wanted to ask many more particulars.  But, looking at
+his watch,
+
+"Half-past ten!" he exclaimed, "and M. de Tregars waiting for me."
+
+And he started off, repeating once more to the young girl,
+
+"I will see you to-night: until then, good hope and good courage."
+
+In the court, two ill-looking men were talking with the Fortins.
+But it happened often to the Fortins to talk with ill-looking men:
+so he took no notice of them, ran out to the Boulevard, and jumping
+into a cab,
+
+"Rue Lafitte 70," he cried to the driver, "I pay the trip,--three
+francs."
+
+When Marius de Tregars had finally determined to compel the bold
+rascals who had swindled his father to disgorge, he had taken in
+the Rue Lafitte a small, plainly-furnished apartment on the entresol,
+a fit dwelling for the man of action, the tent in which he takes
+shelter on the eve of battle; and he had to wait upon him an old
+family servant, whom he had found out of place, and who had for him
+that unquestioning and obstinate devotion peculiar to Breton servants.
+
+It was this excellent man who came at the first stroke of the bell
+to open the door.  And, as soon as Maxence had told him his name,
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, "my master has been expecting you with a
+terrible impatience."
+
+It was so true, that M. de Tregars himself appeared at the same
+moment, and, leading Maxence into the little room which he used
+as a study,
+
+"Do you know," he said whilst shaking him cordially by the hand,
+"that you are almost an hour behind time?"
+
+Maxence had, among others the detestable fault, sure indication of
+a weak nature, of being never willing to be in the wrong, and of
+having always an excuse ready.  On this occasion, the excuse was
+too tempting to allow it to escape; and quick he began telling how
+he had been detained by M. Chapelain, and how he had heard from the
+old lawyer what had taken place at the Mutual Credit office.
+
+"I know the scene already," said M. de Tregars.  And, fixing upon
+Maxence a look of friendly raillery,
+
+"Only," he added, "I attributed your want of punctuality to another
+reason, a very pretty one this time, a brunette."
+
+A purple cloud spread over Maxence's cheeks.
+
+"What!" he stammered, "you know?"
+
+"I thought you must have been in haste to go and tell a person of
+your acquaintance why, when you saw me yesterday, you uttered an
+exclamation of surprise."
+
+This time Maxence lost all countenance.
+
+"What," he said, "you know too?"
+
+M. de Tregars smiled.
+
+"I know a great many things, my dear M. Maxence," he replied; "and
+yet, as I do not wish to be suspected of witchcraft, I will tell
+you where all my science comes from.  At the time when your house
+was closed to me, after seeking for a long time some means of
+hearing from your sister, I discovered at last that she had for
+her music-teacher an old Italian, the Signor Gismondo Pulei.  I
+applied to him for lessons, and became his pupil.  But, in the
+beginning, he kept looking at me with singular persistence.  I
+inquired the reason; and he told me that he had once had for a
+neighbor, at the Batignolles, a young working-girl, who resembled
+me prodigiously.  I paid no attention to this circumstance, and
+had, in fact, completely forgotten it; when, quite lately, Gismondo
+told me that he had just seen his former neighbor again, and, what's
+more, arm in arm with you, and that you both entered together the
+Hotel des Folies.  As he insisted again upon that famous resemblance,
+I determined to see for myself.  I watched, and I stated, _de visa_,
+that my old Italian was not quite wrong, and that I had, perhaps,
+just found the weapon I was looking for."
+
+His eyes staring, and his mouth gaping, Maxence looked like a man
+fallen from the clouds.
+
+"Ah, you did watch!" he said.
+
+M. de Tregars snapped his fingers with a gesture of indifference.
+
+"It is certain," he replied, "that, for a month past, I have been
+doing a singular business.  But it is not by remaining on my chair,
+preaching against the corruption of the age, that I can attain my
+object.  The end justifies the means.  Honest men are very silly,
+I think, to allow the rascals to get the better of them under the
+sentimental pretext that they cannot condescend to make use of their
+weapons."
+
+But an honorable scruple was tormenting Maxence.
+
+"And you think yourself well-informed, sir?" he inquired.  "You
+know Lucienne?"
+
+"Enough to know that she is not what she seems to be, and what
+almost any other would have been in her place; enough to be certain,
+that, if she shows herself two or three times a week riding around
+the lake, it is not for her pleasure; enough, also, to be persuaded,
+that, despite appearances, she is not your mistress, and that, far
+from having disturbed your life, and compromised your prospects,
+she set you back into the right road, at the moment, perhaps, when
+you were about to branch off into the wrong path."
+
+Marius de Tregars was assuming fantastic proportions in the mind of
+Maxence.
+
+"How did you manage," he stammered, "thus to find out the truth?"
+
+"With time and money, every thing is possible."
+
+"But you must have had grave reasons to take so much trouble about
+Lucienne."
+
+"Very grave ones, indeed."
+
+"You know that she was basely forsaken when quite a child?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"And that she was brought up through charity?"
+
+"By some poor gardeners at Louveciennes: yes, I know all that."
+
+Maxence was trembling with joy.  It seemed to him that his most
+dazzling hopes were about to be realized.  Seizing the hands of
+Marius de Tregars,
+
+"Ah, you know Lucienne's family!" he exclaimed.  But M. de Tregars
+shook his head.
+
+"I have suspicions," he answered; "but, up to this time, I have
+suspicions only, I assure you."
+
+"But that family does exist; since they have already, at three
+different times, attempted to get rid of the poor girl."
+
+"I think as you do; but we must have proofs: and we shall find some.
+You may rest assured of that."
+
+Here he was interrupted by the noise of the opening door.
+
+The old servant came in, and advancing to the centre of the room
+with a mysterious look,
+
+"Madame la Baronne de Thaller," he said in a low voice.
+
+Marius de Tregars started violently.
+
+"Where?" he asked.
+
+"She is down stairs in her carriage," replied the servant.  "Her
+footman is here, asking whether monsieur is at home, and whether
+she can come up."
+
+"Can she possibly have heard any thing?" murmured M. de Tregars
+with a deep frown.  And, after a moment of reflection,
+
+"So much the more reason to see her," he added quickly.  "Let her
+come.  Request her to do me the honor of coming up stairs."
+
+This last incident completely upset all Maxence's ideas.  He no
+longer knew what to imagine.
+
+"Quick," said M. de Tregars to him: "quick, disappear; and, whatever
+you may hear, not a word!"
+
+And he pushed him into his bedroom, which was divided from the study
+by a mere tapestry curtain.  It was time; for already in the next
+room could be heard a great rustling of silk and starched petticoats.
+Mme. de Thaller appeared.
+
+She was still the same coarsely beautiful woman, who, sixteen years
+before, had sat at Mme. Favoral's table.  Time had passed without
+scarcely touching her with the tip of his wing.  Her flesh had
+retained its dazzling whiteness; her hair, of a bluish black, its
+marvelous opulence; her lips, their carmine hue; her eyes, their
+lustre.  Her figure only had become heavier, her features less
+delicate; and her neck and throat had lost their undulations, and
+the purity of their outlines.
+
+But neither the years, nor the millions, nor the intimacy of the
+most fashionable women, had been able to give her those qualities
+which cannot be acquired,--grace, distinction, and taste.
+
+If there was a woman accustomed to dress, it was she: a splendid
+dry-goods store could have been set up with the silks and the
+velvets, the satins and cashmeres, the muslins, the laces, and all
+the known tissues, that had passed over her shoulders.
+
+Her elegance was quoted and copied.  And yet there was about her
+always and under all circumstances, an indescribable flavor of the
+_parvenue_.  Her gestures had remained trivial; her voice, common and
+vulgar.
+
+Throwing herself into an arm-chair, and bursting into a loud laugh,
+
+"Confess, my dear marquis," she said, "that you are terribly
+astonished to see me thus drop upon you, without warning, at eleven
+o'clock in the morning."
+
+"I feel, above all, terribly flattered," replied M. de Tregars,
+smiling.
+
+With a rapid glance she was surveying the little study, the modest
+furniture, the papers piled on the desk, as if she had hoped that
+the dwelling would reveal to her something of the master's ideas
+and projects.
+
+"I was just coming from Van Klopen's," she resumed; "and passing
+before your house, I took a fancy to come in and stir you up; and
+here I am."
+
+M. de Tregars was too much a man of the world, and of the best world,
+to allow his features to betray the secret of his impressions; and
+yet, to any one who had known him well, a certain contraction of the
+eyelids would have revealed a serious annoyance and an intense
+anxiety.
+
+"How is the baron?" he inquired.
+
+"As sound as an oak," answered Mme. de Thaller, "notwithstanding all
+the cares and the troubles, which you can well imagine.  By the way,
+you know what has happened to us?"
+
+"I read in the papers that the cashier of the Mutual Credit had
+disappeared."
+
+"And it is but too true.  That wretch Favoral has gone off with an
+enormous amount of money."
+
+"Twelve millions, I heard."
+
+"Something like it.  A man who had the reputation of a saint too; a
+puritan.  Trust people's faces after that!  I never liked him, I
+confess.  But M. de Thaller had a perfect fancy for him; and, when
+he had spoken of his Favoral, there was nothing more to say.  Any
+way, he has cleared out, leaving his family without means.  A very
+interesting family, it seems, too,--a wife who is goodness itself,
+and a charming daughter: at least, so says Costeclar, who is very
+much in love with her."
+
+M. de Tregars' countenance remained perfectly indifferent, like
+that of a man who is hearing about persons and things in which he
+does not take the slightest interest.
+
+Mme. de Thaller noticed this.
+
+"But it isn't to tell you all this," she went on, "that I came up.
+It is an interested motive brought me.  We have, some of my friends
+and myself, organized a lottery--a work of charity, my dear marquis,
+and quite patriotic--for the benefit of the Alsatians, I have lots of
+tickets to dispose of; and I've thought of you to help me out."
+
+More smiling than ever,
+
+"I am at your orders, madame," answered Marius, "but, in mercy,
+spare me."
+
+She took out some tickets from a small shell pocket-book.
+
+"Twenty, at ten francs," she said.  "It isn't too much, is it?"
+
+"It is a great deal for my modest resources."
+
+She pocketed the ten napoleons which he handed her, and, in a tone
+of ironical compassion,
+
+"Are you so very poor, then?" she asked.
+
+"Why, I am neither banker nor broker, you know."
+
+She had risen, and was smoothing the folds of her dress.
+
+"Well, my dear marquis," she resumed, "it is certainly not me who
+will pity you.  When a man of your age, and with your name, remains
+poor, it is his own fault.  Are there no rich heiresses?"
+
+"I confess that I haven't tried to find one yet."  She looked at
+him straight in the eyes, and then suddenly bursting out laughing,
+
+"Look around you," she said, "and I am sure you'll not be long
+discovering a beautiful young girl, very blonde, who would be
+delighted to become Marquise de Tregars, and who would bring in
+her apron a dowry of twelve or fifteen hundred thousand francs in
+good securities,--securities which the Favorals can't carry off.
+Think well, and then come to see us.  You know that M. de Thaller
+is very fond of you; and, after all the trouble we have been having,
+you owe us a visit."
+
+Whereupon she went out, M. de Tregars going down to escort her to
+her carriage.  But as he came up,
+
+"Attention!" he cried to Maxence; "for it's very evident that the
+Thallers have wind of something."
+
+
+
+III
+
+It was a revelation, that visit of Mme. de Thaller's; and there was
+no need of very much perspicacity to guess her anxiety beneath her
+bursts of laughter, and to understand that it was a bargain she had
+come to propose.  It was evident, therefore, that Marius de Tregars
+held within his hands the principal threads of that complicated
+intrigue which had just culminated in that robbery of twelve
+millions.  But would he be able to make use of them?  What were his
+designs, and his means of action?  That is what Maxence could not in
+any way conjecture.
+
+He had no time to ask questions.
+
+"Come," said M. Tregars, whose agitation was manifest,--"come, let
+us breakfast: we have not a moment to lose."
+
+And, whilst his servant was bringing in his modest meal,
+
+"I am expecting M. d'Escajoul," he said.  "Show him in as soon as
+he comes."
+
+Retired as he had lived from the financial world, Maxence had yet
+heard the name of Octave d'Escajoul.
+
+Who has not seen him, happy and smiling, his eye bright, and his lip
+ruddy, notwithstanding his fifty years, walking on the sunny side
+of the Boulevard, with his royal blue jacket and his eternal white
+vest?  He is passionately fond of everything that tends to make life
+pleasant and easy; dines at Bignon's, or the Cafe Anglais; plays
+baccarat at the club with extraordinary luck; has the most comfortable
+apartment and the most elegant coupe in all Paris.  With all this,
+he is pleased to declare that he is the happiest of men, and is
+certainly one of the most popular; for he cannot walk three blocks
+on the Boulevard without lifting his hat at least fifty times, and
+shaking hands twice as often.
+
+And when any one asks, "What does he do?" the invariable answer is,
+"Why he operates."
+
+To explain what sort of operations, would not be, perhaps, very
+easy.  In the world of rogues, there are some rogues more formidable
+and more skillful than the rest, who always manage to escape the hand
+of the law.  They are not such fools as to operate in person,--not
+they!  They content themselves with watching their friends and
+comrades.  If a good haul is made, at once they appear and claim
+their share.  And, as they always threaten to inform, there is no
+help for it but to let them pocket the clearest of the profit.
+
+Well, in a more elevated sphere, in the world of speculation, it is
+precisely that lucrative and honorable industry which M. d'Escajoul
+carries on.  Thoroughly master of his ground, possessing a superior
+scent and an imperturbable patience, always awake, and continually
+on the watch, he never operates unless he is sure to win.
+
+And the day when the manager of some company has violated his
+charter or stretched the law a little too far, he may be sure to
+see M. d'Escajoul appear, and ask for some little--advantages,
+and proffer, in exchange, the most thorough discretion, and even
+his kind offices.
+
+Two or three of his friends have heard him say,
+
+"Who would dare to blame me?  It's very moral, what I am doing."
+
+Such is the man who came in, smiling, just as Maxence and Marius de
+Tregars had sat down at the table.  M. de Tregars rose to receive him.
+
+"You will breakfast with us?" he said.
+
+"Thank you," answered M. d'Escajoul.  "I breakfasted precisely at
+eleven, as usual.  Punctuality is a politeness which a man owes to
+his stomach.  But I will accept with pleasure a drop of that old
+Cognac which you offered me the other evening."
+
+He took a seat; and the valet brought him a glass, which he set on
+the edge of the table.  Then,
+
+"I have just seen our man," he said.
+
+Maxence understood that he was referring to M. de Thaller.
+
+"Well?" inquired M. de Tregars.
+
+"Impossible to get any thing out of him.  I turned him over and
+over, every way.  Nothing!"
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"It's so; and you know if I understand the business.  But what can
+you say to a man who answers you all the time, 'The matter is in
+the hands of the law; experts have been named; I have nothing to
+fear from the most minute investigations'?"
+
+By the look which Marius de Tregars kept riveted upon M. d'Escajoul,
+it was easy to see that his confidence in him was not without limits.
+He felt it, and, with an air of injured innocence,
+
+"Do you suspect me, by chance," he said, "to have allowed myself to
+be hoodwinked by Thaller?"
+
+And as M. de Tregars said nothing, which was the most eloquent of
+answers,
+
+"Upon my word," he insisted, "you are wrong to doubt me.  Was it
+you who came after me?  No.  It was I, who, hearing through Marcolet
+the history of your fortune, came to tell you, 'Do you want to know
+a way of swamping Thaller?'  And the reasons I had to wish that
+Thaller might be swamped: I have them still.  He trifled with me,
+he 'sold' me, and he must suffer for it; for, if it came to be known
+that I could be taken in with impunity, it would be all over with my
+credit."
+
+After a moment of silence,
+
+"Do you believe, then," asked M. de Tregars, "that M. de Thaller is
+innocent?"
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"That would be curious."
+
+"Or else his measures are so well taken that he has absolutely
+nothing to fear.  If Favoral takes everything upon himself, what
+can they say to the other?  If they have acted in collusion, the
+thing has been prepared for a long time; and, before commencing
+to fish, they must have troubled the water so well, that justice
+will be unable to see anything in it."
+
+"And you see no one who could help us?"
+
+"Favoral--"
+
+To Maxence's great surprise, M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"That one is gone," he said; "and, were he at hand, it is quite
+evident that if he was in collusion with M. de Thaller, he would
+not speak."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"That being the case, what can we do?"
+
+"Wait."
+
+M. de Tregars made a gesture of discouragement.
+
+"I might as well give up the fight, then," he said, "and try to
+compromise."
+
+"Why so?  We don't know what may happen.  Keep quiet, be patient;
+I am here, and I am looking out for squalls."
+
+He got up and prepared to leave.
+
+"You have more experience than I have," said M. de Tregars; "and,
+since that's your opinion----"
+
+M. d'Escajoul had resumed all his good humor.
+
+"Very well, then, it's understood," he said, pressing M. de Tregars'
+hand.  "I am watching for both of us; and if I see a chance, I come
+at once, and you act."
+
+But the outer door had hardly closed, when suddenly the countenance
+of Marius de Tregars changed.  Shaking the hand which M. d'Escajoul
+had just touched,--"Pouah!" he said with a look of thorough
+disgust,--"pouah!"
+
+And noticing Maxence's look of utter surprise,
+
+"Don't you understand," he said, "that this old rascal has been sent
+to me by Thaller to feel my intentions, and mislead me by false
+information?  I had scented him, fortunately; and, if either one of
+us is dupe of the other, I have every reason to believe that it will
+not be me."
+
+They had finished their breakfast.  M. de Tregars called his servant.
+
+"Have you been for a carriage?" he asked.
+
+"It is at the door, sir."
+
+"Well, then, come along."
+
+Maxence had the good sense not to over-estimate himself.  Perfectly
+convinced that he could accomplish nothing alone, he was firmly
+resolved to trust blindly to Marius de Tregars.
+
+He followed him, therefore; and it was only after the carriage had
+started, that he ventured to ask,
+
+"Where are we going?"
+
+"Didn't you hear me," replied M. de Tregars, "order the driver to
+take us to the court-house?"
+
+"I beg your pardon; but what I wish to know is, what we are going
+to do there?"
+
+"You are going, my dear friend, to ask an audience of the judge who
+has your father's case in charge, and deposit into his hands the
+fifteen thousand francs you have in your pocket."
+
+"What!  You wish me to--"
+
+"I think it better to place that money into the hands of justice,
+which will appreciate the step, than into those of M. de Thaller,
+who would not breathe a word about it.  We are in a position where
+nothing should be neglected; and that money may prove an indication."
+
+But they had arrived.  M. de Tregars guided Maxence through the
+labyrinth of corridors of the building, until he came to a long
+gallery, at the entrance of which an usher was seated reading a
+newspaper.
+
+"M. Barban d'Avranchel?" inquired M. de Tregars.
+
+"He is in his office," replied the usher.
+
+"Please ask him if he would receive an important deposition in the
+Favoral case."
+
+The usher rose somewhat reluctantly, and, while he was gone,
+
+"You will go in alone," said M. de Tregars to Maxence.  "I shall
+not appear; and it is important that my name should not even be
+pronounced.  But, above all, try and remember even the most
+insignificant words of the judge; for, upon what he tells you, I
+shall regulate my conduct."
+
+The usher returned.
+
+"M. d'Avranchel will receive you," he said.  And, leading Maxence
+to the extremity of the gallery, he opened a small door, and
+pushed him in, saying at the same time,
+
+"That is it, sir: walk in."
+
+It was a small room, with a low ceiling, and poorly furnished.  The
+faded curtains and threadbare carpet showed plainly that more than
+one judge had occupied it, and that legions of accused criminals
+had passed through it.  In front of a table, two men--one old, the
+judge; the other young, the clerk--were signing and classifying
+papers.  These papers related to the Favoral case, and were all
+indorsed in large letters: Mutual Credit Company.
+
+As soon as Maxence appeared, the judge rose, and, after measuring
+him with a clear and cold look:
+
+"Who are you?" he interrogated.
+
+In a somewhat husky voice, Maxence stated his name and surname.
+
+"Ah! you are Vincent Favoral's son," interrupted the judge.  "And
+it was you who helped him escape through the window?  I was going
+to send you a summons this very day; but, since you are here, so
+much the better.  You have something important to communicate, I
+have been told."
+
+Very few people, even among the most strictly honest, can overcome
+a certain unpleasant feeling when, having crossed the threshold of
+the palace of justice, they find themselves in presence of a judge.
+More than almost any one else, Maxence was likely to be accessible
+to that vague and inexplicable feeling; and it was with an effort
+that he answered,
+
+"On Saturday evening, the Baron de Thaller called at our house a
+few minutes before the commissary.  After loading my father with
+reproaches, he invited him to leave the country; and, in order to
+facilitate his flight, he handed him these fifteen thousand francs.
+My father declined to accept them; and, at the moment of parting,
+he recommended to me particularly to return them to M. de Thaller.
+I thought it best to return them to you, sir."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I wished the fact known to you of the money having been
+offered and refused."
+
+M. Barban d'Avranchel was quietly stroking his whiskers, once of a
+bright red, but now almost entirely white.
+
+"Is this an insinuation against the manager of the Mutual Credit?"
+he asked.
+
+Maxence looked straight at him; and, in a tone which affirmed
+precisely the reverse,
+
+"I accuse no one," he said.
+
+"I must tell you," resumed the judge, "that M. de Thaller has
+himself informed me of this circumstance.  When he called at your
+house, he was ignorant, as yet, of the extent of the embezzlements,
+and was in hopes of being able to hush up the affair.  That's why
+he wished his cashier to start for Belgium.  This system of
+helping criminals to escape the just punishment of their crimes is
+to be bitterly deplored; but it is quite the habit of your financial
+magnates, who prefer sending some poor devil of an employe to hang
+himself abroad than run the risk of compromising their credit by
+confessing that they have been robbed."
+
+Maxence might have had a great deal to say; but M. de Tregars had
+recommended him the most extreme reserve.  He remained silent.
+
+"On the other hand," resumed the judge, "the refusal to accept the
+money so generously offered does not speak in favor of Vincent
+Favoral.  He was well aware, when he left, that it would require a
+great deal of money to reach the frontier, escape pursuit, and hide
+himself abroad; and, if he refused the fifteen thousand francs, it
+must have been because he was well provided for already."
+
+Tears of shame and rage started from Maxence's eyes.  "I am certain,
+sir," he exclaimed, "that my father went off without a sou."
+
+"What has become of the millions, then?" he asked coldly.
+
+Maxence hesitated.  Why not mention his suspicions?  He dared not.
+
+"My father speculated at the bourse," he stammered.  "And he led a
+scandalous conduct, keeping up, away from home, a style of living
+which must have absorbed immense sums."
+
+"We knew nothing of it, sir; and our first suspicions were aroused
+by what the commissary of police told us."
+
+The judge insisted no more; and in a tone which indicated that his
+question was a mere matter of form, and he attached but little
+importance to the answer,
+
+"You have no news from your father?" he asked.
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"And you have no idea where he has gone?"
+
+"None in the least."
+
+M. d'Avranchel had already resumed his seat at the table, and was
+again busy with his papers.
+
+"You may retire," he said.  "You will be notified if I need you."
+
+Maxence felt much discouraged when he joined M. de Tregars at the
+entrance of the gallery.
+
+"The judge is convinced of M. de Thaller's entire innocence," he
+said.
+
+But as soon as he had narrated, with a fidelity that did honor to
+his memory, all that had just occurred,
+
+"Nothing is lost yet," declared M. de Tregars.  And, taking from
+his pocket the bill for two trunks, which had been found in M.
+Favoral's portfolio,
+
+"There," he said, "we shall know our fate."
+
+
+
+IV
+
+M. de Tregars and Maxence were in luck.  They had a good driver and
+a fair horse; and in twenty minutes they were at the trunk store.
+As soon as the cab stopped,
+
+"Well," exclaimed M. de Tregars, "I suppose it has to be done."
+
+And, with the look of a man who has made up his mind to do something
+which is extremely repugnant to him, he jumped out, and, followed
+by Maxence, entered the shop.
+
+It was a modest establishment; and the people who kept it, husband
+and wife, seeing two customers coming in, rushed to meet them, with
+that welcoming smile which blossoms upon the lips of every Parisian
+shopkeeper.
+
+"What will you have, gentlemen?"
+
+And, with wonderful volubility, they went on enumerating every
+article which they had for sale in their shop,--from the
+"indispensable-necessary," containing seventy-seven pieces of solid
+silver, and costing four thousand francs, down to the humblest
+carpet-bag at thirty-nine cents.
+
+But Marius de Tregars interrupted them as soon as he could get an
+opportunity, and, showing them their bill,
+
+"It was here, wasn't it," he inquired, "that the two trunks were
+bought which are charged in this bill?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered simultaneously both husband and wife.
+
+"When were they delivered?"
+
+"Our porter went to deliver them, less than two hours after they
+were bought."
+
+"Where?"
+
+By this time the shopkeepers were beginning to exchange uneasy looks.
+
+"Why do you ask?" inquired the woman in a tone which indicated that
+she had the settled intention not to answer, unless for good and
+valid reason.
+
+To obtain the simplest information is not always as easy as might
+be supposed.  The suspicion of the Parisian tradesman is easily
+aroused; and, as his head is stuffed with stories of spies and
+robbers, as soon as he is questioned he becomes as dumb as an oyster.
+
+But M. de Tregars had foreseen the difficulty:
+
+"I beg you to believe, madame," he went on, "that my questions are
+not dictated by an idle curiosity.  Here are the facts.  A relative
+of ours, a man of a certain age, of whom we are very fond, and whose
+head is a little weak, left his home some forty-eight hours since.
+We are looking for him, and we are in hopes, if we find these trunks,
+to find him at the same time."
+
+With furtive glances, the husband and wife were tacitly consulting
+each other.
+
+"The fact is," they said, "we wouldn't like, under any consideration,
+to commit an indiscretion which might result to the prejudice of a
+customer."
+
+"Fear nothing," said M. de Tregars with a reassuring gesture.  "If
+we have not had recourse to the police, it's because, you know, it
+isn't pleasant to have the police interfere in one's affairs.  If
+you have any objections to answer me, however, I must, of course,
+apply to the commissary."
+
+The argument proved decisive.
+
+"If that's the case," replied the woman, "I am ready to tell all I
+know."
+
+"Well, then, madame, what do you know?"
+
+"These two trunks were bought on Friday afternoon last, by a man of
+a certain age, tall, very thin, with a stern countenance, and
+wearing a long frock coat."
+
+"No more doubt," murmured Maxence.  "It was he."
+
+"And now," the woman went on, "that you have just told me that your
+relative was a little weak in the head, I remember that this
+gentleman had a strange sort of way about him, and that he kept
+walking about the store as if he had fleas on his legs.  And awful
+particular he was too!  Nothing was handsome enough and strong
+enough for him; and he was anxious about the safety-locks, as he
+had, he said, many objects of value, papers, and securities, to put
+away."
+
+"And where did he tell you to send the two trunks?"
+
+"Rue du Cirque, to Mme.--wait a minute, I have the name at the end
+of my tongue."
+
+"You must have it on your books, too," remarked M. de Tregars.
+
+The husband was already looking over his blotter.
+
+"April 26, 1872," he said.  "26, here it is: 'Two leather trunks,
+patent safety-locks: Mme. Zelie Cadelle, 49 Rue du Cirque.'"
+
+Without too much affectation, M. de Tregars had drawn near to the
+shopkeeper, and was looking over his shoulder.
+
+"What is that," he asked, "written there, below the address?"
+
+"That, sir, is the direction left by the customer 'Mark on each end
+of the trunks, in large letters, "Rio de Janeiro."'"
+
+Maxence could not suppress an exclamation.  "Oh!"
+
+But the tradesman mistook him; and, seizing this magnificent
+opportunity to display his knowledge,
+
+"Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil," he said in a tone of
+importance.  "And your relative evidently intended to go there; and,
+if he has not changed his mind, I doubt whether you can overtake
+him; for the Brazilian steamer was to have sailed yesterday from
+Havre."
+
+Whatever may have been his intentions, M. de Tregars remained
+perfectly calm.
+
+"If that's the case," he said to the shopkeepers, "I think I had
+better give up the chase.  I am much obliged to you, however, for
+your information."
+
+But, once out again,
+
+"Do you really believe," inquired Maxence, "that my father has
+left France?"
+
+M. de Tregars shook his head.
+
+"I will give you my opinion," he uttered, "after I have investigated
+matters in the Rue du Cirque."
+
+They drove there in a few minutes; and, the cab having stopped at
+the entrance of the street, they walked on foot in front of No. 49.
+It was a small cottage, only one story in height, built between a
+sanded court-yard and a garden, whose tall trees showed above the
+roof.  At the windows could be seen curtains of light-colored silk,
+--a sure indication of the presence of a young and pretty woman.
+
+For a few minutes Marius de Tregars remained in observation; but,
+as nothing stirred,
+
+"We must find out something, somehow," he exclaimed impatiently.
+
+And noticing a large grocery store bearing No. 62, he directed his
+steps towards it, still accompanied by Maxence.
+
+It was the hour of the day when customers are rare.  Standing in
+the centre of the shop, the grocer, a big fat man with an air of
+importance, was overseeing his men, who were busy putting things
+in order.
+
+M. de Tregars took him aside, and with an accent of mystery,
+
+"I am," he said, "a clerk with M. Drayton, the jeweler in the Rue
+de la Paix; and I come to ask you one of those little favors which
+tradespeople owe to each other."
+
+A frown appeared on the fat man's countenance.  He thought, perhaps,
+that M. Drayton's clerks were rather too stylish-looking; or else,
+perhaps, he felt apprehensive of one of those numerous petty swindles
+of which shopkeepers are constantly the victims.
+
+"What is it?" said he.  "Speak!"
+
+"I am on my way," spoke M. de Tregars, "to deliver a ring which a
+lady purchased of us yesterday.  She is not a regular customer, and
+has given us no references.  If she doesn't pay, shall I leave the
+ring?  My employer told me, 'Consult some prominent tradesman of the
+neighborhood, and follow his advice.'"
+
+Prominent tradesman!  Delicately tickled vanity was dancing in the
+grocer's eyes.
+
+"What is the name of the lady?" he inquired.
+
+"Mme. Zelie Cadelle."
+
+The grocer burst out laughing.
+
+"In that case, my boy," he said, tapping familiarly the shoulder
+of the so-called clerk, "whether she pays or not, you can deliver
+the article."
+
+The familiarity was not, perhaps, very much to the taste of the
+Marquis de Tregars.  No matter.
+
+"She is rich, then, that lady?" he said.
+
+"Personally no.  But she is protected by an old fool, who allows
+her all her fancies."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"It is scandalous; and you cannot form an idea of the amount of
+money that is spent in that house.  Horses, carriages, servants,
+dresses, balls, dinners, card-playing all night, a perpetual
+carnival: it must be ruinous!"
+
+M. de Tregars never winced.
+
+"And the old man who pays?" he asked; "do you know him?"
+
+"I have seen him pass,--a tall, lean, old fellow, who doesn't look
+very rich, either.  But excuse me: here is a customer I must wait
+upon."
+
+Having walked out into the street,
+
+"We must separate now," declared M. de Tregars to Maxence.
+
+"What!  You wish to--"
+
+"Go and wait for me in that cafe yonder, at the corner of the street.
+I must see that Zelie Cadelle and speak to her."
+
+And without suffering an objection on the part of Maxence, he walked
+resolutely up to the cottage-gate, and rang vigorously.
+
+At the sound of the bell, one of those servants stepped out into the
+yard, who seem manufactured on purpose, heaven knows where, for the
+special service of young ladies who keep house,--a tall rascal with
+sallow complexion and straight hair, a cynical eye, and a low,
+impudent smile.
+
+"What do you wish, sir?" he inquired through the grating.
+
+"That you should open the door, first," uttered M. de Tregars, with
+such a look and such an accent, that the other obeyed at once.
+
+"And now," he added, "go and announce me to Mme. Zelie Cadelle."
+
+"Madame is out," replied the valet.
+
+And noticing that M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders,
+
+"Upon my word," he said, "she has gone to the bois with one of her
+friends.  If you won't believe me, ask my comrades there."
+
+And he pointed out two other servants of the same pattern as himself,
+who were silting at a table in the carriage-house, playing cards,
+and drinking.
+
+But M. de Tregars did not mean to be imposed upon.  He felt certain
+that the man was lying.  Instead, therefore, of discussing,
+
+"I want you to take me to your mistress," he ordered, in a tone that
+admitted of no objection; "or else I'll find my way to her alone."
+
+It was evident that he would do just as he said, by force if needs
+be.  The valet saw this, and, after hesitating a moment longer,
+
+"Come along, then," he said, "since you insist so much.  We'll talk
+to the chambermaid."
+
+And, having led M. de Tregars into the vestibule, he called out,
+"Mam'selle Amanda!"
+
+A woman at once made her appearance who was a worthy mate for the
+valet.  She must have been about forty, and the most alarming
+duplicity could be read upon her features, deeply pitted by the
+small-pox.  She wore a pretentious dress, an apron like a
+stage-servant, and a cap profusely decorated with flowers and
+ribbons.
+
+"Here is a gentleman," said the valet, "who insists upon seeing
+madame.  You fix it with him."
+
+Better than her fellow servant, Mlle. Amanda could judge with whom
+she had to deal.  A single glance at this obstinate visitor
+convinced her that he was not one who can be easily turned off.
+
+Putting on, therefore, her pleasantest smile, thus displaying at
+the same time her decayed teeth,
+
+"The fact is that monsieur will very much disturb madame," she
+observed.
+
+"I shall excuse myself."
+
+"But I'll be scolded."
+
+Instead of answering, M. de Tregars took a couple of
+twenty-franc-notes out of his pocket, and slipped them into her
+hand.
+
+"Please follow me to the parlor, then," she said with a heavy sigh.
+
+M. de Tregars did so, whilst observing everything around him with
+the attentive perspicacity of a deputy sheriff preparing to make
+out an inventory.
+
+Being double, the house was much more spacious than could have
+been thought from the street, and arranged with that science of
+comfort which is the genius of modern architects.
+
+The most lavish luxury was displayed on all sides; not that solid,
+quiet, and harmonious luxury which is the result of long years of
+opulence, but the coarse, loud, and superficial luxury of the
+_parvenu_, who is eager to enjoy quick, and to possess all that he
+has craved from others.
+
+The vestibule was a folly, with its exotic plants climbing along
+crystal trellises, and its Sevres and China jardinieres filled with
+gigantic azaleas.  And along the gilt railing of the stairs marble
+and bronze statuary was intermingled with masses of growing flowers.
+
+"It must take twenty thousand francs a year to keep up this
+conservatory alone," thought M. de Tregars.
+
+Meantime the old chambermaid opened a satinwood door with silver
+lock.
+
+"That's the parlor," she said.  "Take a seat whilst I go and tell
+madame."
+
+In this parlor everything had been combined to dazzle.  Furniture,
+carpets, hangings, every thing, was rich, too rich, furiously,
+incontestably, obviously rich.  The chandelier was a masterpiece,
+the clock an original and unique piece of work.  The pictures
+hanging upon the wall were all signed with the most famous names.
+
+"To judge of the rest by what I have seen," thought M. de Tregars,
+"there must have been at least four or five hundred thousand francs
+spent on this house."
+
+And, although he was shocked by a quantity of details which betrayed
+the most absolute lack of taste, he could hardly persuade himself
+that the cashier of the Mutual Credit could be the master of this
+sumptuous dwelling; and he was asking himself whether he had not
+followed the wrong scent, when a circumstance came to put an end to
+all his doubts.
+
+Upon the mantlepiece, in a small velvet frame, was Vincent Favoral's
+portrait.
+
+M. de Tregars had been seated for a few minutes, and was collecting
+his somewhat scattered thoughts, when a slight grating sound, and
+a rustling noise, made him turn around.
+
+Mme. Zelie Cadelle was coming in.
+
+She was a woman of some twenty-five or six, rather tall, lithe, and
+well made.  Her face was pale and worn; and her heavy dark hair was
+scattered over her neck and shoulders.  She looked at once sarcastic
+and good-natured, impudent and naive, with her sparkling eyes, her
+turned-up nose, and wide mouth furnished with teeth, sound and white,
+like those of a young dog.  She had wasted no time upon her dress;
+for she wore a plain blue cashmere wrapper, fastened at the waist
+with a sort of silk scarf of similar color.
+
+From the very threshold,
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed, "how very singular!"
+
+M. de Tregars stepped forward.
+
+"What?" he inquired.
+
+"Oh, nothing!" she replied,--"nothing at all!"
+
+And without ceasing to look at him with a wondering eye, but
+suddenly changing her tone of voice,
+
+"And so, sir," she said, "my servants have been unable to keep you
+from forcing yourself into my house!"
+
+"I hope, madame," said M. de Tregars with a polite bow, "that you
+will excuse my persistence.  I come for a matter which can suffer
+no delay."
+
+She was still looking at him obstinately.  "Who are you?" she asked.
+
+"My name will not afford you any information.  I am the Marquis de
+Tregars."
+
+"Tregars!" she repeated, looking up at the ceiling, as if in search
+of an inspiration.  "Tregars!  Never heard of it!"
+
+And throwing herself into an arm chair,
+
+"Well, sir, what do you wish with me, then?  Speak!"
+
+He had taken a seat near her, and kept his eyes riveted upon hers.
+
+"I have come, madame," he replied, "to ask you to put me in the way
+to see and speak to the man whose photograph is there on the
+mantlepiece."
+
+He expected to take her by surprise, and that by a shudder, a cry,
+a gesture, she might betray her secret.  Not at all.
+
+"Are you, then, one of M. Vincent's friends?" she asked quietly.
+
+M. de Tregars understood, and this was subsequently confirmed, that
+it was under his Christian name of Vincent alone, that the cashier
+of the Mutual Credit was known in the Rue du Cirque.
+
+"Yes, I am a friend of his," he replied; "and if I could see him,
+I could probably render him an important service."
+
+"Well, you are too late."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because M. Vincent put off more than twenty-four hours since?"
+
+"Are you sure of that?"
+
+"As sure as a person can be who went to the railway station
+yesterday with him and all his baggage."
+
+"You saw him leave?"
+
+"As I see you."
+
+"Where was he going?"
+
+"To Havre, to take the steamer for Brazil, which was to sail on the
+same day; so that, by this time, he must be awfully seasick."
+
+"And you really think that it was his intention to go to Brazil?"
+
+"He said so.  It was written on his thirty-six trunks in letters
+half a foot high.  Besides, he showed me his ticket."
+
+"Have you any idea what could have induced him to expatriate himself
+thus, at his age?"
+
+"He told me he had spent all his money, and also some of other
+people's; that he was afraid of being arrested; and that he was
+going yonder to be quiet, and try to make another fortune."
+
+Was Mme. Zelie speaking in good faith?  To ask the question would
+have been rather naive; but an effort might be made to find out.
+Carefully concealing his own impressions, and the importance he
+attached to this conversation,
+
+"I pity you sincerely, madame," resumed M. de Tregars; "for you must
+be sorely grieved by this sudden departure."
+
+"Me!" she said in a voice that came from the heart.  "I don't care
+a straw."
+
+Marquis de Tregars knew well enough the ladies of the class to which
+he supposed that Mme. Zelie Cadelle must belong, not to be surprised
+at this frank declaration.
+
+"And yet," he said, "you are indebted to him for the princely
+magnificence that surrounds you here."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"He being gone, as you say, will you be able to keep up your style
+of living?"
+
+Half raising herself from her seat,
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea of doing so," she exclaimed.  "Never
+in the whole world have I had such a stupid time as for the last
+five months that I have spent in this gilded cage.  What a bore,
+my beloved brethren!  I am yawning still at the mere thought of the
+number of times I have yawned in it."
+
+M. de Tregars' gesture of surprise was the more natural, that his
+surprise was immense.
+
+"You are tired being here?" he said.
+
+"To death."
+
+"And you have only been here five months?"
+
+"Dear me; yes! and by the merest chance, too, you'll see.  One day
+at the beginning of last December, I was coming from--but no matter
+where I was coming from.  At any rate, I hadn't a cent in my pocket,
+and nothing but an old calico dress on my back; and I was going
+along, not in the best of humor, as you may imagine, when I feel
+that some one is following me.  Without looking around, and from
+the corner of my eye, I look over my shoulder, and I see a
+respectable-looking old gentleman, wearing a long frock-coat."
+
+"M. Vincent?"
+
+"In his own natural person, and who was walking, walking.  I quietly
+begin to walk slower; and, as soon as we come to a place where there
+was hardly any one, he comes up alongside of me."
+
+Something comical must have happened at this moment, which Mme.
+Zelie Cadelle said nothing about; for she was laughing most heartily,
+--a frank and sonorous laughter.
+
+"Then," she resumed, "he begins at once to explain that I remind
+him of a person whom he loved tenderly, and whom he has just had
+the misfortune to lose, adding, that he would deem himself the
+happiest of men if I would allow him to take care of me, and insure
+me a brilliant position."
+
+"You see!  That rascally Vincent!" said M. de Tregars, just to be
+saying something.
+
+Mme. Zelie shook her head.
+
+"You know him," she resumed.  "He is not young; he is not handsome;
+he is not funny.  I did not fancy him one bit; and, if I had only
+known where to find shelter for the night, I'd soon have sent him
+to the old Nick,--him and his brilliant position.  But, not having
+enough money to buy myself a penny-loaf, it wasn't the time to put
+on any airs.  So I tell him that I accept.  He goes for a cab; we
+get into it; and he brings me right straight here."
+
+Positively M. de Tregars required his entire self-control to conceal
+the intensity of his curiosity.
+
+"Was this house, then, already as it is now?" he interrogated.
+
+"Precisely, except that there were no servants in it, except the
+chambermaid Amanda, who is M. Favoral's confidante.  All the others
+had been dismissed; and it was a hostler from a stable near by who
+came to take care of the horses."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Then you may imagine what I looked like in the midst of all this
+magnificence, with my old shoes and my fourpenny skirt.  Something
+like a grease-spot on a satin dress.  M. Vincent seemed delighted,
+nevertheless.  He had sent Amanda out to get me some under-clothing
+and a ready-made wrapper; and, whilst waiting, he took me all
+through the house, from the cellar to the garret, saying that
+everything was at my command, and that the next day I would have a
+battalion of servants to wait on me."
+
+It was evidently with perfect frankness that she was speaking, and
+with the pleasure one feels in telling an extraordinary adventure.
+But suddenly she stopped short, as if discovering that she was
+forgetting herself, and going farther than was proper.
+
+And it was only after a moment of reflection that she went on,
+
+"It was like fairyland to me.  I had never tasted the opulence of
+the great, you see, and I had never had any money except that which
+I earned.  So, during the first days, I did nothing but run up and
+down stairs, admiring everything, feeling everything with my own
+hands, and looking at myself in the glass to make sure that I was
+not dreaming.  I rang the bell just to make the servants come up;
+I spent hours trying dresses; then I'd have the horses put to the
+carriage, and either ride to the bois, or go out shopping.  M.
+Vincent gave me as much money as I wanted; and it seemed as though I
+never spent enough.  I shout, I was like a mad woman."
+
+A cloud appeared upon Mme. Zelie's countenance, and, changing
+suddenly her tone and her manner,
+
+"Unfortunately," she went on, "one gets tired of every thing.  At
+the end of two weeks I knew the house from top to bottom, and after
+a month I was sick of the whole thing; so that one night I began
+dressing.
+
+"'Where do you want to go?' Amanda asked me.
+'Why, to Mabille, to dance a quadrille, or two.'
+'Impossible!'
+'Why?'
+'Because M. Vincent does not wish you to go out at night.'
+'We'll see about that!'
+
+"The next day, I tell all this to M. Vincent; and he says that Amanda
+is right; that it is not proper for a woman in my position to
+frequent balls; and that, if I want to go out at night, I can stay.
+Get out!  I tell you what, if it hadn't been for the fine carriage,
+and all that, I would have cleared out that minute.  Any way, I
+became disgusted from that moment, and have been more and more ever
+since; and, if M. Vincent had not himself left, I certainly would."
+
+"To go where?"
+
+"Anywhere.  Look here, now! do you suppose I need a man to support
+me!  No, thank Heaven!  Little Zelie, here present, has only to
+apply to any dressmaker, and she'll be glad to give her four francs
+a day to run the machine.  And she'll be free, at least; and she can
+laugh and dance as much as she likes."
+
+M. de Tregars had made a mistake: he had just discovered it.
+
+Mme. Zelie Cadelle was certainly not particularly virtuous; but she
+was far from being the woman he expected to meet.
+
+"At any rate," he said, "you did well to wait patiently."
+
+"I do not regret it."
+
+"If you can keep this house--"
+
+She interrupted him with a great burst of laughter.
+
+"This house!" she exclaimed.  "Why, it was sold long ago, with every
+thing in it,--furniture, horses, carriages, every thing except me.
+A young gentleman, very well dressed, bought it for a tall girl, who
+looks like a goose, and has far over a thousand francs of red hair on
+her head."
+
+"Are you sure of that?"
+
+"Sure as I live, having seen with my own eyes the young swell and
+his red-headed friend counting heaps of bank-notes to M. Vincent.
+They are to move in day after to-morrow; and they have invited me
+to the house-warming.  But no more of it for me, I thank you!  I
+am sick and tired of all these people.  And the proof of it is, I
+am busy packing my things; and lots of them I have too,--dresses,
+underclothes, jewelry.  He was a good-natured fellow, old Vincent
+was, anyhow.  He gave me money enough to buy some furniture.  I
+have hired a small apartment; and I am going to set up dress-making
+on my own hook.  And won't we laugh then! and won't we have some
+fun to make up for lost time!  Come, my children, take your places
+for a quadrille.  Forward two!"
+
+And, bouncing out of her chair, she began sketching out one of
+those bold cancan steps which astound the policemen on duty in the
+ball-rooms.
+
+"Bravo!" said M. de Tregars, forcing himself to smile,--"bravo!"
+
+He saw clearly now what sort of woman was Mme. Zelie Cadelle; how
+he should speak to her, and what cords he might yet cause to vibrate
+within her.  He recognized the true daughter of Paris, wayward and
+nervous, who in the midst of her disorders preserves an instinctive
+pride; who places her independence far above all the money in the
+world; who gives, rather than sells, herself; who knows no law but
+her caprice, no morality but the policeman, no religion but pleasure.
+
+As soon as she had returned to her seat,
+
+"There you are dancing gayly," he said, "and poor Vincent is
+doubtless groaning at this moment over his separation from you."
+
+"Ah! I'd pity him if I had time," she said.
+
+"He was fond of you?"
+
+"Don't speak of it."
+
+"If he had not been fond of you, he would not have put you here."
+
+Mme. Zelie made a little face of equivocal meaning.
+
+"What proof is that?" she murmured.
+
+"He would not have spent so much money for you."
+
+"For me!" she interrupted,--"for me!  What have I cost him of any
+consequence?  Is it for me that he bought, furnished, and fitted
+out this house?  No, no!  He had the cage; and he put in the bird,
+--the first he happened to find.  He brought me here as he might
+have brought any other woman, young or old, pretty or ugly, blonde
+or brunette.  As to what I spent here, it was a mere bagatelle
+compared with what the other did,--the one before me.  Amanda kept
+telling me all the time I was a fool.  You may believe me, then,
+when I tell you that M. Vincent will not wet many handkerchiefs
+with the tears he'll shed over me."
+
+"But do you know what became of the one before you, as you call her,
+--whether she is alive or dead, and owing to what circumstances the
+cage became empty?"
+
+But, instead of answering, Mme. Zelie was fixing upon Marius de
+Tregars a suspicious glance.  And, after a moment only,
+
+"Why do you ask me that?" she said.
+
+"I would like to know."
+
+She did not permit him to proceed.  Rising from her seat, and
+stepping briskly up to him,
+
+"Do you belong to the police, by chance?" she asked in a tone of
+mistrust.
+
+If she was anxious, it was evidently because she had motives of
+anxiety which she had concealed.  If, two or three times she had
+interrupted herself, it was because, manifestly, she had a secret
+to keep.  If the idea of police had come into her mind, it is
+because, very probably, they had recommended her to be on her guard.
+
+M. de Tregars understood all this, and, also, that he had tried to
+go too fast.
+
+"Do I look like a secret police-agent?" he asked.
+
+She was examining him with all her power of penetration.
+
+"Not at all, I confess," she replied.  "But, if you are not one, how
+is it that you come to my house, without knowing me from this side
+of sole leather, to ask me a whole lot of questions, which I am
+fool enough to answer?"
+
+"I told you I was a friend of M. Favoral."
+
+"Who's that Favoral?"
+
+"That's M. Vincent's real name, madame."
+
+She opened her eyes wide.
+
+"You must be mistaken.  I never heard him called any thing but
+Vincent."
+
+"It is because he had especial motives for concealing his
+personality.  The money he spent here did not belong to him: he
+took it, he stole it, from the Mutual Credit Company where he was
+cashier, and where he left a deficit of twelve millions."
+
+Mme. Zelie stepped back as though she had trodden on a snake.
+
+"It's impossible!" she cried.
+
+"It is the exact truth.  Haven't you seen in the papers the case
+of Vincent Favoral, cashier of the Mutual Credit?"
+
+And, taking a paper from his pocket, he handed it to the young woman,
+saying, "Read."
+
+But she pushed it back, not without a slight blush.  "Oh, I believe
+you!" she said.
+
+The fact is, and Marius understood it, she did not read very
+fluently.
+
+"The worst of M. Vincent Favoral's conduct," he resumed, "is, that,
+while he was throwing away money here by the handful, he subjected
+his family to the most cruel privations."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"He refused the necessaries of life to his wife, the best and the
+worthiest of women; he never gave a cent to his son; and he
+deprived his daughter of every thing."
+
+"Ah, if I could have suspected such a thing!" murmured Mme. Zelie.
+
+"Finally, and to cap the--climax, he has gone, leaving his wife
+and children literally without bread."
+
+Transported with indignation,
+
+"Why, that man must have been a horrible old scoundrel!" exclaimed
+the young woman.
+
+This is just the point to which M. de Tregars wished to bring her.
+
+"And now," he resumed, "you must understand the enormous interest
+we have in knowing what has become of him."
+
+"I have already told you."
+
+M. de Tregars had risen, in his turn.  Taking Mme. Zelie's hands,
+and fixing upon her one of those acute looks, which search for the
+truth down to the innermost recesses of the conscience,
+
+"Come, my dear child," he began in a penetrating voice, "you are a
+worthy and honest girl.  Will you leave in the most frightful
+despair a family who appeal to your heart?  Be sure that no harm
+will ever happen through us to Vincent Favoral."
+
+She raised her hand, as they do to take an oath in a court of
+justice, and, in a solemn tone,
+
+"I swear," she uttered, "that I went to the station with M. Vincent;
+that he assured me that he was going to Brazil; that he had his
+passage-ticket; and that all his baggage was marked, 'Rio de
+Janeiro.'"
+
+The disappointment was great: and M. de Tregars manifested it by
+a gesture.
+
+"At least," he insisted, "tell me who the woman was whose place you
+took here."
+
+But already had the young woman returned to her feeling of mistrust.
+
+"How in the world do you expect me to know?" she replied.  "Go and
+ask Amanda.  I have no accounts to give you.  Besides, I have to
+go and finish packing my trunks.  So good-by, and enjoy yourself."
+
+And she went out so quick, that she caught Amanda, the chambermaid,
+kneeling behind the door.
+
+"So that woman was listening," thought M. de Tregars, anxious and
+dissatisfied.
+
+But it was in vain that he begged Mme. Zelie to return, and to hear
+a single word more.  She disappeared; and he had to resign himself
+to leave the house without learning any thing more for the present.
+
+He had remained there very long; and he was wondering, as he walked
+out, whether Maxence had not got tired waiting for him in the little
+cafe where he had sent him.
+
+But Maxence had remained faithfully at his post.  And when Marius de
+Tregars came to sit by him, whilst exclaiming, "Here you are at last!"
+he called his attention at the same time with a gesture, and a wink
+from the corner of his eye, to two men sitting at the adjoining table
+before a bowl of punch.
+
+Certain, now, that M. de Tregars would remain on the lookout, Maxence
+was knocking on the table with his fist, to call the waiter, who was
+busy playing billiards with a customer.
+
+And when he came at last, justly annoyed at being disturbed,
+
+"Give us two mugs of beer," Maxence ordered, "and bring us a pack
+of cards."
+
+M. de Tregars understood very well that something extraordinary had
+happened; but, unable to guess what, he leaned over towards his
+companion.
+
+"What is it?" he whispered.
+
+"We must hear what these two men are saying; and we'll play a game
+of piquet for a subterfuge."
+
+The waiter returned, bringing two glasses of a muddy liquid, a piece
+of cloth, the color of which was concealed under a layer of dirt, and
+a pack of cards horribly soft and greasy.
+
+"My deal," said Maxence.
+
+And he began shuffling, and giving the cards, whilst M. de Tregars
+was examining the punch-drinkers at the next table.
+
+In one of the two, a man still young, wearing a striped vest with
+alpaca sleeves, he thought he recognized one of the rascally-looking
+fellows he had caught a glimpse of in Mme. Zelie Cadelle's
+carriage-house.
+
+The other, an old man, whose inflamed complexion and blossoming
+nose betrayed old habits of drunkenness, looked very much like a
+coachman out of place.  Baseness and duplicity bloomed upon his
+countenance; and the brightness of his small eyes rendered still
+more alarming the slyly obsequious smile that was stereotyped upon
+his thin and pale lips.
+
+They were so completely absorbed in their conversation, that they
+paid no attention whatever to what was going on around them.
+
+"Then," the old one was saying, "it's all over."
+
+"Entirely.  The house is sold."
+
+"And the boss?"
+
+"Gone to America."
+
+"What!  Suddenly, that way?"
+
+"No.  We supposed he was going on some journey, because, every day
+since the beginning of the week, they were bringing in trunks and
+boxes; but no one knew exactly when he would go.  Now, in the night
+of Saturday to Sunday, he drops in the house like a bombshell, wakes
+up everybody, and says he must leave immediately.  At once we
+harness up, we load the baggage up, we drive him to the Western
+Railway Station, and good-by, Vincent!"
+
+"And the young lady?"
+
+"She's got to get out in the next twenty-four hours; but she don't
+seem to mind it one bit.  The fact is we are the ones who grieve
+the most, after all."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"It is so.  She was a good girl; and we won't soon find one like
+her."
+
+The old man seemed distressed.
+
+"Bad luck!" he growled.  "I would have liked that house myself."
+
+"Oh, I dare say you would!"
+
+"And there is no way to get in?"
+
+"Can't tell.  It will be well to see the others, those who have
+bought.  But I mistrust them: they look too stupid not to be mean."
+
+Listening intently to the conversation of these two men, it was
+mechanically and at random that M. de Tregars and Maxence threw
+their cards on the table, and uttered the common terms of the game
+of piquet,
+
+"Five cards!  Tierce, major!  Three aces."
+
+Meantime the old man was going on,
+
+"Who knows but what M. Vincent may come back?"
+
+"No danger of that!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+The other looked carefully around, and, seeing only two players
+absorbed in their game,
+
+"Because," he replied, "M. Vincent is completely ruined, it seems.
+He spent all his money, and a good deal of other people's money
+besides.  Amanda, the chambermaid, told me; and I guess she knows."
+
+"You thought he was so rich!"
+
+"He was.  But no matter how big a bag is: if you keep taking out
+of it, you must get to the bottom."
+
+"Then he spent a great deal?"
+
+"It's incredible!  I have been in extravagant houses; but nowhere
+have I ever seen money fly as it has during the five months that I
+have been in that house.  A regular pillage!  Everybody helped
+themselves; and what was not in the house, they could get from the
+tradespeople, have it charged on the bill; and it was all paid
+without a word."
+
+"Then, yes, indeed, the money must have gone pretty lively," said
+the old one in a convinced tone.
+
+"Well," replied the other, "that was nothing yet.  Amanda the
+chambermaid who has been in the house fifteen years, told us some
+stories that would make you jump.  She was not much for spending,
+Zelie; but some of the others, it seems . . ."
+
+It required the greatest effort on the part of Maxence and M. de
+Tregars not to play, but only to pretend to play, and to continue
+to count imaginary points,--"One, two, three, four."
+
+Fortunately the coachman with the red nose seemed much interested.
+
+"What others?" he asked.
+
+"That I don't know any thing about," replied the younger valet.
+"But you may imagine that there must have been more than one in that
+little house during the many years that M. Vincent owned it,--a man who
+hadn't his equal for women, and who was worth millions."
+
+"And what was his business?"
+
+"Don't know that, either."
+
+"What! there were ten of you in the house, and you didn't know the
+profession of the man who paid you all?"
+
+"We were all new."
+
+"The chambermaid, Amanda, must have known."
+
+"When she was asked, she said that he was a merchant.  One thing is
+sure, he was a queer old chap."
+
+So interested was the old coachman, that, seeing the punch-bowl
+empty, he called for another.  His comrade could not fail to show
+his appreciation of such politeness.
+
+"Ah, yes!" he went on, "old Vincent was an eccentric fellow; and
+never, to see him, could you have suspected that he cut up such
+capers, and that he threw money away by the handful."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Imagine a man about fifty years old, stiff as a post, with a face
+about as pleasant as a prison-gate.  That's the boss!  Summer and
+winter, he wore laced shoes, blue stockings, gray pantaloons that
+were too short, a cotton necktie, and a frock-coat that came down
+to his ankles.  In the street, you would have taken him for a hosier
+who had retired before his fortune was made."
+
+"You don't say so!"
+
+"No, never have I seen a man look so much like an old miser.  You
+think, perhaps, that he came in a carriage.  Not a bit of it!  He
+came in the omnibus, my boy, and outside too, for three sous; and
+when it rained he opened his umbrella.  But the moment he had
+crossed the threshold of the house, presto, pass! complete change
+of scene.  The miser became pacha.  He took off his old duds, put
+on a blue velvet robe; and then there was nothing handsome enough,
+nothing good enough, nothing expensive enough for him.  And, when
+he had acted the my lord to his heart's content, he put on his old
+traps again, resumed his prison-gate face, climbed up on top of the
+omnibus, and went off as he came."
+
+"And you were not surprised, all of you, at such a life?"
+
+"Very much so."
+
+"And you did not think that these singular whims must conceal
+something?"
+
+"Oh, but we did!"
+
+"And you didn't try to find out what that something was?"
+
+"How could we?"
+
+"Was it very difficult to follow your boss, and ascertain where he
+went, after leaving the house?"
+
+"Certainly not; but what then?"
+
+"Why," he replied, "you would have found out his secret in the end;
+and then you would have gone to him and told him, 'Give me so much,
+or I peach.'"
+
+
+
+V
+
+This story of M. Vincent, as told by these two honest companions,
+was something like the vulgar legend of other people's money, so
+eagerly craved, and so madly dissipated.  Easily-gotten wealth is
+easily gotten rid of.  Stolen money has fatal tendencies, and turns
+irresistibly to gambling, horse-jockeys, fast women, all the ruinous
+fancies, all the unwholesome gratifications.
+
+They are rare indeed, among the daring cut-throats of speculation,
+those to whom their ill-gotten gain proves of real service,--so
+rare, that they are pointed out, and are as easily numbered as the
+girls who leap some night from the street to a ten-thousand-franc
+apartment, and manage to remain there.
+
+Seized with the intoxication of sudden wealth, they lose all measure
+and all prudence.  Whether they believe their luck inexhaustible, or
+fear a sudden turn of fortune, they make haste to enjoy themselves,
+and they fill the noted restaurants, the leading cafes, the theatres,
+the clubs, the race-courses, with their impudent personality, the
+clash of their voice, the extravagance of their mistresses, the
+noise of their expenses, and the absurdity of their vanity.  And
+they go on and on, lavishing other people's money, until the fatal
+hour of one of those disastrous liquidations which terrify the
+courts and the exchange, and cause pallid faces and a gnashing of
+teeth in the "street," until the moment when they have the choice
+between a pistol-shot, which they never choose, the criminal court,
+which they do their best to avoid, and a trip abroad.
+
+What becomes of them afterwards?  To what gutters do they tumble
+from fall to fall?  Does any one know what becomes of the women who
+disappear suddenly after two or three years of follies and of
+splendors?
+
+But it happens sometimes, as you step out of a carriage in front of
+some theatre, that you wonder where you have already seen the face
+of the wretched beggar who opens the door for you, and in a husky
+voice claims his two sous.  You saw him at the Cafe Riche, during
+the six months that he was a big financier.
+
+Some other time you may catch, in the crowd, snatches of a strange
+conversation between two crapulous rascals.
+
+"It was at the time," says one, "when I drove that bright chestnut
+team that I had bought for twenty thousand francs of the eldest son
+of the Duke de Sermeuse."
+
+"I remember," replies the other; "for at that moment I gave six
+thousand francs a month to little Cabriole of the Varieties."
+
+And, improbable as this may seem, it is the exact truth; for one
+was manager of a manufacturing enterprise that sank ten millions;
+and the other was at the head of a financial operation that ruined
+five hundred families.  They had houses like the one in the Rue du
+Cirque, mistresses more expensive than Mme. Zelie Cadelle, and
+servants like those who were now talking within a step of Maxence
+and Marius de Tregars.  The latter had resumed their conversation;
+and the oldest one, the coachman with the red nose, was saying to
+his younger comrade,
+
+"This Vincent affair must be a lesson to you.  If ever you find
+yourself again in a house where so much money is spent, remember
+that it hasn't cost much trouble to make it, and manage somehow
+to get as big a share of it as you can."
+
+"That's what I've always done wherever I have been."
+
+"And, above all, make haste to fill your bag, because, you see,
+in houses like that, one is never sure, one day, whether, the
+next, the gentleman will not be at Mazas, and the lady at St.
+Lazares."
+
+They had done their second bowl of punch, and finished their
+conversation.  They paid, and left.
+
+And Maxence and M. de Tregars were able, at last, to throw down
+their cards.
+
+Maxence was very pale; and big tears were rolling down his cheeks.
+
+"What disgrace!" he murmured: "This, then, is the other side of
+my father's existence!  This is the way in which he spent the
+millions which he stole; whilst, in the Rue St. Gilles, he
+deprived his family of the necessaries of life!"
+
+And, in a tone of utter discouragement,
+
+"Now it is indeed all over, and it is useless to continue our
+search.  My father is certainly guilty."
+
+But M. de Tregars was not the man thus to give up the game.
+
+"Guilty?  Yes," he said, "but dupe also."
+
+"Whose dupe?"
+
+"That's what we'll find out, you may depend upon it."
+
+"What! after what we have just heard?"
+
+"I have more hope than ever."
+
+"Did you learn any thing from Mme. Zelie Cadelle, then?"
+
+"Nothing more than you know by those two rascals' conversation."
+
+A dozen questions were pressing upon Maxence's lips; but M. de
+Tregars interrupted him.
+
+"In this case, my friend, less than ever must we trust appearances.
+Let me speak.  Was your father a simpleton?  No!  His ability to
+dissimulate, for years, his double existence, proves, on the
+contrary, a wonderful amount of duplicity.  How is it, then, that
+latterly his conduct has been so extraordinary and so absurd?  But
+you will doubtless say it was always such.  In that case, I answer
+you, No; for then his secret could not have been kept for a year.
+We hear that other women lived in that house before Mme. Zelie
+Cadelle.  But who were they?  What has become of them?  Is there
+any certainty that they have ever existed?  Nothing proves it.
+
+"The servants having been all changed, Amanda, the chambermaid, is
+the only one who knows the truth; and she will be very careful to
+say nothing about it.  Therefore, all our positive information
+goes back no farther than five months.  And what do we hear?  That
+your father seemed to try and make his extravagant expenditures as
+conspicuous as possible.  That he did not even take the trouble to
+conceal the source of the money he spent so profusely; for he told
+Mme. Zelie that he was at the end of his tether, and that, after
+having spent his own fortune, he was spending other people's money.
+He had announced his intended departure; he had sold the house, and
+received its price.  Finally, at the last moment, what does he do?
+
+"Instead of going off quietly and secretly, like a man who is
+running away, and who knows that he is pursued, he tells every one
+where he intends to go; he writes it on all his trunks, in letters
+half a foot high; and then rides in great display to the railway
+station, with a woman, several carriages, servants, etc.  What is
+the object of all this?  To get caught?  No, but to start a false
+scent.  Therefore, in his mind, every thing must have been arranged
+in advance, and the catastrophe was far from taking him by surprise;
+therefore the scene with M. de Thaller must have been prepared;
+therefore, it must have been on purpose that he left his pocketbook
+behind, with the bill in it that was to lead us straight here;
+therefore all we have seen is but a transparent comedy, got up for
+our special benefit, and intended to cover up the truth, and
+mislead the law."
+
+But Maxence was not entirely convinced.
+
+"Still," he remarked, "those enormous expenses."
+
+M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Have you any idea," he said, "what display can be made with a
+million?  Let us admit that your father spent two, four millions
+even.  The loss of the Mutual Credit is twelve millions.  What has
+become of the other eight?"
+
+And, as Maxence made no answer,
+
+"It is those eight millions," he added, "that I want, and that I
+shall have.  It is in Paris that your father is hid, I feel certain.
+We must find him; and we must make him tell the truth, which I
+already more than suspect."
+
+Whereupon, throwing on the table the pint of beer which he had not
+drunk, he walked out of the cafe with Maxence.
+
+"Here you are at last!" exclaimed the coachman, who had been
+waiting at the corner for over three hours, a prey to the utmost
+anxiety.
+
+But M. de Tregars had no time for explanations; and, pushing
+Maxence into the cab, he jumped in after him, crying to the
+coachman,
+
+"24 Rue Joquelet.  Five francs extra for yourself."  A driver who
+expects an extra five francs, always has, for five minutes at least,
+a horse as fast as Gladiateur.
+
+Whilst the cab was speeding on to its destination,
+
+"What is most important for us now," said M. de Tregars to Maxence,
+"is to ascertain how far the Mutual Credit crisis has progressed;
+and M. Latterman of the Rue Joquelet is the man in all Paris who
+can best inform us."
+
+Whoever has made or lost five hundred francs at the bourse knows M.
+Latterman, who, since the war, calls himself an Alsatian and curses
+with a fearful accent those "parparous Broossians."  This worthy
+speculator modestly calls himself a money-changer; but he would
+be a simpleton who should ask him for change: and it is certainly
+not that sort of business which gives him the three hundred thousand
+francs' profits which he pockets every year.
+
+When a company has failed, when it has been wound up, and the
+defrauded stockholders have received two or three per cent in all
+on their original investment, there is a prevailing idea that the
+certificates of its stocks are no longer good for any thing, except
+to light the fire.  That's a mistake.  Long after the company has
+foundered, its shares float, like the shattered debris which the
+sea casts upon the beach months after the ship has been wrecked.
+These shares M. Latterman collects, and carefully stores away; and
+upon the shelves of his office you may see numberless shares and
+bonds of those numerous companies which have absorbed, in the past
+twenty years, according to some statistics, twelve hundred millions,
+and, according to others, two thousand millions, of the public
+fortune.
+
+Say but a word, and his clerks will offer you some "Franco-American
+Company," some "Steam Navigation Company of Marseilles," some "Coal
+and Metal Company of the Asturias," some "Transcontinental
+Memphis and El Paso" (of the United States), some "Caumart Slate
+Works," and hundreds of others, which, for the general public, have
+no value, save that of old paper, that is from three to five cents
+a pound.  And yet speculators are found who buy and sell these
+rags.
+
+In an obscure corner of the bourse may be seen a miscellaneous
+population of old men with pointed beards, and overdressed young
+men, who deal in every thing salable, and other things besides.
+There are found foreign merchants, who will offer you stocks of
+merchandise, goods from auction, good claims to recover, and who
+at last will take out of their pockets an opera-glass, a Geneva
+watch (smuggled in), a revolver, or a bottle of patent hair-restorer.
+
+Such is the market to which drift those shares which were once
+issued to represent millions, and which now represent nothing but
+a palpable proof of the audacity of swindlers, and the credulity
+of their dupes.  And there are actually buyers for these shares,
+and they go up or down, according to the ordinary laws of supply
+and demand; for there is a demand for them, and here comes in the
+usefulness of M. Latterman's business.
+
+Does a tradesman, on the eve of declaring himself bankrupt, wish
+to defraud his creditors of a part of his assets, to conceal
+excessive expenses, or cover up some embezzlement, at once he goes
+to the Rue Joquelet, procures a select assortment of "Cantonal
+Credit," "Rossdorif Mines," or "Maumusson Salt Works," and puts
+them carefully away in his safe.
+
+And, when the receiver arrives,
+
+"There are my assets," he says.  "I have there some twenty, fifty,
+or a hundred thousand francs of stocks, the whole of which is not
+worth five francs to-day; but it isn't my fault.  I thought it a
+good investment; and I didn't sell, because I always thought the
+price would come up again."
+
+And he gets his discharge, because it would really be too cruel to
+punish a man because he has made unfortunate investments.
+
+Better than any one, M. Latterman knows for what purpose are
+purchased the valueless securities which he sells; and he actually
+advises his customers which to take in preference, in order that
+their purchase at the time of their issue may appear more natural,
+and more likely.  Nevertheless, he claims to be a perfectly honest
+man, and declares that he is no more responsible for the swindles
+that are committed by means of his stocks than a gunsmith for a
+murder committed with a gun that he has sold.
+
+"But he will surely be able to tell us all about the Mutual Credit,"
+repeated Maxence to M. de Tregars.
+
+Four o'clock struck when the carriage stopped in the Rue Joquelet.
+The bourse had just closed; and a few groups were still standing in
+the square, or along the railings.
+
+"I hope we shall find this Latterman at home," said Maxence.
+
+They started up the stairs (for it is up on the second floor that
+this worthy operator has his offices); and, having inquired,
+
+"M. Latterman is engaged with a customer," answered a clerk.
+"Please sit down and wait."
+
+M. Latterman's office was like all other caverns of the same kind.
+A very narrow space was reserved to the public; and all around,
+behind a heavy wire screen, the clerks could be seen busy with
+figures, or handling coupons.  On the right, over a small window,
+appeared the word, "CASHIER."  A small door on the left led to
+the private office.
+
+M. de Tregars and Maxence had patiently taken a seat on a hard
+leather bench, once red; and they were listening and looking on.
+
+There was considerable animation about the place.  Every few
+minutes, well-dressed young men came in with a hurried and
+important look, and, taking out of their pocket a memorandum-book,
+they would speak a few sentences of that peculiar dialect,
+bristling with figures, which is the language of the bourse.  At
+the end of fifteen or twenty minutes,
+
+"Will M. Latterman be engaged much longer?" inquired M. de Tregars.
+
+"I do not know," replied a clerk.
+
+At that very moment, the little door on the left opened, and the
+customer came out who had detained M. Latterman so long.  This
+customer was no other than M. Costeclar.  Noticing M. de Tregars
+and Maxence, who had risen at the noise of the door, he appeared
+most disagreeably surprised.  He even turned slightly pale, and
+took a step backwards, as if intending to return precipitately
+into the room that he was leaving; for M. Latterman's office,
+like that of all other large operators, had several doors, without
+counting the one that leads to the police-court.  But M. de
+Tregars gave him no time to effect this retreat.  Stepping suddenly
+forward,
+
+"Well?" he asked him in a tone that was almost threatening.
+
+The brilliant financier had condescended to take off his hat,
+usually riveted upon his head, and, with the smile of a knave caught
+in the act,
+
+"I did not expect to meet you here, my lord-marquis," he said.
+
+At the title of "marquis," everybody looked up.  "I believe you,
+indeed," said M. de Tregars.  "But what I want to know is, how
+is the matter progressing?"
+
+"The plot is thickening.  Justice is acting."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"It is a fact.  Jules Jottras, of the house of Jottras and Brother,
+was arrested this morning, just as he arrived at the bourse."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, it seems, he was an accomplice of Favoral; and it was
+he who sold the bonds stolen from the Mutual Credit."
+
+Maxence had started at the mention of his father's name but, with
+a significant glance, M. de Tregars bid him remain silent, and,
+in a sarcastic tone,
+
+"Famous capture!" he murmured.  "And which proves the
+clear-sightedness of justice."
+
+"But this is not all," resumed M. Costeclar.  "Saint Pavin, the
+editor of 'The Financial Pilot,' you know, is thought to be seriously
+compromised.  There was a rumor, at the close of the market, that a
+warrant either had been, or was about to be, issued against him."
+
+"And the Baron de Thaller?"
+
+The employes of the office could not help admiring M. Costeclar's
+extraordinary amount of patience.
+
+"The baron," he replied, "made his appearance at the bourse this
+afternoon, and was the object of a veritable ovation."
+
+"That is admirable!  And what did he say?"
+
+"That the damage was already repaired."
+
+"Then the shares of the Mutual Credit must have advanced."
+
+"Unfortunately, not.  They did not go above one hundred and ten
+francs."
+
+"Were you not astonished at that?"
+
+"Not much, because, you see, I am a business-man, I am; and I know
+pretty well how things work.  When they left M. de Thaller this
+morning, the stockholders of the Mutual Credit had a meeting; and
+they pledged themselves, upon honor, not to sell, so as not to break
+the market.  As soon as they had separated, each one said to himself,
+'Since the others are going to keep their stock, like fools, I am
+going to sell mine.' Now, as there were three or four hundred of
+them who argued the same way, the market was flooded with shares."
+
+Looking the brilliant financier straight in the eyes,
+
+"And yourself?" interrupted M. de Tregars.
+
+"I!" stammered M. Costeclar, so visibly agitated, that the clerks
+could not help laughing.
+
+"Yes.  I wish to know if you have been more faithful to your word
+than the stockholders of whom you are speaking, and whether you
+have done as we had agreed."
+
+"Certainly; and, if you find me here--"
+
+But M. de Tregars, placing his own hand over his shoulder, stopped
+him short.
+
+"I think I know what brought you here," he uttered; "and in a few
+moments I shall have ascertained."
+
+"I swear to you."
+
+"Don't swear.  If I am mistaken, so much the better for you.  If I
+am not mistaken, I'll prove to you that it is dangerous to try any
+sharp game on me, though I am not a business-man."
+
+Meantime M. Latterman, seeing no customer coming to take the place
+of the one who had left, became impatient at last, and appeared
+upon the threshold of his private office.
+
+He was a man still young, small, thick-set, and vulgar.  At the
+first glance, nothing of him could be seen but his abdomen,--a big,
+great, and ponderous abdomen, seat of his thoughts, and tabernacle
+of his aspirations, over which dangled a double gold chain, loaded
+with trinkets.  Above an apoplectic neck, red as that of a
+turkey-cock, stood his little head, covered with coarse red hair,
+cut very short.  He wore a heavy beard, trimmed in the form of a fan.
+His large, full-moon face was divided in two by a nose as flat as a
+Kalmuck's, and illuminated by two small eyes, in which could be read
+the most thorough duplicity.
+
+Seeing M. de Tregars and M. Costeclar engaged in conversation,
+
+"Why!  you know each other?" he said.
+
+M. de Tregars advanced a step,
+
+"We are even intimate friends," he replied.  "And it is very lucky
+that we should have met.  I am brought here by the same matter as
+our dear Costeclar; and I was just explaining to him that he has
+been too hasty, and that it would be best to wait three or four days
+longer."
+
+"That's just what I told him," echoed the honorable financier.
+
+Maxence understood only one thing,--that M. de Tregars had
+penetrated M. Costeclar's designs; and he could not sufficiently
+admire his presence of mind, and his skill in grasping an unexpected
+opportunity.
+
+"Fortunately there is nothing done yet," added M. Latterman.
+
+"And it is yet time to alter what has been agreed on," said M. de
+Tregars.  And, addressing himself to Costeclar,
+
+"Come," he added, "we'll fix things with M. Latterman."
+
+But the other, who remembered the scene in the Rue St. Gilles, and
+who had his own reasons to be alarmed, would sooner have jumped out
+of the window.
+
+"I am expected," he stammered.  "Arrange matters without me."
+
+"Then you give me carte blanche?"
+
+Ah, if the brilliant financier had dared!  But he felt upon him such
+threatening eyes, that he dared not even make a gesture of denial.
+
+"Whatever you do will be satisfactory," he said in the tone of a
+man who sees himself lost.
+
+And, as he was going out of the door, M. de Tregars stepped into
+M. Latterman's private office.  He remained only five minutes; and
+when he joined Maxence, whom he had begged to wait for him,
+
+"I think that we have got them," he said as they walked off.
+
+Their next visit was to M. Saint Pavin, at the office of "The
+Financial Pilot."  Every one must have seen at least one copy of
+that paper with its ingenious vignette, representing a bold mariner
+steering a boat, filled with timid passengers, towards the harbor
+of Million, over a stormy sea, bristling with the rocks of failure
+and the shoals of ruin.  The office of "The Pilot" is, in fact,
+less a newspaper office than a sort of general business agency.
+
+As at M. Latterman's, there are clerks scribbling behind wire
+screens, small windows, a cashier, and an immense blackboard, on
+which the latest quotations of the Rente, and other French and
+foreign securities, are written in chalk.
+
+As "The Pilot" spends some hundred thousand francs a year in
+advertising, in order to obtain subscribers; as, on the other hand,
+it only costs three francs a year,--it is clear that it is not on
+its subscriptions that it realizes any profits.  It has other
+sources of income: its brokerages first; for it buys, sells, and
+executes, as the prospectus says, all orders for stocks, bonds, or
+other securities, for the best interests of the client.  And it has
+plenty of business.
+
+To the opulent brokerages, must be added advertising and puffing,
+--another mine.  Six times out of ten, when a new enterprise is set
+on foot, the organizers send for Saint Pavin.  Honest men, or
+knaves, they must all pass through his hands.  They know it, and
+are resigned in advance.
+
+"We rely upon you," they say to him.
+
+"What advantages have you to offer?" he replies.
+
+Then they discuss the operation, the expected profits of the new
+company, and M. Saint Pavin's demands.  For a hundred thousand
+francs he promises bursts of lyrism; for fifty thousand he will be
+enthusiastic only.  Twenty thousand francs will secure a moderate
+praise of the affair; ten thousand, a friendly neutrality.  And,
+if the said company refuses any advantages to "The Pilot"--
+
+"Ah, you must beware!" says Saint Pavin.
+
+And from the very next number he commences his campaign.  He is
+moderate at first, and leaves a door open for his retreat.  He
+puts forth doubts only.  He does not know much about it.  "It may
+be an excellent thing; it may be a wretched one: the safest is to
+wait and see."
+
+That's the first hint.  If it remains without result, he takes up
+his pen again, and makes his doubts more pointed.
+
+He knows how to steer clear of libel suits, how to handle figures
+so as to demonstrate, according to the requirements of the case,
+that two and two make three, or make five.  It is seldom, that,
+before the third article, the company does not surrender at
+discretion.
+
+All Paris knows him; and he has many friends.  When M. de Tregars
+and Maxence arrived, they found the office full of people
+--speculators, brokers, go-betweens--come there to discuss
+the fluctuations of the day and the probabilities of the evening
+market.
+
+"M. Saint Pavin is engaged," one of the clerks told them.
+
+Indeed, his coarse voice could be distinctly heard behind the screen.
+Soon he appeared, showing out an old gentleman, who seemed utterly
+confused at the scene, and to whom he was screaming,
+
+"No, sir, no!  'The Financial Pilot' does not take that sort of
+business; and I find you very bold to come and propose to me a
+twopenny rascality."  But, noticing Maxence,
+
+"M. Favoral!" he said.  "By Jove! it is your good star that has
+brought you here.  Come into the private office, my dear sir: come,
+we'll have some fun now."
+
+Many of the people who were in the office had a word to say to M.
+Saint Pavin, some advice to ask him, an order to transmit, or some
+news to communicate.  They had all stepped forward, and were holding
+out their hands with a friendly smile.  He set them aside with his
+usual rudeness.
+
+"By and by.  I am busy now: leave me alone."
+
+And pushing Maxence towards the office-door, which he had just
+opened,
+
+"Come in, come in!" he said in a tone of extraordinary impatience.
+
+But M. de Tregars was coming in too; and, as he did not know him,
+
+"What do you want, you?" he asked roughly.
+
+"The gentleman is my best friend," said Maxence, turning to him;
+"and I have no secret from him."
+
+"Let him walk in, then; but, by Heaven, let us hurry!"
+
+Once very sumptuous, the private office of the editor of "The
+Financial Pilot" had fallen into a state of sordid dilapidation.
+If the janitor had received orders never to use a broom or a duster
+there, he obeyed them strictly.  Disorder and dirt reigned supreme.
+Papers and manuscripts lay in all directions; and on the broad
+sofas the mud from the boots of all those who had lounged upon
+them had been drying for months.  On the mantel-piece, in the
+midst of some half-dozen dirty glasses, stood a bottle of Madeira,
+half empty.  Finally, before the fireplace, on the carpet, and
+along the furniture, cigar and cigarette stumps were heaped in
+profusion.
+
+As soon as he had bolted the door, coming straight to Maxence,
+
+"What has become of your father?" inquired M. Saint Pavin rudely.
+
+Maxence started.  That was the last question he expected to hear.
+
+"I do not know," he replied.
+
+The manager of "The Pilot" shrugged his shoulders.  "That you
+should say so to the commissary of police, to the judges, and to
+all Favoral's enemies, I understand: it is your duty.  That they
+should believe you, I understand too; for, after all, what do
+they care?  But to me, a friend, though you may not think so, and
+who has reasons not to be credulous----"
+
+"I swear to you that we have no idea where he has taken refuge."
+
+Maxence said this with such an accent of sincerity, that doubt was
+no longer possible.  M. Saint Pavin's features expressed the utmost
+surprise.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "your father has gone without securing the
+means of hearing from his family?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Without saying a word of his intentions to your mother, or your
+sister, or yourself?"
+
+"Without one word."
+
+"Without leaving any money, perhaps?"
+
+"We found only an insignificant sum after he left."  The editor of
+"The Pilot" made a gesture of ironical admiration.  "Well, the
+thing is complete," he said; "and Vincent is a smarter fellow than
+I gave him credit for; or else he must have cared more for those
+infernal women of his than any one supposed."
+
+M. de Tregars, who had remained hitherto silent, now stepped
+forward.
+
+"What women?" he asked.
+
+"How do I know?" he replied roughly.  "How could any one ever find
+out any thing about a man who was more hermetically shut up in his
+coat than a Jesuit in his gown?"
+
+"M. Costeclar--"
+
+"That's another nice bird!  Still he may possibly have discovered
+something of Vincent's life; for he led him a pretty dance.
+Wasn't he about to marry Mlle. Favoral once?"
+
+"Yes, in spite of herself even."
+
+"Then you are right: he had discovered something.  But, if you rely
+on him to tell you anything whatever, you are reckoning without
+your host."
+
+"Who knows?" murmured M. de Tregars.
+
+But M. Saint Pavin heard him not.  Prey to a violent agitation, he
+was pacing up and down the room.
+
+"Ah, those men of cold appearance," he growled, "those men with
+discreet countenance, those close-shaving calculators, those
+moralists!  What fools they do make of themselves when once
+started!  Who can imagine to what insane extremities this one
+may have been driven under the spur of some mad passion!"
+
+And stamping violently his foot upon the carpet, from which arose
+clouds of dust,
+
+"And yet," he swore, "I must find him.  And, by thunder! wherever
+he may be hid, I shall find him."
+
+M. de Tregars was watching M. Saint Pavin with a scrutinizing eye.
+
+"You have a great interest in finding him, then?" he said.
+
+The other stopped short.
+
+"I have the interest," he replied, "of a man who thought himself
+shrewd, and who has been taken in like a child,--of a man to whom
+they had promised wonders, and who finds his situation imperilled,
+--of a man who is tired of working for a band of brigands who heap
+millions upon millions, and to whom, for all reward, they offer
+the police-court and a retreat in the State Prison for his old age,
+--in a word, the interests of a man who will and shall have revenge,
+by all that is holy!"
+
+"On whom?"
+
+"On the Baron de Thaller, sir!  How, in the world, has he been
+able to compel Favoral to assume the responsibility of all, and
+to disappear?  What enormous sum has he given to him?"
+
+"Sir," interrupted Maxence, "my father went off without a sou."
+
+M. Saint Pavin burst out in a loud laugh.
+
+"And the twelve millions?" he asked.  "What has become of them?
+Do you suppose they have been distributed in deeds of charity?"
+
+And without waiting for any further objections,
+
+"And yet," he went on, "it is not with money alone that a man can
+be induced to disgrace himself, to confess himself a thief and a
+forger, to brave the galleys, to give up everything,--country,
+family, friends.  Evidently the Baron de Thaller must have had
+other means of action, some hold on Favoral--"
+
+M. de Tregars interrupted him.
+
+"You speak," he said, "as if you were absolutely certain of M. de Thaller's
+complicity."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Why don't you inform on him, then?"
+
+The editor of "The Pilot" started back.  "What!" he exclaimed, "draw
+the fingers of the law into my own business!  You don't think of it!
+Besides, what good would that do me?  I have no proofs of my
+allegations.  Do you suppose that Thaller has not taken his
+precautions, and tied my hands?  No, no! without Favoral there is
+nothing to be done."
+
+"Do you suppose, then, that you could induce him to surrender
+himself?"
+
+"No, but to furnish me the proofs I need, to send Thaller where they
+have already sent that poor Jottras."
+
+And, becoming more and more excited,
+
+"But it is not in a month that I should want those proofs," he went
+on, "nor even in two weeks, but to-morrow, but at this very moment.
+Before the end of the week, Thaller will have wound up the operation,
+realized, Heaven knows how many millions, and put every thing in
+such nice order, that justice, who in financial matters is not of
+the first capacity, will discover nothing wrong.  If he can do that,
+he is safe, he is beyond reach, and will be dubbed a first-class
+financier.  Then to what may he not aspire!  Already he talks of
+having himself elected deputy; and he says everywhere that he has
+found, to marry his daughter, a gentleman who bears one of the
+oldest names in France,--the Marquis de Tregars."
+
+"Why, this is the Marquis de Tregars!" exclaimed Maxence, pointing
+to Marius.
+
+For the first time, M. Saint Pavin took the trouble to examine his
+visitor; and he, who knew life too well not to be a judge of men,
+he seemed surprised.
+
+"Please excuse me, sir," he uttered with a politeness very different
+from his usual manner, "and permit me to ask you if you know the
+reasons why M. de Thaller is so prodigiously anxious to have you
+for a son-in-law."
+
+"I think," replied M. de Tregars coldly, "that M. de Thaller would
+not be sorry to deprive me of the right to seek the causes of my
+father's ruin."
+
+But he was interrupted by a great noise of voices in the adjoining
+room; and almost at once there was a loud knock at the door, and a
+voice called,
+
+"In the name of the law!"
+
+The editor of "The Pilot" had become whiter than his shirt.
+
+"That's what I was afraid of," he said.  "Thaller has got ahead of
+me; and perhaps I may be lost."
+
+Meantime he did not lose his wits.  Quick as thought he took out of
+a drawer a package of letters, threw them into the fireplace, and
+set fire to them, saying, in a voice made hoarse by emotion and
+anger,
+
+"No one shall come in until they are burnt."
+
+But it required an incredibly long time to make them catch fire;
+and M. Saint Pavin, kneeling before the hearth, was stirring them
+up, and scattering them, to make them burn faster.
+
+"And now," said M. de Tregars, "will you hesitate to deliver up
+the Baron de Thaller into the hands of justice?"
+
+He turned around with flashing eyes.
+
+"Now," he replied, "if I wish to save myself, I must save him too.
+Don't you understand that he holds me?"
+
+And, seeing that the last sheets of his correspondence were consumed,
+
+"You may open now," he said to Maxence.
+
+Maxence obeyed; and a commissary of police, wearing his scarf of
+office, rushed into the room; whilst his men, not without difficulty,
+kept back the crowd in the outer office.
+
+The commissary, who was an old hand, and had perhaps been on a
+hundred expeditions of this kind, had surveyed the scene at a
+glance.  Noticing in the fireplace the carbonized debris, upon
+which still fluttered an expiring flame,
+
+"That's the reason, then," he said, "why you were so long opening
+the door?"
+
+A sarcastic smile appeared upon the lips of the editor of "The Pilot."
+
+"Private matters," he replied; "women's letters."
+
+"This will be moral evidence against you, sir."
+
+"I prefer it to material evidence."
+
+Without condescending to notice the impertinence, the commissary
+was casting a suspicious glance on Maxence and M. de Tregars.
+
+"Who are these gentlemen who were closeted with you?" he asked.
+
+"Visitors, sir.  This is M. Favoral."
+
+"The son of the cashier of the Mutual Credit?"
+
+"Exactly; and this gentleman is the Marquis de Tregars."
+
+"You should have opened the door when you heard a knocking in the
+name of the law," grumbled the commissary.
+
+But he did not insist.  Taking a paper from his pocket, he opened
+it, and, handing it to M. Saint Pavin,
+
+"I have orders to arrest you," he said.  "Here is the warrant."
+
+With a careless gesture, the other pushed it back.  "What's the use
+of reading?" he said.  "When I heard of the arrest of that poor
+Jottras, I guessed at once what was in store for me.  It is about
+the Mutual Credit swindle, I imagine."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"I have no more to do with it than yourself, sir; and I shall have
+very little trouble in proving it.  But that is not your business.
+And you are going, I suppose, to put the seals on my papers?"
+
+"Except on those that you have burnt."
+
+M. Saint Pavin burst out laughing.  He had recovered his coolness
+and his impudence, and seemed as much at ease as if it were the
+most natural thing in the world.
+
+"Shall I be allowed to speak to my clerks," he asked, "and to give
+them my instructions?"
+
+"Yes," replied the commissary, "but in my presence."
+
+The clerks, being called, appeared, consternation depicted upon
+their countenances, but joy sparkling in their eyes.  In reality
+they were delighted at the misfortune which befell their employer.
+
+"You see what happens to me, my boys," he said.  "But don't be
+uneasy.  In less than forty-eight hours, the error of which I am
+the victim will be recognized, and I shall be liberated on bail.
+At any rate, I can rely upon you, can't I?"
+
+They all swore that they would be more attentive and more zealous
+than ever.
+
+And then addressing himself to his cashier, who was his
+confidential and right-hand man,
+
+"As to you, Bernard," he said, "you will run to M. de Thaller's,
+and advise him of what's going on.  Let him have funds ready; for
+all our depositors will want to draw out their money at once.  You
+will then call at the printing-office: have my article on the
+Mutual Credit kept out, and insert in its place some financial news
+cut out from other papers.  Above all, don't mention my arrest,
+unless M. de Thaller should demand it.  Go ahead, and let 'The
+Pilot' appear as usual: that's important."
+
+He had, whilst speaking, lighted a cigar.  The honest man, victim
+of human iniquity, has not a firmer and more tranquil countenance.
+
+"Justice does not know," he said to the commissary, who was fumbling
+in all the drawers of the desk, "what irreparable damage she may
+cause by arresting so hastily a man who has charge of immense
+interests like me.  It is the fortune of ten or twelve small
+capitalists that is put in jeopardy."
+
+Already the witnesses of the arrest had retired, one by one, to go
+and scatter the news along the Boulevard, and also to see what
+could be made out of it; for, at the bourse, news is money.
+
+M. de Tregars and Maxence left also.  As they passed the door,
+
+"Don't you say any thing about what I told you," M. Saint Pavin
+recommended to them.
+
+M. de Tregars made no answer.  He had the contracted features and
+tightly-drawn lips of a man who is maturing a grave determination,
+which, once taken, will be irrevocable.
+
+Once in the street, and when Maxence had opened the carriage-door,
+
+"We are going to separate here," he told him in that brief tone of
+voice which reveals a settled plan.  "I know enough now to venture
+to call at M. de Thaller's.  There only shall I be able to see how
+to strike the decisive blow.  Return to the Rue St. Gilles, and
+relieve your mother's and sister's anxiety.  You shall see me during
+the evening, I promise you."
+
+And, without waiting for an answer, he jumped into the cab, which
+started off.
+
+But it was not to the Rue St. Gilles that Maxence went.  He was
+anxious, first, to see Mlle. Lucienne, to tell her the events of
+that day, the busiest of his existence; to tell her his discoveries,
+his surprises, his anxieties, and his hopes.
+
+To his great surprise, he failed to find her at the Hotel des
+Folies.  She had gone riding at three o'clock, M. Fortin told him,
+and had not yet returned; but she could not be much longer, as it
+was already getting dark.  Maxence went out again then, to see if
+he could not meet her.  He had walked a little way along the
+Boulevard, when, at some distance off, on the Place du Chateau
+d'Eau, he thought he noticed an unusual bustle.  Almost
+immediately he heard shouts of terror.  Frightened people were
+running in all directions; and right before him a carriage, going
+at full gallop, passed like a flash.
+
+But, quick as it had passed, he had time to recognize Mlle.
+Lucienne, pale, and clinging desperately to the seat.  Wild with
+fear, he started after it as fast as he could run.  It was clear
+that the driver had no control over his horses.  A policeman who
+tried to stop them was knocked down.  Ten steps farther, the
+hind-wheel of the carriage, catching the wheel of a heavy wagon,
+broke to splinters; and Mlle. Lucienne was thrown into the street,
+whilst the driver fell over on the sidewalk.
+
+
+
+VI
+
+The Baron de Thaller was too practical a man to live in the same
+house, or even in the same district, where his offices were
+located.  To dwell in the midst of his business; to be constantly
+subjected to the contact of his employes, to the unkindly comments
+of a crowd of subordinates; to expose himself to hourly annoyances,
+to sickening solicitations, to the reclamations and eternal
+complaints of his stockholders and his clients!  Pouah!  He'd have
+given up the business first.  And so, on the very days when he had
+established the offices of the Mutual Credit in the Rue de
+Quatre-Septembre, he had purchased a house in the Rue de la
+Pepiniere within a step of the Faubourg St. Honore.
+
+It was a brand-new house, which had never yet been occupied, and
+which had just been erected by a contractor who was almost
+celebrated, towards 1866, at the moment of the great transformations
+of Paris, when whole blocks were leveled to the ground, and rose
+again so rapidly, that one might well wonder whether the masons,
+instead of a trowel, did not make use of a magician's wand.
+
+This contractor, named Parcimieux, had come from the Limousin in
+1860 with his carpenter's tools for all fortune, and, in less than
+six years, had accumulated, at the lowest estimate, six millions
+of francs.  Only he was a modest man, and took as much pains to
+conceal his fortune, and offend no one, as most _parvenus_ do to
+display their wealth, and insult the public.
+
+Though he could hardly sign his name, yet he knew and practised
+the maxim of the Greek philosopher, which is, perhaps, the true
+secret of happiness,--hide thy life.  And there were no expedients
+to which he did not resort to hide it.  At the time of his greatest
+prosperity, for instance, having need of a carriage, he had applied
+to the manager of the Petites Voitures Company, and had had built
+for himself two cabs, outwardly similar in every respect to those
+used by the company, but within, most luxuriously upholstered, and
+drawn by horses of common appearance, but who could go their
+twenty-five miles in two hours any day.  And these he had hired by
+the year.
+
+Having his carriage, the worthy builder determined to have, also,
+his house, his own house, built by himself.  But this required
+infinitely greater precautions still.
+
+"For, as you may imagine," he explained to his friends, "a man does
+not make as much money as I have, without also making many cruel,
+bitter, and irreconcilable enemies.  I have against me all the
+builders who have not succeeded, all the sub-contractors I employ,
+and who say that I speculate on their poverty, and the thousands of
+workmen who work for me, and swear that I grind them down to the
+dust.  Already they call me brigand, slaver, thief, leech.  What
+would it be, if they saw me living in a beautiful house of my own?
+They'd swear that I could not possibly have got so rich honestly,
+and that I must have committed some crimes.  Besides, to build me
+a handsome house on the street would be, in case of a mob, setting
+up windows for the stones of all the rascals who have been in my
+employment."
+
+Such were M. Parcimieux's thoughts, when, as he expressed it, he
+resolved to build.
+
+A lot was for sale in the Rue de la Pepiniere.  He bought it, and
+at the same time purchased the adjoining house, which he
+immediately caused to be torn down.  This operation placed in his
+possession a vast piece of ground, not very wide, but of great
+depth, stretching, as it did, back to the Rue Labaume.  At once
+work was begun according to a plan which his architect and himself
+had spent six months in maturing.  On the line of the street arose
+a house of the most modest appearance, two stories in height only,
+with a very high and very wide carriage-door for the passage of
+vehicles.  This was to deceive the vulgar eye,--the outside of the
+cab, as it were.  Behind this house, between a spacious court and a
+vast garden was built the residence of which M. Parcimieux had
+dreamed; and it really was an exceptional building both by the
+excellence of the materials used, and by the infinite care which
+presided over the minutest details.  The marbles for the vestibule
+and the stairs were brought from Africa, Italy, and Corsica.  He
+sent to Rome for workmen for the mosaics.  The joiner and
+locksmithing work was intrusted to real artists.
+
+Repeating to every one that he was working for a great foreign lord,
+whose orders he went to take every morning, he was free to indulge
+his most extravagant fancies, without fearing jests or unpleasant
+remarks.
+
+Poor old man!  The day when the last workman had driven in the
+last nail, an attack of apoplexy carried him off, without giving
+him time to say, "Oh!"  Two days after, all his relatives from the
+Limousin were swooping into Paris like a pack of wolves.  Six
+millions to divide: what a godsend!  Litigation followed, as a
+matter of course; and the house was offered for sale under a
+judgment.
+
+M. de Thaller bought it for two hundred and seventy-five thousand
+francs,--about one-third what it had cost to build.
+
+A month later he had moved into it; and the expenses which he
+incurred to furnish it in a style worthy of the building itself
+was the talk of the town.  And yet he was not fully satisfied
+with his purchase.
+
+Unlike M. Parcimieux, he had no wish whatever to conceal his wealth.
+
+What! he owned one of those exquisite houses which excite at once
+the wonder and the envy of passers-by, and that house was hid
+behind such a common-looking building!
+
+"I must have that shanty pulled down," he said from time to time.
+
+And then he thought of something else; and the "shanty" was still
+standing on that evening, when, after leaving Maxence, M. de
+Tregars presented himself at M. de Thaller's.
+
+The servants had, doubtless, received their instructions; for, as
+soon as Marius emerged from the porch of the front-house, the
+porter advanced from his lodge, bent double, his mouth open to his
+very ears by the most obsequious smile.
+
+Without waiting for a question,
+
+"The baron has not yet come home--," he said.  "But he cannot be
+much longer away; and certainly the baroness is at home for my
+lord-marquis.  Please, then, give yourself the trouble to pass."
+
+And, standing aside, he struck upon the enormous gong that stood
+near his lodge a single sharp blow, intended to wake up the
+footman on duty in the vestibule, and to announce a visitor of
+note.  Slowly, but not without quietly observing every thing, M.
+de Tregars crossed the courtyard, covered with fine sand,--they
+would have powdered it with golden dust, if they had dared,--and
+surrounded on all sides with bronze baskets, in which beautiful
+rhododendrons were blossoming.
+
+It was nearly six o'clock.  The manager of the Mutual Credit dined
+at seven; and the preparations for this important event were
+everywhere apparent.  Through the large windows of the dining-room
+the steward could be seen presiding over the setting of the table.
+The butler was coming up from the cellar, loaded with bottles.
+Finally, through the apertures of the basement arose the appetizing
+perfumes of the kitchen.
+
+What enormous business it required to support such a style, to
+display this luxury, which would shame one of those German
+princelings, who exchanged the crown of their ancestors for a
+Prussian livery gilded with French gold!--other people's money.
+
+Meantime, the blow struck by the porter on the gong had produced
+the desired effect; and the gates of the vestibule seemed to open
+of their own accord before M. de Tregars as he ascended the stoop.
+
+This vestibule with the splendor of which Mlle. Lucienne had been
+so deeply impressed, would, indeed, have been worthy the attention
+of an artist, had it been allowed to retain the simple grandeur
+and the severe harmony which M. Parcimieux's architect had imparted
+to it.
+
+But M. de Thaller, as he was proud of boasting, had a perfect horror
+of simplicity; and, wherever he discovered a vacant space as big as
+his hand, he hung a picture, a bronze, or a piece of china, any
+thing and anyhow.
+
+The two footmen were standing when M. de Tregars came in.  Without
+asking any question, "Will M. le Marquis please follow me?" said
+the youngest.
+
+And, opening the broad glass doors, he began walking in front of
+M. de Tregars, along a staircase with marble railing, the elegant
+proportions of which were absolutely ruined by a ridiculous
+profusion of "objects of art" of all nature, and from all sources.
+This staircase led to a vast semicircular landing, upon which,
+between columns of precious marble, opened three wide doors.  The
+footman opened the middle one, which led to M. de Thaller's
+picture-gallery, a celebrated one in the financial world, and
+which had acquired for him the reputation of an enlightened amateur.
+
+But M. de Tregars had no time to examine this gallery, which,
+moreover, he already knew well enough.  The footman showed him
+into the small drawing-room of the baroness, a bijou of a room,
+furnished in gilt and crimson satin.
+
+"Will M. le Marquis be kind enough to take a seat?" he said.  "I
+run to notify Mme. le Baronne of M. le Marquis's visit."
+
+The footman uttered these titles of nobility with a singular pomp,
+and as if some of their lustre was reflected upon himself.
+Nevertheless, it was evident that "Marquis" jingled to his ear much
+more pleasantly than "Baronne."
+
+Remaining alone, M. de Tregars threw himself upon a seat.  Worn out
+by the emotions of the day, and by an extraordinary contention of
+mind, he felt thankful for this moment of respite, which permitted
+him, at the moment of a decisive step, to collect all his energy
+and all his presence of mind.
+
+And after two minutes he was so deeply absorbed in his thoughts,
+that he started, like a man suddenly aroused from his sleep, at
+the sound of an opening door.  At the same moment he heard a slight
+exclamation of surprise, "Ah!"
+
+Instead of the Baroness de Thaller, it was her daughter, Mlle.
+Cesarine, who had come in.
+
+Stepping forward to the centre of the room, and acknowledging by a
+familiar gesture M. de Tregars' most respectful bow,
+
+"You should warn people," she said.  "I came here to look for my
+mother, and it is you I find.  Why, you scared me to death.  What
+a crack!  Princess dear!"
+
+And taking the young man's hand, and pressing it to her breast,
+
+"Feel," she added, "how my heart beats."
+
+Younger than Mlle. Gilberte, Mlle. Cesarine de Thaller had a
+reputation for beauty so thoroughly established, that to call it
+in question would have seemed a crime to her numerous admirers.
+And really she was a handsome person.  Rather tall and well made,
+she had broad hips, the waist round and supple as a steel rod,
+and a magnificent throat.  Her neck was, perhaps, a little too
+thick and too short; but upon her robust shoulders was scattered
+in wild ringlets the rebellious hair that escaped from her comb.
+She was a blonde, but of that reddish blonde, almost as dark as
+mahogany, which Titian admired, and which the handsome Venetians
+obtained by means of rather repulsive practices, and by exposing
+themselves to the noonday sun on the terraces of their palaces.
+Her complexion had the gilded hues of amber.  Her lips, red as
+blood, displayed as they opened, teeth of dazzling whiteness.  In
+her large prominent eyes, of a milky blue, like the Northern skies,
+laughed the eternal irony of a soul that no longer has faith in
+any thing.  More anxious of her fame than of good taste, she wore
+a dress of doubtful shade, puffed up by means of an extravagant
+pannier, and buttoned obliquely across the chest, according to
+that ridiculous and ungraceful style invented by flat or humped
+women.
+
+Throwing herself upon a chair, and placing cavalierly one foot
+upon another, so as to display her leg, which was admirable,
+
+"Do you know that it's perfectly stunning to see you here?" she
+said to M. de Tregars.  "Just imagine, for a moment, what a face
+the Baron Three Francs Sixty-eight will make when he sees you!"
+
+It was her father whom she called thus, since the day when she had
+discovered that there was a German coin called thaler, which
+represents three francs and sixty-eight centimes in French currency.
+
+"You know, I suppose," she went on, "that papa has just been badly
+stuck?"
+
+M. de Tregars was excusing himself in vague terms; but it was one
+of Mlle. Cesarine's habits never to listen to the answers which
+were made to her questions.
+
+"Favoral," she continued, "papa's cashier, has just started on an
+international picnic.  Did you know him?"
+
+"Very little."
+
+"An old fellow, always dressed like a country sexton, and with a
+face like an undertaker.  And the Baron Three Francs Sixty-eight,
+an old bird, was fool enough to be taken in by him!  For he was
+taken in.  He had a face like a man whose chimney is on fire, when
+he came to tell us, mamma and myself, that Favoral had gone off
+with twelve millions."
+
+"And has he really carried off that enormous sum?"
+
+"Not entire, of course, because it was not since day before
+yesterday only that he began digging into the Mutual Credit's pile.
+There were years that this venerable old swell was leading a
+somewhat-variegated existence, in company with rather-funny ladies,
+you know.  And as he was not exactly calculated to be adored at par,
+why, it cost papa's stockholders a pretty lively premium.  But,
+anyhow, he must have carried off a handsome nugget."
+
+And, bouncing to the piano, she began an accompaniment loud enough
+to crack the window-panes, singing at the same time the popular
+refrain of the "Young Ladies of Pautin":
+
+           Cashier, you've got the bag;
+           Quick on your little nag,
+           And then, ho, ho, for Belgium!
+
+Any one but Marius de Tregars would have been doubtless strangely
+surprised at Mlle. de Thaller's manners.  But he had known her for
+some time already: he was familiar with her past life, her habits,
+her tastes, and her pretensions.  Until the age of fifteen, Mlle.
+Cesarine had remained shut up in one of those pleasant Parisian
+boarding-schools, where young ladies are initiated into the great
+art of the toilet, and from which they emerge armed with the
+gayest theories, knowing how to see without seeming to look, and
+to lie boldly without blushing; in a word, ripe for society.  The
+directress of the boarding-school, a lady of the ton, who had met
+with reverses, and who was a good deal more of a dressmaker than
+a teacher, said of Mlle. Cesarine, who paid her three thousand
+five hundred francs a year,
+
+"She gives the greatest hopes for the future; and I shall certainly
+make a superior woman of her."
+
+But the opportunity was not allowed her.  The Baroness de Thaller
+discovered, one morning, that it was impossible for her to live
+without her daughter, and that her maternal heart was lacerated by
+a separation which was against the sacred laws of nature.  She took
+her home, therefore, declaring that nothing, henceforth, not even
+her marriage, should separate them, and that she should finish
+herself the education of the dear child.  From that moment, in fact,
+whoever saw the Baroness de Thaller would also see Mlle. Cesarine
+following in her wake.
+
+A girl of fifteen, discreet and well-trained, is a convenient
+chaperon; a chaperon which enables a woman to show herself boldly
+where she might not have dared to venture alone.  In presence of
+a mother followed by her daughter, disconcerted slander hesitates,
+and dares not speak.
+
+Under the pretext that Cesarine was still but a child and of no
+consequence, Mme. de Thaller dragged her everywhere,--to the bois
+and to the races, visiting and shopping, to balls and parties, to
+the watering-places and the seashore, to the restaurant, and to
+all the "first nights" at the Palais Royal, the Bouffes, the
+Varietes, and the Delassements.  It was, therefore, especially at
+the theatre, that the education of Mlle. de Thaller, so happily
+commenced, had received the finishing touch.  At sixteen she was
+thoroughly familiar with the repertoire of the genre theatres,
+imitated Schneider far better than ever did Silly, and sang with
+surprising intonations and astonishing gestures Blanche d'Autigny's
+successful moods, and Theresa's most wanton verses.
+
+Between times, she studied the fashion papers, and formed her
+style in reading the "Vie Parisienne," whose most enigmatic articles
+had no allusions sufficiently obscure to escape her penetration.
+
+She learned to ride on horseback, to fence and to shoot, and
+distinguished herself at pigeon-matches.  She kept a betting-book,
+played Trente et Quarante at Monaco; and Baccarat had no secrets
+for her.  At Trouville she astonished the natives with the startling
+novelty of her bathing-costumes; and, when she found herself the
+centre of a reasonable circle of lookers-on, she threw herself in
+the water with a pluck that drew upon her the applause of the
+bathing-masters.  She could smoke a cigarette, empty nearly a glass
+of champagne; and once her mother was obliged to bring her home,
+and put her quick to bed, because she had insisted upon trying
+absinthe, and her conversation had become somewhat too eccentric.
+
+Leading such a life, it was difficult that public opinion should
+always spare Mme. and Mlle. de Thaller.  There were sceptics who
+insinuated that this steadfast friendship between mother and daughter
+had very much the appearance of the association of two women bound
+together by the complicity of a common secret.  A broker told how,
+one evening, or one night rather, for it was nearly two o'clock,
+happening to pass in front of the Moulin-Rouge, he had seen the
+Baroness and Mlle. Cesarine coming out, accompanied by a gentleman,
+to him unknown, but who, he was quite sure, was not the Baron de
+Thaller.
+
+A certain journey which mother and daughter had undertaken in the
+heart of the winter, and which had lasted not less than two months,
+had been generally attributed to an imprudence, the consequences
+of which it had become impossible to conceal. They had been in
+Italy, they said when they returned; but no one had seen them
+there.  Yet, as Mme. and Mlle. de Thaller's mode of life was, after
+all, the same as that of a great many women who passed for being
+perfectly proper, as there was no positive or palpable fact brought
+against them, as no name was mentioned, many people shrugged their
+shoulders, and replied,
+
+"Pure slanders."
+
+And why not, since the Baron de Thaller, the most interested party,
+held himself satisfied?
+
+To the ill-advised friends who ventured some allusions to the public
+rumors, he replied, according to his humor,
+
+"My daughter can play the mischief generally, if she sees fit.  As
+I shall give a dowry of a million, she will always find a husband."
+
+Or else, "And what of it?  Do not American young ladies enjoy
+unlimited freedom?  Are they not constantly seen going out with
+young gentlemen, or walking or traveling alone?  Are they, for all
+that, less virtuous than our girls, who are kept under such close
+watch?  Do they make less faithful wives, or less excellent mothers?
+Hypocrisy is not virtue."
+
+To a certain extent, the Manager of the Mutual Credit was right.
+
+Already Mlle. de Thaller had had to decide upon several quite
+suitable offers of marriage and she had squarely refused them all.
+
+"A husband!" she had answered each time.  "Thank you, none for me.
+I have good enough teeth to eat up my dowry myself.  Later, we'll
+see,--when I've cut my wisdom teeth, and I am tired of my bachelor
+life."
+
+She did not seem near getting tired of it, though she pretended
+that she had no more illusions, was thoroughly blasee, had
+exhausted every sensation, and that life henceforth had no surprise
+in reserve for her.  Her reception of M. de Tregars was, therefore,
+one of Mlle. Cesarine's least eccentricities, as was also that
+sudden fancy; to apply to the situation one of the most idiotic
+rondos of her repertoires:
+
+          "Cashier, you've got the bag;
+           Quick on your little nag"
+
+Neither did she spare him a single verse: and, when she stopped,
+
+"I see with pleasure," said M. de Tregars, "that the embezzlement
+of which your father has just been the victim does not in any way
+offend your good humor."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Would you have me cry," she said, "because the stockholders of the
+Baron Three Francs Sixty-eight have been swindled?  Console
+yourself: they are accustomed to it."
+
+And, as M. de Tregars made no answer,
+
+"And in all that," she went on, "I see no one to pity except the
+wife and daughter of that old stick Favoral."
+
+"They are, indeed, much to be pitied."
+
+"They say that the mother is a good old thing."
+
+"She is an excellent person."
+
+"And the daughter?  Costeclar was crazy about her once.  He made
+eyes like a carp in love, as he told us, to mamma and myself,
+'She is an angel, mesdames, an angel!  And when I have given her a
+little chic!'  Now tell me, is she really as good looking as all
+that?"
+
+"She is quite good looking."
+
+"Better looking than me?"
+
+"It is not the same style, mademoiselle."
+
+Mlle. de Thaller had stopped singing; but she had not left the
+piano.  Half turned towards M. de Tregars, she ran her fingers
+listlessly over the keys, striking a note here and there, as if to
+punctuate her sentences.
+
+"Ah, how nice!" she exclaimed, "and, above all, how gallant!
+Really, if you venture often on such declarations, mothers would be
+very wrong to trust you alone with their daughters."
+
+"You did not understand me right, mademoiselle."
+
+"Perfectly right, on the contrary.  I asked you if I was better
+looking than Mlle. Favoral; and you replied to me, that it was not
+the same style."
+
+"It is because, mademoiselle, there is indeed no possible comparison
+between you, who are a wealthy heiress, and whose life is a
+perpetual enchantment, and a poor girl, very humble, and very modest,
+who rides in the omnibus, and who makes her dresses herself."
+
+A contemptuous smile contracted Mlle. Cesarine's lips.
+
+"Why not?" she interrupted.  "Men have such funny tastes!"
+
+And, turning around suddenly, she began another rondo, no less
+famous than the first, and borrowed, this time, from the third act
+of the Petites-Blanchisseuses:
+
+           "What matters the quality?
+           Beauty alone takes the prize
+           Women before man must rise,
+           And claim perfect equality."
+
+Very attentively M. de Tregars was observing her.  He had not been
+the dupe of the great surprise she had manifested when she found
+him in the little parlor.
+
+"She knew I was here," he thought; "and it is her mother who has
+sent her to me.  But why?  and for what purpose?"
+
+"With all that," she resumed, "I see the sweet Mme. Favoral and her
+modest daughter in a terribly tight place.  What a 'bust,' marquis!"
+
+"They have a great deal of courage, mademoiselle."
+
+"Naturally.  But, what is better, the daughter has a splendid voice:
+at least, so her professor told Costeclar.  Why should she not go on
+the stage?  Actresses make lots of money, you know.  Papa'll help
+her, if she wishes.  He has a great deal of influence in the
+theatres, papa has."
+
+"Mme. and Mlle. Favoral have friends."
+
+"Ah, yes!  Costeclar."
+
+"Others besides."
+
+"I beg your pardon; but it seems to me that this one will do to
+begin with.  He is gallant, Costeclar, extremely gallant, and,
+moreover, generous as a lord.  Why should he not offer to that
+youthful and timid damsel a nice little position in mahogany and
+rosewood?  That way, we should have the pleasure of meeting her
+around the lake."
+
+And she began singing again, with a slight variation,
+
+           "Manon, who, before the war,
+           Carried clothes for a living,
+           Now for her gains is trusting
+           To that insane Costeclar."
+
+"Ah, that big red-headed girl is terribly provoking!" thought M.
+de Tregars.
+
+But, as he did not as yet understand very clearly what she wished
+to come to, he kept on his guard, and remained cold as marble.
+
+Already she had again turned towards him.
+
+"What a face you are making!" she said.  "Are you jealous of the
+fiery Costeclar, by chance?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle, no!"
+
+"Then, why don't you want him to succeed in his love?  But he will,
+you'll see!  Five hundred francs on Costeclar!  Do you take it?
+No?  I am sorry.  It's twenty-five napoleons lost for me.  I know
+very well that Mlle.--what's her name?"
+
+"Gilberte."
+
+"Hallo! a nice name for a cashier's daughter!  I am aware that she
+once sent that poor Costeclar and his offer to--Chaillot.  But she
+had resources then; whilst now--It's stupid as it can be; but
+people have to eat!"
+
+"There are still women, mademoiselle, capable of starving to death."
+
+M. de Tregars now felt satisfied.  It seemed evident to him that
+they had somehow got wind of his intentions; that Mlle. de Thaller
+had been sent to feel the ground; and that she only attacked Mlle.
+Gilberte in order to irritate him, and compel him, in a moment of
+anger, to declare himself.
+
+"Bash!" she said, "Mlle. Favoral is like all the others.  If she
+had to select between the amiable Costeclar and a charcoal furnace,
+it is not the furnace she would take."
+
+At all times, Marius de Tregars disliked Mlle. Cesarine to a supreme
+degree; but at this moment, without the pressing desire he had to
+see the Baron and Baroness de Thaller, he would have withdrawn.
+
+"Believe me, mademoiselle," he uttered coldly.  "Spare a poor girl
+stricken by a most cruel misfortune.  Worse might happen to you."
+
+"To me!  And what the mischief do you suppose can happen me?"
+
+"Who knows?"
+
+She started to her feet so violently, that she upset the piano-stool.
+
+"Whatever it may be," she exclaimed, "I say in advance, I am glad!"
+
+And as M. de Tregars turned his head in some surprise,
+
+"Yes, I am glad!" she repeated, "because it would be a change; and
+I am sick of the life I lead.  Yes, sick to be eternally and
+invariably happy of that same dreary happiness.  And to think that
+there are idiots who believe that I amuse myself, and who envy my
+fate!  To think, that, when I ride through the streets, I hear girls
+exclaim, whilst looking at me, 'Isn't she lucky?'  Little fools!
+I'd like to see them in my place.  They live, they do.  Their
+pleasures are not all alike.  They have anxieties and hopes, ups
+and downs, hours of rain and hours of sunshine; whilst I--always
+dead calm! the barometer always at 'Set fair.'  What a bore!  Do
+you know what I did to-day?  Exactly the same thing as yesterday;
+and to-morrow I'll do the same thing as to-day.
+
+"A good dinner is a good thing; but always the same dinner, without
+extras or additions--pouah!  Too many truffles.  I want some
+corned beef and cabbage.  I know the bill of fare by heart, you see.
+In winter, theatres and balls; in summer, races and the seashore;
+summer and winter, shopping, rides to the bois, calls, trying
+dresses, perpetual adoration by mother's friends, all of them
+brilliant and gallant fellows to whom the mere thought of my dowry
+gives the jaundice.  Excuse me, if I yawn: I am thinking of their
+conversations.
+
+"And to think," she went on, "that such will be my existence until
+I make up my mind to take a husband!  For I'll have to come to it
+too.  The Baron Three Sixty-eight will present to me some sort of
+a swell, attracted by my money.  I'll answer, 'I'd just as soon
+have him as any other,' and he will be admitted to the honor of
+paying his attentions to me.  Every morning he will send me a
+splendid bouquet: every evening, after bank-hours, he'll come along
+with fresh kid gloves and a white vest.  During the afternoon, he
+and papa will pull each other's hair out on the subject of the dowry.
+At last the happy day will arrive.  Can't you see it from here?
+Mass with music, dinner, ball.  The Baron Three Sixty-eight will
+not spare me a single ceremony.  The marriage of the manager of the
+Mutual Credit must certainly be an advertisement.  The papers will
+publish the names of the bridesmaids and of the guests.
+
+"To be sure, papa will have a face a yard long; because he will
+have been compelled to pay the dowry the day before.  Mamma will
+be all upset at the idea of becoming a grandmother.  The
+bridegroom will be in a wretched humor, because his boots will be
+too tight; and I'll look like a goose, because I'll be dressed
+in white; and white is a stupid color, which is not at all becoming
+to me.  Charming family gathering, isn't it?  Two weeks later, my
+husband will be sick of me, and I'll be disgusted with him.  After
+a month, we'll be at daggers' points.  He'll go back to his club
+and his mistresses; and I--I shall have conquered the right to go
+out alone; and I'll begin again going to the bois, to balls, to
+races, wherever my mother goes.  I'll spend an enormous amount of
+money on my dress, and I'll make debts which papa will pay."
+
+Though any thing might be expected of Mlle. Cesarine, still M.
+de Tregars seemed visibly astonished.  And she, laughing at his
+surprise,
+
+"That's the invariable programme," she went on; "and that's why I
+say I'm glad at the idea of a change, whatever it may be.  You find
+fault with me for not pitying Mlle. Gilberte.  How could I, since
+I envy her?  She is happy, because her future is not settled, laid
+out, fixed in advance.  She is poor; but she is free.  She is twenty;
+she is pretty; she has an admirable voice; she can go on the stage
+to-morrow, and be, before six months, one of the pet actresses of
+Paris.  What a life then!  Ah, that is the one I dream, the one I
+would have selected, had I been mistress of my destiny."
+
+But she was interrupted by the noise of the opening door.
+
+The Baroness de Thaller appeared.  As she was, immediately after
+dinner, to go to the opera, and afterwards to a party given by the
+Viscountess de Bois d'Ardon, she was in full dress.  She wore a
+dress, cut audaciously low in the neck, of very light gray satin,
+trimmed with bands of cherry-colored silk edged with lace.  In her
+hair, worn high over her head, she had a bunch of fuchsias, the
+flexible stems of which, fastened by a large diamond star, trailed
+down to her very shoulders, white and smooth as marble.
+
+But, though she forced herself to smile, her countenance was not
+that of festive days; and the glance which she cast upon her
+daughter and Marius de Tregars was laden with threats.  In a voice
+of which she tried in vain to control the emotion,
+
+"How very kind of you, marquis," she began, "to respond so soon to
+my invitation of this morning!  I am really distressed to have kept
+you waiting; but I was dressing.  After what has happened to M. de
+Thaller, it is absolutely indispensable that I should go out, show
+myself: otherwise our enemies will be going around to-morrow, saying
+everywhere that I am in Belgium, preparing lodgings for my husband."
+
+And, suddenly changing her tone,
+
+"But what was that madcap Cesarine telling you?" she asked.
+
+It was with a profound surprise that M. de Tregars discovered that
+the entente cordiale which he suspected between the mother and
+daughter did not exist, at least at this moment.
+
+Veiling under a jesting tone the strange conjectures which the
+unexpected discovery aroused within him,
+
+"Mlle. Cesarine," he replied, "who is much to be pitied, was telling
+me all her troubles."
+
+She interrupted him.
+
+"Do not take the trouble to tell a story, M. le Marquis," she said.
+"Mamma knows it as well as yourself; for she was listening at the door."
+
+"Cesarine!" exclaimed Mme. de Thaller.
+
+"And, if she came in so suddenly, it is because she thought it was
+fully time to cut short my confidences."
+
+The face of the baroness became crimson.
+
+"The child is mad!" she said.
+
+The child burst out laughing.
+
+"That's my way," she went on.  "You should not have sent me here by
+chance, and against my wish.  You made me do it: don't complain.
+You were sure that I had but to appear, and M. de Tregars would
+fall at my feet.  I appeared, and--you saw the effect through the
+keyhole, didn't you?"
+
+Her features contracted, her eyes flashing, twisting her lace
+handkerchief between her fingers loaded with rings,
+
+"It is unheard of," said Mme. de Thaller.  "She has certainly lost
+her head."
+
+Dropping her mother an ironical courtesy,
+
+"Thanks for the compliment!" said the young lady.  "Unfortunately,
+I never was more completely in possession of all the good sense I
+may boast of than I am now, dear mamma.  What were you telling me
+a moment since?  'Run, the Marquis de Tregars is coming to ask
+your hand: it's all settled.'  And what did I answer?  'No use to
+trouble myself: if, instead of one million, papa were to give me
+two, four millions, indeed all the millions paid by France to
+Prussia, M. de Tregars would not have me for a wife.'"
+
+And, looking Marius straight in the face,
+
+"Am I not right, M. le Marquis?" she asked.  "And isn't it a fact
+that you wouldn't have me at any price?  Come, now, your hand upon
+your heart, answer."
+
+M. de Tregars' situation was somewhat embarrassing between these
+two women, whose anger was equal, though it manifested itself in
+a different way.  Evidently it was a discussion begun before, which
+was now continued in his presence.
+
+"I think, mademoiselle," he began, "that you have been slandering
+yourself gratuitously."
+
+"Oh, no!  I swear it to you," she replied; "and, if mamma had not
+happened in, you would have heard much more.  But that was not an
+answer."
+
+And, as M. de Tregars said nothing, she turned towards the baroness,
+
+"Ah, ah! you see," she said.  "Who was crazy,--you, or I?  Ah!
+you imagine here that money is everything, that every thing is for
+sale, and that every thing can be bought.  Well, no!  There are
+still men, who, for all the gold in the world, would not give their
+name to Cesarine de Thaller.  It is strange; but it is so, dear
+mamma, and we must make up our mind to it."
+
+Then turning towards Marius, and bearing upon each syllable, as if
+afraid that the allusion might escape him,
+
+"The men of whom I speak," she added, "marry the girls who can
+starve to death."
+
+Knowing her daughter well enough to be aware that she could not
+impose silence upon her, the Baroness de Thaller had dropped upon
+a chair.  She was trying hard to appear indifferent to what her
+daughter was saying; but at every moment a threatening gesture, or
+a hoarse exclamation, betrayed the storm that raged within her.
+
+"Go on, poor foolish child!" she said,--"go on!"
+
+And she did go on.
+
+"Finally, were M. de Tregars willing to have me, I would refuse
+him myself, because, then--"
+
+A fugitive blush colored her cheeks, her bold eyes vacillated, and,
+dropping her voice,
+
+"Because, then," she added, "he would no longer be what he is;
+because I feel that fatally I shall despise the husband whom papa
+will buy for me.  And, if I came here to expose myself to an affront
+which I foresaw, it is because I wanted to make sure of a fact of
+which a word of Costeclar, a few days ago, had given me an idea,
+--of a fact which you do not, perhaps, suspect, dear mother, despite
+your astonishing perspicacity.  I wanted to find out M. de Tregars'
+secret; and I have found it out."
+
+M. de Tregars had come to the Thaller mansion with a plan well
+settled in advance.  He had pondered long before deciding what he
+would do, and what he would say, and how he would begin the decisive
+struggle.  What had taken place showed him the idleness of his
+conjectures, and, as a natural consequence, upset his plans.  To
+abandon himself to the chances of the hour, and to make the best
+possible use of them, was now the wisest thing to do.
+
+"Give me credit, mademoiselle," he uttered, "for sufficient
+penetration to have perfectly well discerned your intentions.
+There was no need of artifice, because I have nothing to conceal.
+You had but to question me, I would have answered you frankly,
+'Yes, it is true I love Mlle. Gilberte; and before a month she
+will be Marquise de Tregars.'"
+
+Mme. de Thaller, at those words, had started to her feet, pushing
+back her arm-chair so violently, that it rolled all the way to the
+wall.
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "you marry Gilberte Favoral,--you!"
+
+"I--yes."
+
+"The daughter of a defaulting cashier, a dishonored man whom justice
+pursues and the galleys await!"
+
+"Yes!"  And in an accent that caused a shiver to run over the white
+shoulders of Mme. de Thaller,
+
+"Whatever may have been," he uttered, "Vincent Favoral's crime;
+whether he has or has not stolen, the twelve millions which are
+wanting from the funds of the Mutual Credit; whether he is alone
+guilty, or has accomplices; whether he be a knave, or a fool, an
+impostor, or a dupe,--Mlle. Gilberte is not responsible."
+
+"You know the Favoral family, then?"
+
+"Enough to make their cause henceforth my own."
+
+The agitation of the baroness was so great, that she did not even
+attempt to conceal it.
+
+"A nobody's daughter!" she said.
+
+"I love her."
+
+"Without a sou!"
+
+Mlle. Cesarine made a superb gesture.
+
+"Why, that's the very reason why a man may marry her!" she exclaimed,
+and, holding out her hand to M. de Tregars,
+
+"What you do here is well," she added, "very well."
+
+There was a wild look in the eyes of the baroness.
+
+"Mad, unhappy child!" she exclaimed.  "If your father should hear!"
+
+"And who, then, would report our conversation to him?  M. de Tregars?
+He would not do such a thing.  You?  You dare not."
+
+Drawing herself up to her fullest height, her breast swelling with
+anger, her head thrown back, her eyes flashing,
+
+"Cesarine," ordered Mme. de Thaller, her arm extended towards the
+door--"Cesarine, leave the room; I command you."
+
+But motionless in her place the girl cast upon her mother a look
+of defiance.
+
+"Come, calm yourself," she said in a tone of crushing irony, "or
+you'll spoil your complexion for the rest of the evening.  Do I
+complain?  do I get excited?  And yet whose fault is it, if honor
+makes it a duty for me to cry 'Beware!' to an honest man who wishes
+to marry me?  That Gilberte should get married: that she should
+be very happy, have many children, darn her husband's stockings,
+and skim her _pot-au-feu_,--that is her part in life.  Ours, dear
+mother,--that which you have taught me--is to laugh and have fun,
+all the time, night and day, till death."
+
+A footman who came in interrupted her.  Handing a card to Mme. de
+Thaller,
+
+"The gentleman who gave it to me," he said, "is in the large parlor."
+
+The baroness had become very pale.
+
+"Oh!" she said turning the card between her fingers,--"oh!"
+
+Then suddenly she ran out exclaiming,
+
+"I'll be back directly."
+
+An embarrassing, painful silence followed, as it was inevitable that
+it would, the Baroness de Thaller's precipitate departure.
+
+Mlle. Cesarine had approached the mantel-piece.  She was leaning
+her elbow upon it, her forehead on her hand, all palpitating and
+excited.  Intimidated for, perhaps, the first time in her life,
+she turned away her great blue eyes, as if afraid that they should
+betray a reflex of her thoughts.
+
+As to M. de Tregars, he remained at his place, not having one whit
+too much of that power of self-control, which is acquired by a long
+experience of the world, to conceal his impressions.  If he had a
+fault, it was certainly not self-conceit; but Mlle. de Thaller had
+been too explicit and too clear to leave him a doubt.  All she
+had said could be comprised in one sentence,
+
+"My parents were in hopes that I would become your wife: I had
+judged you well enough to understand their error.  Precisely because
+I love you I acknowledge myself unworthy of you and I wish you to
+know that if you had asked my hand,--the hand of a girl who has
+a dowry of a million--I would have ceased to esteem you."
+
+That such a feeling should have budded and blossomed in Mlle.
+Cesarine's soul, withered as it was by vanity, and blunted by
+pleasure was almost a miracle.  It was, at any rate, an astonishing
+proof of love which she gave; and Marius de Tregars would not have
+been a man, if he had not been deeply moved by it.  Suddenly,
+
+"What a miserable wretch I am!" she uttered.
+
+"You mean unhappy," said M. de Tregars gently.
+
+"What can you think of my sincerity?  You must, doubtless, find it
+strange, impudent, grotesque."
+
+He lifted his hand in protest; for she gave him no time to put in
+a word.
+
+"And yet," she went on, "this is not the first time that I am assailed
+by sinister ideas, and that I feel ashamed of myself.  I was
+convinced once that this mad existence of mine is the only enviable
+one, the only one that can give happiness.  And now I discover that
+it is not the right path which I have taken, or, rather, which
+I have been made to take.  And there is no possibility of retracing
+my steps."
+
+She turned pale, and, in an accent of gloomy despair,
+
+"Every thing fails me," she said.  "It seems as though I were rolling
+into a bottomless abyss, without a branch or a tuft of grass to
+cling to.  Around me, emptiness, night, chaos.  I am not yet twenty
+and it seems to me that I have lived thousands of years, and
+exhausted every sensation.  I have seen every thing, learned every
+thing, experienced every thing; and I am tired of every thing, and
+satiated and nauseated.  You see me looking like a brainless hoyden,
+I sing, I jest, I talk slang.  My gayety surprises everybody.  In
+reality, I am literally tired to death.  What I feel I could not
+express, there are no words to render absolute disgust.  Sometimes I
+say to myself, 'It is stupid to be so sad.  What do you need?  Are
+you not young, handsome, rich?'  But I must need something, or else
+I would not be thus agitated, nervous, anxious, unable to stay in
+one place, tormented by confused aspirations, and by desires which
+I cannot formulate.  What can I do?  Seek oblivion in pleasure and
+dissipation?  I try, and I succeed for an hour or so; but the
+reaction comes, and the effect vanishes, like froth from champagne.
+The lassitude returns; and, whilst outwardly I continue to laugh,
+I shed within tears of blood which scald my heart.  What is to
+become of me, without a memory in the past, or a hope in the future,
+upon which to rest my thought?"
+
+And bursting into tears,
+
+"Oh, I am wretchedly unhappy!" she exclaimed; "and I wish I was
+dead."
+
+M. de Tregars rose, feeling more deeply moved than he would, perhaps,
+have liked to acknowledge.
+
+"I was laughing at you only a moment since," he said in his grave
+and vibrating voice.  "Pardon me, mademoiselle.  It is with the utmost
+sincerity, and from the innermost depths of my soul, that I pity
+you."
+
+She was looking at him with an air of timid doubt, big tears
+trembling between her long eyelashes.
+
+"Honest?" she asked.
+
+"Upon my honor."
+
+"And you will not go with too poor an opinion of me?"
+
+"I shall retain the firm belief that when you were yet but a child,
+you were spoiled by insane theories."
+
+Gently and sadly she was passing her hand over her forehead.
+
+"Yes, that's it," she murmured.  "How could I resist examples coming
+from certain persons?  How could I help becoming intoxicated when
+I saw myself, as it were, in a cloud of incense when I heard nothing
+but praises and applause?  And then there is the money, which
+depraves when it comes in a certain way."
+
+She ceased to speak; but the silence was soon again broken by a
+slight noise, which came from the adjoining room.
+
+Mechanically, M. de Tregars looked around him.  The little parlor
+in which he found himself was divided from the main drawing-room
+of the house by a tall and broad door, closed only by heavy curtains,
+which had remained partially drawn.  Now, such was the disposition
+of the mirrors in the two rooms, that M. de Tregars could see
+almost the whole of the large one reflected in the mirror over the
+mantelpiece of the little parlor.  A man of suspicious appearance,
+and wearing wretched clothes, was standing in it.
+
+And, the more M. de Tregars examined him, the more it seemed to
+him that he had already seen somewhere that uneasy countenance,
+that anxious glance, that wicked smile flitting upon flat and thin
+lips.
+
+But suddenly the man bowed very low.  It was probable that Mme. de
+Thaller, who had gone around through the hall to reach the grand
+parlor, must be coming in; and in fact she almost immediately
+appeared within the range of the glass.  She seemed much agitated;
+and, with a finger upon her lips, she was recommending to the man
+to be prudent, and to speak low.  It was therefore in a whisper,
+and such a low whisper that not even a vague murmur reached the
+little parlor, that the man uttered a few words.  They were such
+that the baroness started back as if she had seen a precipice yawning
+at her feet; and by this action it was easy to understand that she
+must have said,
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+With the voice which still could not be heard, but with a gesture
+which could be seen, the man evidently replied,
+
+"It is so, I assure you!"
+
+And leaning towards Mme. de Thaller, who seemed in no wise shocked
+to feel this repulsive personage's lips almost touching her ear,
+he began speaking to her.
+
+The surprise which this species of vision caused to M. de Tregars
+was great, but did not keep him from reflecting what could be the
+meaning of this scene.  How came this suspicious-looking man to
+have obtained access, without difficulty, into the grand parlor?
+Why had the baroness, on receiving his card, turned whiter than the
+laces on her dress?  What news had he brought, which had made such
+a deep impression?  What was he saying that seemed at once to
+terrify and to delight Mme. de Thaller?
+
+But soon she interrupted the man, beckoned to him to wait,
+disappeared for a minute; and, when she came in again, she held in
+her hand a package of bank-notes, which she began counting upon
+the parlor-table.
+
+She counted twenty-five, which, so far as M. de Tregars could judge,
+must have been hundred-franc notes.  The man took them, counted them
+over, slipped them into his pocket with a grin of satisfaction, and
+then seemed disposed to retire.
+
+The baroness detained him, however; and it was she now, who, leaning
+towards him, commenced to explain to him, or rather, as far as her
+attitude showed, to ask him something.  It must have been a serious
+matter; for he shook his head, and moved his arms, as if he meant
+to say, "The deuse, the deuse!"
+
+The strangest suspicions flashed across M. de Tregars' mind.  What
+was that bargain to which the mirror made him thus an accidental
+witness?  For it was a bargain: there could be no mistake about it.
+The man, having received a mission, had fulfilled it, and had come
+to receive the price of it.  And now a new commission was offered
+to him.
+
+But M. de Tregars' attention was now called off by Mlle. Cesarine.
+Shaking off the torpor which for a moment had overpowered her,
+
+"But why fret and worry?" she said, answering, rather, the objections
+of her own mind than addressing herself to M. de Tregars.  "Things
+are just as they are, and I cannot undo them.
+
+"Ah! if the mistakes of life were like soiled clothes, which are
+allowed to accumulate in a wardrobe, and which are all sent out at
+once to the wash.  But nothing washes the past, not even repentance,
+whatever they may say.  There are some ideas which should be set
+aside.  A prisoner should not allow himself to think of freedom.
+
+"And yet," she added, shrugging her shoulders, "a prisoner has
+always the hope of escaping; whereas I--"  Then, making a visible
+effort to resume her usual manner,
+
+"Bash!" she said, "that's enough sentiment for one day; and instead
+of staying here, boring you to death, I ought to go and dress; for
+I am going to the opera with my sweet mamma, and afterwards to the
+ball.  You ought to come.  I am going to wear a stunning dress.
+The ball is at Mme. de Bois d'Ardon's,--one of our friends, a
+progressive woman.  She has a smoking-room for ladies.  What do
+you think of that?  Come, will you go?  We'll drink champagne,
+and we'll laugh.  No?  Zut then, and my compliments to your family."
+
+But, at the moment of leaving the room, her heart failed her.
+
+"This is doubtless the last time I shall ever see you, M. de
+Tregars," she said.  "Farewell!  You know now why I, who have a
+dowry of a million, I envy Gilberte Favoral.  Once more farewell.
+And, whatever happiness may fall to your lot in life, remember
+that Cesarine has wished it all to you."
+
+And she went out at the very moment when the Baroness de Thaller
+returned.
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"Cesarine!" Mme. de Thaller called, in a voice which sounded at
+once like a prayer and a threat.
+
+"I am going to dress myself, mamma," she answered.
+
+"Come back!"
+
+"So that you can scold me if I am not ready when you want to go?
+Thank you, no."
+
+"I command you to come back, Cesarine."
+
+No answer.  She was far already.
+
+Mme. de Thaller closed the door of the little parlor, and returning
+to take a seat by M. de Tregars,
+
+"What a singular girl!" she said.
+
+Meantime he was watching in the glass what was going on in the
+other room.  The suspicious-looking man was there still, and alone.
+A servant had brought him pen, ink and paper; and he was writing
+rapidly.
+
+"How is it that they leave him there alone?" wondered Marius.
+
+And he endeavored to find upon the features of the baroness an
+answer to the confused presentiments which agitated his brain.  But
+there was no longer any trace of the emotion which she had manifested
+when taken unawares.  Having had time for reflection, she had
+composed for herself an impenetrable countenance.  Somewhat surprised
+at M. de Tregars' silence,
+
+"I was saying," she repeated, "that Cesarine is a strange girl."
+
+Still absorbed by the scene in the grand parlor,
+
+"Strange, indeed!" he answered.
+
+"And such is," said the baroness with a sigh, "the result of M. de
+Thaller's weakness, and above all of my own.
+
+"We have no child but Cesarine; and it was natural that we should
+spoil her.  Her fancy has been, and is still, our only law.  She
+has never had time to express a wish: she is obeyed before she has
+spoken."
+
+She sighed again, and deeper than the first time.  "You have just
+seen," she went on, "the results of that insane education.  And yet
+it would not do to trust appearances.  Cesarine, believe me, is not
+as extravagant as she seems.  She possesses solid qualities,--of
+those which a man expects of the woman who is to be his wife."
+
+Without taking his eyes off the glass,
+
+"I believe you madame," said M. de Tregars.
+
+"With her father, with me especially, she is capricious, wilful,
+and violent; but, in the hands of the husband of her choice, she
+would be like wax in the hands of the modeler."
+
+The man in the parlor had finished his letter, and, with an
+equivocal smile, was reading it over.
+
+"Believe me, madame," replied M. de Tregars, "I have perfectly
+understood how much naive boasting there was in all that Mlle.
+Cesarine told me."
+
+"Then, really, you do not judge her too severely?"
+
+"Your heart has not more indulgence for her than my own."
+
+"And yet it is from you that her first real sorrow comes."
+
+"From me?"
+
+The baroness shook her head in a melancholy way, to convey an idea
+of her maternal affection and anxiety.
+
+"Yes, from you, my dear marquis," she replied, "from you alone.
+On the very day you entered this house, Cesarine's whole nature
+changed."
+
+Having read his letter over, the man in the grand parlor had folded
+it, and slipped it into his pocket, and, having left his seat,
+seemed to be waiting for something.  M. de Tregars was following,
+in the glass, his every motion, with the most eager curiosity.  And
+nevertheless, as he felt the absolute necessity of saying something,
+were it only to avoid attracting the attention of the baroness,
+
+"What!" he said, "Mlle. Cesarine's nature did change, then?"
+
+"In one night.  Had she not met the hero of whom every girl dreams?
+--a man of thirty, bearing one of the oldest names in France."
+
+She stopped, expecting an answer, a word, an exclamation.  But, as
+M. de Tregars said nothing,
+
+"Did you never notice any thing then?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"And suppose I were to tell you myself, that my poor Cesarine, alas!
+--loves you?"
+
+M. de Tregars started.  Had he been less occupied with the personage
+in the grand parlor, he would certainly not have allowed the
+conversation to drift in this channel.  He understood his mistake;
+and, in an icy tone,
+
+"Permit me, madame," he said, "to believe that you are jesting."
+
+"And suppose it were the truth."
+
+"It would make me unhappy in the extreme."
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"For the reason which I have already told you, that I love Mlle.
+Gilberte Favoral with the deepest and the purest love, and that
+for the past three years she has been, before God, my affianced
+bride."
+
+Something like a flash of anger passed over Mme. de Thaller's eyes.
+
+"And I," she exclaimed,--"I tell you that this marriage is senseless."
+
+"I wish it were still more so, that I might the better show to
+Gilberte how dear she is to me."
+
+Calm in appearance, the baroness was scratching with her nails the
+satin of the chair on which she was sitting.
+
+"Then," she went on, "your resolution is settled."
+
+"Irrevocably."
+
+"Still, now, come, between us who are no longer children, suppose
+M. de Thaller were to double Cesarine's dowry, to treble it?"
+
+An expression of intense disgust contracted the manly features of
+Marius de Tregars.
+
+"Ah! not another word, madame," he interrupted.
+
+There was no hope left.  Mme. de Thaller fully realized it by the
+tone in which he spoke.  She remained pensive for over a minute,
+and suddenly, like a person who has finally made up her mind, she
+rang.
+
+A footman appeared.
+
+"Do what I told you!" she ordered.
+
+And as soon as the footman had gone, turning to M. de Tregars,
+
+"Alas!" she said, "who would have thought that I would curse the day
+when you first entered our house?"
+
+But, whilst, she spoke, M. de Tregars noticed in the glass the
+result of the order she had just given.
+
+The footman walked into the grand parlor, spoke a few words; and at
+once the man with the alarming countenance put on his hat and went
+out.
+
+"This is very strange!" thought M. de Tregars.  Meantime, the
+baroness was going on,
+
+"If your intentions are to that point irrevocable, how is it that
+you are here?  You have too much experience of the world not to
+have understood, this morning, the object of my visit and of my
+allusions."
+
+Fortunately, M. de Tregars' attention was no longer drawn by the
+proceedings in the next room.  The decisive moment had come: the
+success of the game he was playing would, perhaps, depend upon
+his coolness and self-command.
+
+"It is because I did understand, madame, and even better than you
+suppose, that I am here."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"I came, expecting to deal with M. de Thaller alone.  I have been
+compelled, by what has happened, to alter my intentions.  It is
+to you that I must speak first."
+
+Mme. de Thaller continued to manifest the same tranquil assurance;
+but she stood up.  Feeling the approach of the storm, she wished
+to be up, and ready to meet it.
+
+"You honor me," she said with an ironical smile.
+
+There was, henceforth, no human power capable of turning Marius de
+Tregars from the object he had in view.
+
+"It is to you I shall speak," he repeated, "because, after you have
+heard me, you may perhaps judge that it is your interest to join me
+in endeavoring to obtain from your husband what I ask, what I
+demand, what I must have."
+
+With an air of surprise marvelously well simulated, if it was not
+real, the baroness was looking at him.
+
+"My father," he proceeded to say, "the Marquis de Tregars, was once
+rich: he had several millions.  And yet when I had the misfortune
+of losing him, three years ago, he was so thoroughly ruined, that
+to relieve the scruples of his honor, and to make his death easier,
+I gave up to his creditors all I had in the world.  What had become
+of my father's fortune?  What filter had been administered to him
+to induce him to launch into hazardous speculations,--he an old
+Breton gentleman, full, even to absurdity, of the most obstinate
+prejudices of the nobility?  That's what I wished to ascertain.
+
+"And now, madame, I--have ascertained."
+
+She was a strong-minded woman, the Baroness de Thaller.  She had
+had so many adventures in her life, she had walked on the very edge
+of so many precipices, concealed so many anxieties, that danger was,
+as it were, her element, and that, at the decisive moment of an
+almost desperate game, she could remain smiling like those old
+gamblers whose face never betrays their terrible emotion at the
+moment when they risk their last stake.  Not a muscle of her face
+moved; and it was with the most imperturbable calm that she said,
+
+"Go on, I am listening: it must be quite interesting."
+
+That was not the way to propitiate M. de Tregars.
+He resumed, in a brief and harsh tone,
+
+"When my father died, I was young.  I did not know then what I have
+learned since,--that to contribute to insure the impunity of knaves
+is almost to make one's self their accomplice.  And the victim who
+says nothing and submits, does contribute to it.  The honest man,
+on the contrary, should speak, and point out to others the trap
+into which he has fallen, that they may avoid it."
+
+The baroness was listening with the air of a person who is compelled
+by politeness to hear a tiresome story.
+
+"That is a rather gloomy preamble," she said.  M. de Tregars took
+no notice of the interruption.
+
+"At all times," he went on, "my father seemed careless of his
+affairs: that affectation, he thought, was due to the name he bore.
+But his negligence was only apparent.  I might mention things of
+him that would do honor to the most methodical tradesman.  He had,
+for instance, the habit of preserving all the letters of any
+importance which he received.  He left twelve or fifteen boxes full
+of such.  They were carefully classified; and many bore upon their
+margin a few notes indicating what answer had been made to them."
+
+Half suppressing a yawn,
+
+"That is order," said the baroness, "if I know any thing about it."
+
+"At the first moment, determined not to stir up the past, I
+attached no importance to those letters; and they would certainly
+have been burnt, but for an old friend of the family, the Count de
+Villegre, who had them carried to his own house.  But later, acting
+under the influence of circumstances which it would be too long to
+explain to you, I regretted my apathy; and I thought that I should,
+perhaps, find in that correspondence something to either dissipate
+or justify certain suspicions which had occurred to me."
+
+"So that, like a respectful son, you read it?"  M. de Tregars bowed
+ceremoniously.
+
+"I believe," he said, "that to avenge a father of the imposture of
+which he was the victim during his life, is to render homage to his
+memory.  Yes, madame, I read the whole of that correspondence, and
+with an interest which you will readily understand.  I had already,
+and without result, examined the contents of several boxes, when in
+the package marked 1852, a year which my father spent in Paris,
+certain letters attracted my attention.  They were written upon
+coarse paper, in a very primitive handwriting and wretchedly spelt.
+They were signed sometimes Phrasie, sometimes Marquise de Javelle.
+Some gave the address, 'Rue des Bergers, No. 3, Paris-Grenelle.'
+
+"Those letters left me no doubt upon what had taken place.  My
+father had met a young working-girl of rare beauty: he had taken a
+fancy to her; and, as he was tormented by the fear of being loved
+for his money alone, he had passed himself off for a poor clerk in
+one of the departments."
+
+"Quite a touching little love-romance," remarked the baroness.
+
+But there was no impertinence that could affect Marius de Tregars'
+coolness.
+
+"A romance, perhaps," he said, "but in that case a money-romance,
+not a love-romance.  This Phrasie or Marquise de Javelle, announces
+in one of her letters, that in February, 1853, she has given birth
+to a daughter, whom she has confided to some relatives of hers in
+the south, near Toulouse.  It was doubtless that event which
+induced my father to acknowledge who he was.  He confesses that
+he is not a poor clerk, but the Marquis de Tregars, having an
+income of over a hundred thousand francs.  At once the tone of
+the correspondence changes.  The Marquise de Javelle has a stupid
+time where she lives; the neighbors reproach her with her fault;
+work spoils her pretty hands.  Result: less than two weeks after
+the birth of her daughter, my father hires for his pretty mistress
+a lovely apartment, which she occupies under the name of Mme. Devil;
+she is allowed fifteen hundred francs a month, servants, horses,
+carriage."
+
+Mme. de Thaller was giving signs of the utmost impatience.  Without
+paying any attention to them, M. de Tregars proceeded,
+
+"Henceforth free to see each other daily, my father and his mistress
+cease to write.  But Mme. Devil does not waste her time.  During a
+space of less than eight months, from February to September, she
+induces my father to dispose--not in her favor, she is too
+disinterested for that, but in favor of her daughter--of a sum
+exceeding five hundred thousand francs.  In September, the
+correspondence is resumed.  Mme. Devil discovers that she is not
+happy, and acknowledges it in a letter, which shows, by its improved
+writing and more correct spelling, that she has been taking lessons.
+
+"She complains of her precarious situation: the future frightens her:
+she longs for respectability.  Such is, for three months, the
+constant burden of her correspondence.  She regrets the time when
+she was a working girl: why has she been so weak?  Then, at last,
+in a note which betrays long debates and stormy discussions, she
+announces that she has an unexpected offer of marriage; a fine
+fellow, who, if she only had two hundred thousand francs, would
+give his name to herself and to her darling little daughter.  For
+a long time my father hesitates; but she presses her point with
+such rare skill, she demonstrates so conclusively that this marriage
+will insure the happiness of their child, that my father yields at
+last, and resigns himself to the sacrifice.  And in a memorandum
+on the margin of a last letter, he states that he has just given
+two hundred thousand francs to Mme. Devil; that he will never see
+her again; and that he returns to live in Brittany, where he wishes,
+by the most rigid economy, to repair the breach he has just made
+in his fortune."
+
+"Thus end all these love-stories," said Mme. de Thaller in a
+jesting tone.
+
+"I beg your pardon: this one is not ended yet.  For many years, my
+father kept his word, and never left our homestead of Tregars.  But
+at last he grew tired of his solitude, and returned to Paris.  Did
+he seek to see his former mistress again?  I think not.  I suppose
+that chance brought them together; or else, that, being aware of his
+return, she managed to put herself in his way.  He found her more
+fascinating than ever, and, according to what she wrote him, rich
+and respected; for her husband had become a personage.  She would
+have been perfectly happy, she added, had it been possible for her
+to forget the man whom she had once loved so much, and to whom she
+owed her position.
+
+"I have that letter.  The elegant hand, the style, and the correct
+orthography, express better than any thing else the transformations
+of the Marquise de Javelle.  Only it is not signed.  The little
+working-girl has become prudent: she has much to lose, and fears to
+compromise herself.
+
+"A week later, in a laconic note, apparently dictated by an
+irresistible passion, she begs my father to come to see her at her
+own house.  He does so, and finds there a little girl, whom he
+believes to be his own child, and whom he at once begins to idolize.
+
+"And that's all.  Again he falls under the charm.  He ceases to
+belong to himself: his former mistress can dispose, at her pleasure,
+of his fortune and of his fate.
+
+"But see now what bad luck!  The husband takes a notion to become
+jealous of my father's visits.  In a letter which is a masterpiece
+of diplomacy, the lady explains her anxiety.
+
+"'He has suspicions,' she writes; 'and to what extremities might he
+not resort, were he to discover the truth!'  And with infinite art
+she insinuates that the best way to justify his constant presence
+is to associate himself with that jealous husband.
+
+"It is with childish haste that my father jumps at the suggestion.
+But money is needed.  He sells his lands, and everywhere announces
+that he has great financial ideas, and that he is going to increase
+his fortune tenfold.
+
+"There he is now, partner of his former mistress's husband, engaged
+in speculations, director of a company.  He thinks that he is doing
+an excellent business: he is convinced that he is making lots of
+money.  Poor honest man!  They prove to him, one morning, that he
+is ruined, and, what is more, compromised.  And this is made to
+look so much like the truth, that I interfere myself, and pay the
+creditors.  We were ruined; but honor was safe.  A few weeks later,
+my father died broken-hearted."
+
+Mme. de Thaller half rose from her seat with a gesture which
+indicated the joy of escaping at last a merciless bore.  A glance
+from M. de Tregars riveted her to her seat, freezing upon her lips
+the jest she was about to utter.
+
+"I have not done yet," he said rudely.
+
+And, without suffering any interruption,
+
+"From this correspondence," he resumed, "resulted the flagrant,
+irrefutable proof of a shameful intrigue, long since suspected by
+my old friend, General Count de Villegre.  It became evident to me
+that my poor father had been most shamefully imposed upon by that
+mistress, so handsome and so dearly loved, and, later, despoiled
+by the husband of that mistress.  But all this availed me nothing.
+Being ignorant of my father's life and connections, the letters
+giving neither a name nor a precise detail, I knew not whom to
+accuse.  Besides, in order to accuse, it is necessary to have, at
+least, some material proof."
+
+The baroness had resumed her seat; and every thing about her--her
+attitude, her gestures, the motion of her lips--seemed to say,
+
+"You are my guest.  Civility has its demands; but really you abuse
+your privileges."
+
+M. de Tregars went on,
+
+"At this moment I was still a sort of savage, wholly absorbed in
+my experiments, and scarcely ever setting foot outside my
+laboratory.  I was indignant; I ardently wished to find and to
+punish the villains who had robbed us: but I knew not how to go
+about it, nor in what direction to seek information.  The wretches
+would, perhaps, have gone unpunished, but for a good and worthy man,
+now a commissary of police, to whom I once rendered a slight service,
+one night, in a riot, when he was close pressed by some half-dozen
+rascals.  I explained the situation to him: he took much interest
+in it, promised his assistance, and marked out my line of conduct."
+
+Mme. de Thaller seemed restless upon her seat.
+
+"I must confess," she began, "that I am not wholly mistress of my
+time.  I am dressed, as you see: I have to go out."
+
+If she had preserved any hope of adjourning the explanation which
+she felt coming, she must have lost it when she heard the tone in
+which M. de Tregars interrupted her.
+
+"You can go out to-morrow."
+
+And, without hurrying,
+
+"Advised, as I have just told you," he continued, "and assisted by
+the experience of a professional man, I went first to No. 3, Rue
+des Bergers, in Grenelle.  I found there some old people, the
+foreman of a neighboring factory and his wife, who had been living
+in the house for nearly twenty-five years.  At my first question,
+they exchanged a glance, and commenced laughing.  They remembered
+perfectly the Marquise de Javelle, which was but a nickname for a
+young and pretty laundress, whose real name was Euphrasie Taponnet.
+She had lived for eighteen months on the same landing as themselves:
+she had a lover, who passed himself off for a clerk, but who was,
+in fact, she had told them, a very wealthy nobleman.  They added
+that she had given birth to a little girl, and that, two weeks later
+she had disappeared, and they had never heard a word from her.  When
+I left them, they said to me, 'If you see Phrasie, ask her if she
+ever knew old Chandour and his wife.  I am sure she'll remember us.'"
+
+For the first time Mme. de Thaller shuddered slightly; but it was
+almost imperceptible.
+
+"From Grenelle," continued M. de Tregars, "I went to the house
+where my father's mistress had lived under the name of Mme. Devil.
+I was in luck.  I found there the same concierge as in 1853.  As
+soon as I mentioned Mme. Devil, she answered me that she had not in
+the least forgotten her, but, on the contrary, would know her among
+a thousand.  She was, she said, one of the prettiest little women
+she had ever seen, and the most generous tenant.  I understood the
+hint, handed her a couple of napoleons, and heard from her every
+thing she knew on the subject.  It seemed that this pretty Mme.
+Devil had, not one lover, but two,--the acknowledged one, who was
+the master, and footed the bills; and the other an anonymous one,
+who went out through the back-stairs, and who did not pay, on the
+contrary.  The first was called the Marquis de Tregars: of the
+second, she had never known but the first name, Frederic.  I
+tried to ascertain what had become of Mme. Devil; but the worthy
+concierge swore to me that she did not know.
+
+"One morning, like a person who is going abroad, or who wishes to
+cover up her tracks, Mme. Devil had sent for a furniture-dealer,
+and a dealer in second-hand clothes, and had sold them every thing
+she had, going away with nothing but a little leather satchel, in
+which were her jewels and her money."
+
+The Baroness de Thaller still kept a good countenance.  After
+examining her for a moment, with a sort of eager curiosity, Marius
+de Tregars went on,
+
+"When I communicated this information to my friend, the commissary
+of police, he shook his head.  'Two years ago,' he told me, 'I
+would have said, that's more than we want to find those people; for
+the public records would have given us at once the key of this
+enigma.  But we have had the war and the Commune; and the books of
+record have been burnt up.  Still we must not give up.  A last
+hope remains; and I know the man who is capable of realizing it.'
+
+"Two days after, he brought me an excellent fellow, named Victor
+Chupin, in whom I could have entire confidence; for he was
+recommended to me by one of the men whom I like and esteem the most,
+the Duke de Champdoce.  Giving up all idea of applying at the
+various mayors' offices, Victor Chupin, with the patience and the
+tenacity of an Indian following a scent, began beating about the
+districts of Grenelle, Vargirard, and the Invalids.  And not in
+vain; for, after a week of investigations he brought me a nurse,
+residing Rue de l'Universite, who remembered perfectly having once
+attended, on the occasion of her confinement, a remarkably pretty
+young woman, living in the Rue des Bergers, and nicknamed the
+Marquise de Javelle.  And as she was a very orderly woman, who at
+all times had kept a very exact account of her receipts, she brought
+me a little book in which I read this entry: 'For attending Euphrasie
+Taponnet, alias the Marquise de Javelle (a girl), one hundred francs.'
+And this is not all.  This woman informed me, moreover, that she had
+been requested to present the child at the mayor's office, and that
+she had been duly registered there under the names of Euphrasie
+Cesarine Taponnet, born of Euphrasie Taponnet, laundress, and an
+unknown father.  Finally she placed at my disposal her account-book
+and her testimony."
+
+Taxed beyond measure, the energy of the baroness was beginning to
+fail her; she was turning livid under her rice-powder.  Still in
+the same icy tone,
+
+"You can understand, madame," said Marius de Tregars, "that this
+woman's testimony, together with the letters which are in my
+possession, enables me to establish before the courts the exact
+date of the birth of a daughter whom my father had of his mistress.
+But that's nothing yet.  With renewed zeal, Victor Chupin had
+resumed his investigations.  He had undertaken the examination of
+the marriage-registers in all the parishes of Paris, and, as early
+as the following week, he discovered at Notre Dame des Lorettes the
+entry of the marriage of Euphrasie Taponnet with Frederic de
+Thaller."
+
+Though she must have expected that name, the baroness started up
+violently and livid, and with a haggard look.
+
+"It's false!" she began in a choking voice.
+
+A smile of ironical pity passed over Marius' lips.
+
+"Five minutes' reflection will prove to you that it is useless to
+deny," he interrupted.  "But wait.  In the books of that same church,
+Victor Chupin has found registered the baptism of a daughter of M.
+and Mme de Thaller, bearing the same names as the first one,
+--Euphrasie Cesarine."
+
+With a convulsive motion the baroness shrugged her shoulder.
+
+"What does all that prove?" she said.
+
+"That proves, madame, the well-settled intention of substituting
+one child for another; that proves that my father was imprudently
+deceived when he was made to believe that the second Cesarine was
+his daughter, the daughter in whose favor he had formerly disposed
+of over five hundred thousand francs; that proves that there is
+somewhere in the world a poor girl who has been basely forsaken by
+her mother, the Marquise de Javelle, now become the Baroness de
+Thaller."
+
+Beside herself with terror and anger,
+
+"That is an infamous lie!" exclaimed the baroness.  M. de Tregars
+bowed.
+
+"The evidence of the truth of my statements," he said, "I shall
+find at Louveciennes, and at the Hotel des Folies, Boulevard du
+Temple, Paris."
+
+Night had come.  A footman came in carrying lamps, which he placed
+upon the mantelpiece.  He was not all together one minute in the
+little parlor; but that one minute was enough to enable the Marquise
+de Thaller to recover her coolness, and to collect her ideas.  When
+the footman retired, she had made up her mind, with the resolute
+promptness of a person accustomed to perilous situations.  She gave
+up the discussion, and, drawing near to M. de Tregars,
+
+"Enough allusions," she said: "let us speak frankly, and face to
+face now.  What do you want?"
+
+But the change was too sudden not to arouse Marius's suspicions.
+
+"I want a great many things," he replied.
+
+"Still you must specify."
+
+"Well, I claim first the five hundred thousand francs which my
+father had settled upon his daughter,--the daughter whom you cast
+off."
+
+"And what next?"
+
+"I want besides, my own and my father's fortune, of which we have
+been robbed by M. de Thaller, with your assistance, madame."
+
+"Is that all, at least?"
+
+M. de Tregars shook his head.
+
+"That's nothing yet," he replied.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"We have now to say something of Vincent Favoral's affairs."
+
+An attorney who is defending the interests of a client is neither
+calmer nor cooler than Mme. de Thaller at this moment.
+
+"Do the affairs of my husband's cashier concern me, then?" she said
+with a shade of irony.
+
+"Yes, madame, very much."
+
+"I am glad to hear it."
+
+"I know it from excellent sources, because, on my return from
+Louveciennes, I called in the Rue du Cirque, where I saw one Zelie
+Cadelle."
+
+He thought that the baroness would at least start on hearing that
+name.  Not at all.  With a look of profound astonishment,
+
+"Rue du Cirque," she repeated, like a person who is making a
+prodigious effort of memory,--"Rue du Cirque!  Zelie Cadelle!
+Really, I do not understand."
+
+But, from the glance which M. de Tregars cast upon her, she must
+have understood that she would not easily draw from him the
+particulars which he had resolved not to tell.
+
+"I believe, on the contrary," he uttered, "that you understand
+perfectly."
+
+"Be it so, if you insist upon it.  What do you ask for Favoral?"
+
+"I demand, not for Favoral, but for the stockholders who have been
+impudently defrauded, the twelve millions which are missing from
+the funds of the Mutual Credit."
+
+Mme. de Thaller burst out laughing.
+
+"Only that?" she said.
+
+"Yes, only that!"
+
+"Well, then, it seems to me that you should present your reclamations
+to M. Favoral himself.  You have the right to run after him."
+
+"It is useless, for the reason that it is not he, the poor fool!
+who has carried off the twelve millions."
+
+"Who is it, then?"
+
+"M. le Baron de Thaller, no doubt."
+
+With that accent of pity which one takes to reply to an absurd
+proposition,--"You are mad, my poor marquis," said Mme. de Thaller.
+
+"You do not think so."
+
+"But suppose I should refuse to do any thing more?"
+
+He fixed upon her a glance in which she could read an irrevocable
+determination; and slowly,
+
+"I have a perfect horror of scandal," he replied, "and, as you
+perceive, I am trying to arrange every thing quietly between us.
+But, if I do not succeed thus, I must appeal to the courts."
+
+"Where are your proofs?"
+
+"Don't be afraid: I have proofs to sustain all my allegations."
+
+The baroness had stretched herself comfortably in her arm-chair.
+
+"May we know them?" she inquired.
+
+Marius was getting somewhat uneasy in presence of Mme. de Thaller's
+imperturbable assurance.  What hope had she?  Could she see some
+means of escape from a situation apparently so desperate?  Determined
+to prove to her that all was lost, and that she had nothing to do
+but to surrender,
+
+"Oh!  I know, madame," he replied, "that you have taken your
+precautions.  But, when Providence interferes, you see, human
+foresight does not amount to much.  See, rather, what happens in
+regard to your first daughter,--the one you had when you were
+still only Marquise de Javelle."
+
+And briefly he called to her mind the principal incidents of Mlle.
+Lucienne's life from the time that she had left her with the poor
+gardeners at Louveciennes, without giving either her name or her
+address,--the injury she had received by being run over by Mme. de
+Thaller's carriage; the long letter she had written from the
+hospital, begging for assistance; her visit to the house, and her
+meeting with the Baron de Thaller; the effort to induce her to
+emigrate to America; her arrest by means of false information, and
+her escape, thanks to the kind peace-officer; the attempt upon her
+as she was going home late one night; and, finally, her imprisonment
+after the Commune, among the _petroleuses_, and her release through
+the interference of the same honest friend.
+
+And, charging her with the responsibility of all these
+infamous acts, he paused for an answer or a protest.
+
+And, as Mme. de Thaller said nothing,
+
+"You are looking at me, madame, and wondering how I have discovered
+all that.  A single word will explain it all.  The peace-officer
+who saved your daughter is precisely the same to whom it was once
+my good fortune to render a service.  By comparing notes, we have
+gradually reached the truth,--reached you, madame.  Will you
+acknowledge now that I have more proofs than are necessary to apply
+to the courts?"
+
+Whether she acknowledged it or not, she did not condescend to discuss.
+
+"What then?" she said coldly.
+
+But M. de Tregars was too much on his guard to expose himself, by
+continuing to speak thus, to reveal the secret of his designs.
+
+Besides, whilst he was thoroughly satisfied as to the manoeuvres
+used to defraud his father he had, as yet, but presumptions on what
+concerned Vincent Favoral.
+
+"Permit me not to say another word, madame," he replied.  "I have
+told you enough to enable you to judge of the value of my weapons."
+
+She must have felt that she could not make him change his mind, for
+she rose to go.
+
+"That is sufficient," she uttered.  "I shall reflect; and to-morrow
+I shall give you an answer."
+
+She started to go; but M. de Tregars threw himself quickly between
+her and the door.
+
+"Excuse me," he said; "but it is not to-morrow that I want an answer:
+it is to-night, this instant!"
+
+Ah, if she could have annihilated him with a look.
+
+"Why, this is violence," she said in a voice which betrayed the
+incredible effort she was making to control herself.
+
+"It is imposed upon me by circumstances, madame."
+
+"You would be less exacting, if my husband were here."
+
+He must have been within hearing; for suddenly the door opened, and
+he appeared upon the threshold.  There are people for whom the
+unforeseen does not exist, and whom no event can disconcert.  Having
+ventured every thing, they expect every thing.  Such was the Baron
+de Thaller.  With a sagacious glance he examined his wife and M. de
+Tregars; and in a cordial tone,
+
+"We are quarreling here?" he said.
+
+"I am glad you have come!" exclaimed the baroness.
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"The matter is, that M. de Tregars is endeavoring to take an odious
+advantage of some incidents of our past life."
+
+"There's woman's exaggeration for you!" he said laughing.
+
+And, holding out his hand to Marius,
+
+"Let me make your peace--for you, my dear marquis," he said: "that's
+within the province of the husband."  But, instead of taking his
+extended hand, M. de Tregars stepped back.
+
+"There is no more peace possible, sir, I am an enemy."
+
+"An enemy!" he repeated in a tone of surprise which was wonderfully
+well assumed, if it was not real.
+
+"Yes," interrupted the baroness; "and I must speak to you at once,
+Frederic.  Come: M. de Tregars will wait for you."
+
+And she led her husband into the adjoining room, not without first
+casting upon Marius a look of burning and triumphant hatred.
+
+Left alone, M. de Tregars sat down.  Far from annoying him, this
+sudden intervention of the manager of the Mutual Credit seemed to
+him a stroke of fortune.  It spared him an explanation more painful
+still than the first, and the unpleasant necessity of having to
+confound a villain by proving his infamy to him.
+
+"And besides," he thought, "when the husband and the wife have
+consulted with each other, they will acknowledge that they cannot
+resist, and that it is best to surrender."  The deliberation was
+brief.  In less than ten minutes, M. de Thaller returned alone.  He was
+pale; and his face expressed well the grief of an honest man who
+discovers too late that he has misplaced his confidence.
+
+"My wife has told me all, sir," he began.
+
+M. de Tregars had risen.  "Well?" he asked.
+
+"You see me distressed.  Ah, M. le Marquis! how could I ever expect
+such a thing from you?--you, whom I thought I had the right to look
+upon as a friend.  And it is you, who, when a great misfortune
+befalls me, attempts to give me the finishing stroke.  It is you who
+would crush me under the weight of slanders gathered in the gutter."
+
+M. de Tregars stopped him with a gesture.
+
+"Mme. de Thaller cannot have correctly repeated my words to you,
+else you would not utter that word 'slander.'"
+
+"She has repeated them to me without the least change."
+
+"Then she cannot have told you the importance of the proofs I have
+in my hands."
+
+But the Baron persisted, as Mlle. Cesarine would have said, to "do
+it up in the tender style."
+
+"There is scarcely a family," he resumed, "in which there is not
+some one of those painful secrets which they try to withhold from
+the wickedness of the world.  There is one in mine.  Yes, it is
+true, that before our marriage, my wife had had a child, whom
+poverty had compelled her to abandon.  We have since done everything
+that was humanly possible to find that child, but without success.
+It is a great misfortune, which has weighed upon our life; but it is
+not a crime.  If, however, you deem it your interest to divulge our
+secret, and to disgrace a woman, you are free to do so: I cannot
+prevent you.  But I declare it to you, that fact is the only thing
+real in your accusations.  You say that your father has been duped
+and defrauded.  From whom did you get such an idea?
+
+"From Marcolet, doubtless, a man without character, who has become
+my mortal enemy since the day when he tried a sharp game on me, and
+came out second best.  Or from Costeclar, perhaps, who does not
+forgive me for having refused him my daughter's hand, and who hates
+me because I know that he committed forgery once, and that he would
+be in prison but for your father's extreme indulgence.  Well,
+Costeclar and Marcolet have deceived you.  If the Marquis de Tregars
+ruined himself, it is because he undertook a business that he knew
+nothing about, and speculated right and left.  It does not take
+long to sink a fortune, even without the assistance of thieves.
+
+"As to pretend that I have benefitted by the embezzlements of my
+cashier that is simply stupid; and there can be no one to suggest
+such a thing, except Jottras and Saint Pavin, two scoundrels whom
+I have had ten times the opportunity to send to prison and who were
+the accomplices of Favoral.  Besides, the matter is in the hands of
+justice; and I shall prove in the broad daylight of the court-room,
+as I have already done in the office of the examining judge, that,
+to save the Mutual Credit, I have sacrificed more than half my
+private fortune."
+
+Tired of this speech, the evident object of which was to lead him
+to discuss, and to betray himself,
+
+"Conclude, sir," M. de Tregars interrupted harshly.  Still in the
+same placid tone,
+
+"To conclude is easy enough," replied the baron.  "My wife has told
+me that you were about to marry the daughter of my old cashier,--a
+very handsome girl, but without a sou.  She ought to have a dowry."
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"Let us show our hands.  I am in a critical position: you know it,
+and you are trying to take advantage of it.  Very well: we can still
+come to an understanding.  What would you say, if I were to give to
+Mlle. Gilberte the dowry I intended for my daughter?"
+
+All M. de Tregars' blood rushed to his face.
+
+"Ah, not another word!" he exclaimed with a gesture of unprecedented
+violence.  But, controlling himself almost at once,
+
+"I demand," he added, "my father's fortune.  I demand that you
+should restore to the Mutual Credit Company the twelve millions
+which have been abstracted."
+
+"And if not?"
+
+"Then I shall apply to the courts."
+
+They remained for a moment face to face, looking into each other's
+eyes.  Then,
+
+"What have you decided?" asked M. de Tregars.
+
+Without perhaps, suspecting that his offer was a new insult,
+
+"I will go as far as fifteen hundred thousand francs," replied M.
+de Thaller, "and I pay cash."
+
+"Is that your last word?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"If I enter a complaint, with the proofs in my hands,
+you are lost."
+
+"We'll see about that."
+
+To insist further would have been puerile.
+
+"Very well, we'll see, then," said M. de Tregars.  But as he
+walked out and got into his cab, which had been waiting for him at
+the door, he could not help wondering what gave the Baron de
+Thaller so much assurance, and whether he was not mistaken in his
+conjectures.
+
+It was nearly eight o'clock, and Maxence, Mme. Favoral and Mlle.
+Gilberte must have been waiting for him with a feverish impatience;
+but he had eaten nothing since morning, and he stopped in front of
+one of the restaurants of the Boulevard.
+
+He had just ordered his dinner, when a gentleman of a certain age,
+but active and vigorous still, of military bearing, wearing a
+mustache, and a tan-colored ribbon at his buttonhole, came to take
+a seat at the adjoining table.
+
+In less than fifteen minutes M. de Tregars had despatched a bowl
+of soup and a slice of beef, and was hastening out, when his foot
+struck his neighbor's foot, without his being able to understand
+how it had happened.
+
+Though fully convinced that it was not his fault, he hastened to
+excuse himself.  But the other began to talk angrily, and so loud,
+that everybody turned around.
+
+Vexed as he was, Marius renewed his apologies.
+
+But the other, like those cowards who think they have found a
+greater coward than themselves, was pouring forth a torrent of
+the grossest insults.
+
+M. de Tregars was lifting his hand to administer a well-deserved
+correction, when suddenly the scene in the grand parlor of the
+Thaller mansion came back vividly to his mind.  He saw again, as
+in the glass, the ill-looking man listening, with an anxious look,
+to Mme. de Thaller's propositions, and afterwards sitting down to
+write.
+
+"That's it!" he exclaimed, a multitude of circumstances occurring
+to his mind, which had escaped him at the moment.
+
+And, without further reflection, seizing his adversary by the
+throat, he threw him over on the table, holding him down with his
+knee.
+
+"I am sure he must have the letter about him," he said to the
+people who surrounded him.
+
+And in fact he did take from the side-pocket of the villain a letter,
+which he unfolded, and commenced reading aloud,
+
+"I am waiting for you, my dear major, come quick, for the thing is
+pressing,--a troublesome gentleman who is to be made to keep quiet.
+It will be for you the matter of a sword-thrust, and for us the
+occasion to divide a round amount."
+
+"And, that's why he picked a quarrel with me," added M. de Tregars.
+
+Two waiters had taken hold of the villain, who was struggling
+furiously, and wanted to surrender him to the police.
+
+"What's the use?" said Marius.  "I have his letter: that's enough.
+The police will find him when they want him."
+
+And, getting back into his cab,
+
+"Rue St. Gilles," he ordered, "and lively, if possible."
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+In the Rue St. Gilles the hours were dragging, slow and gloomy.
+After Maxence had left to go and meet M. de Tregars, Mme. Favoral
+and her daughter had remained alone with M. Chapelain, and had been
+compelled to bear the brunt of his wrath, and to hear his
+interminable complaints.
+
+He was certainly an excellent man, that old lawyer, and too just to
+hold Mlle. Gilberte or her mother responsible for Vincent Favoral's
+acts.  He spoke the truth when he assured them that he had for them
+a sincere affection, and that they might rely upon his devotion.
+But he was losing a hundred and sixty thousand francs; and a man
+who loses such a large sum is naturally in bad humor, and not much
+disposed to optimism.
+
+The cruellest enemies of the poor women would not have tortured
+them so mercilessly as this devoted friend.
+
+He spared them not one sad detail of that meeting at the Mutual
+Credit office, from which he had just come.  He exaggerated the
+proud assurance of the manager, and the confiding simplicity of the
+stockholders.  "That Baron de Thaller," he said to them, "is
+certainly the most impudent scoundrel and the cleverest rascal I
+have ever seen.  You'll see that he'll get out of it with clean
+hands and full pockets.  Whether or not he has accomplices, Vincent
+will be the scapegoat.  We must make up our mind to that."
+
+His positive intention was to console Mme. Favoral and Gilberte.
+Had he sworn to drive them to distraction, he could not have
+succeeded better.
+
+"Poor woman!" he said, "what is to become of you?  Maxence is a
+good and honest fellow, I am sure, but so weak, so thoughtless, so
+fond of pleasure!  He finds it difficult enough to get along by
+himself.  Of what assistance will he be to you?"
+
+Then came advice.
+
+Mme. Favoral, he declared, should not hesitate to ask for a
+separation, which the tribunal would certainly grant.  For want
+of this precaution, she would remain all her life under the burden
+of her husband's debts, and constantly exposed to the annoyances of
+the creditors.
+
+And always he wound up by saying,
+
+"Who could ever have expected such a thing from Vincent,--a friend
+of twenty years' standing!  A hundred and sixty thousand francs!
+Who in the world can be trusted hereafter?"
+
+Big tears were rolling slowly down Mme. Favoral's withered cheeks.
+But Mlle. Gilberte was of those for whom the pity of others is the
+worst misfortune and the most acute suffering.
+
+Twenty times she was on the point of exclaiming,
+
+"Keep your compassion, sir: we are neither so much to be pitied nor
+so much forsaken as you think.  Our misfortune has revealed to us a
+true friend,--one who does not speak, but acts."
+
+At last, as twelve o'clock struck, M. Chapelain withdrew, announcing
+that he would return the next day to get the news, and to bring
+further consolation.
+
+"Thank Heaven, we are alone at last!" said Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+But they had not much peace, for all that.
+
+Great as had been the noise of Vincent Favoral's disaster, it had
+not reached at once all those who had intrusted their savings to him.
+All day long, the belated creditors kept coming in; and the scenes
+of the morning were renewed on a smaller scale.  Then legal summonses
+began to pour in, three or four at a time.  Mme. Favoral was losing
+all courage.
+
+"What disgrace!" she groaned.  "Will it always be so hereafter?"
+
+And she exhausted herself in useless conjectures upon the causes of
+the catastrophe; and such was the disorder of her mind, that she
+knew not what to hope and what to fear, and that from one minute to
+another she wished for the most contradictory things.
+
+She would have been glad to hear that her husband was safe out of
+the country, and yet she would have deemed herself less miserable,
+had she known that he was hid somewhere in Paris.
+
+And obstinately the same questions returned to her lips,
+
+"Where is he now?  What is he doing?  What is he thinking about?
+How can he leave us without news?  Is it possible that it is a
+woman who has driven him into the precipice?  And, if so, who is
+that woman?"
+
+Very different were Mlle. Gilberte's thoughts.
+
+The great calamity that befell her family had brought about the
+sudden realization of her hopes.  Her father's disaster had given
+her an opportunity to test the man she loved; and she had found
+him even superior to all that she could have dared to dream.  The
+name of Favoral was forever disgraced; but she was going to be
+the wife of Marius, Marquise de Tregars.
+
+And, in the candor of her loyal soul, she accused herself of not
+taking enough interest in her mother's grief, and reproached
+herself for the quivers of joy which she felt within her.
+
+"Where is Maxence?" asked Mme. Favoral.
+
+"Where is M. de Tregars?  Why have they told us nothing of their
+projects?"
+
+"They will, no doubt, come home to dinner," replied Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+So well was she convinced of this, that she had given orders to the
+servant to have a somewhat better dinner than usual; and her heart
+was beating at the thought of being seated near Marius, between her
+mother and her brother.
+
+At about six o'clock, the bell rang violently.
+
+"There he is!" said the young girl, rising to her feet.
+
+But no: it was only the porter, bringing up a summons ordering Mme.
+Favoral, under penalty of the law, to appear the next day, at one
+o'clock precisely, before the examining judge, Barban d'Avranchel,
+at his office in the Palace of Justice.
+
+The poor woman came near fainting.
+
+"What can this judge want with me?  It ought to be forbidden to
+call a wife to testify against her husband," she said.
+
+"M. de Tregars will tell you what to answer, mamma," said Mlle.
+Gilberte.
+
+Meantime, seven o'clock came, then eight, and still neither Maxence
+nor M. de Tregars had come.
+
+Both mother and daughter were becoming anxious, when at last, a
+little before nine, they heard steps in the hall.
+
+Marius de Tregars appeared almost immediately.
+
+He was pale; and his face bore the trace of the crushing fatigues of
+the day, of the cares which oppressed him, of the reflections which
+had been suggested to his mind by the quarrel of which he had nearly
+been the victim a few moments since.
+
+"Maxence is not here?" he asked at once.
+
+"We have not seen him," answered Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+He seemed so much surprised, that Mme. Favoral was frightened.
+
+"What is the matter again, good God!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Nothing, madame," said M. de Tregars,--"nothing that should alarm
+you.  Compelled, about two hours ago, to part from Maxence, I was to
+have met him here.  Since he has not come, he must have been
+detained.  I know where; and I will ask your permission to run and
+join him."
+
+He went out; but Mlle. Gilberte followed him in the hall, and,
+taking his hand,
+
+"How kind of you!" she began, "and how can we ever sufficiently
+thank you?"
+
+He interrupted her.
+
+"You owe me no thanks, my beloved; for, in what I am doing, there
+is more selfishness than you think.  It is my own cause, more than
+yours, that I am defending.  Any way, every thing is going on well."
+
+And, without giving any more explanations, he started again.  He
+had no doubt that Maxence, after leaving him, had run to the Hotel
+des Folies to give to Mlle. Lucienne an account of the day's work.
+And, though somewhat annoyed that he had tarried so long, on second
+thought, he was not surprised.
+
+It was, therefore, to the Hotel des Folies that he was going.  Now
+that he had unmasked his batteries and begun the struggle, he was
+not sorry to meet Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+In less than five minutes he had reached the Boulevard du Temple.
+In front of the Fortins' narrow corridor a dozen idlers were
+standing, talking.
+
+M. de Tregars was listening as he went along.
+
+"It is a frightful accident," said one,--"such a pretty girl, and
+so young too!"
+
+"As to me," said another, "it is the driver that I pity the most;
+for after all, if that pretty miss was in that carriage, it was for
+her own pleasure; whereas, the poor coachman was only attending to
+his business."
+
+A confused presentiment oppressed M. de Tregars' heart.  Addressing
+himself to one of those worthy citizens,
+
+"Have you heard any particulars?"
+
+Flattered by the confidence,
+
+"Certainly I have," he replied.  "I didn't see the thing with my
+own proper eyes; but my wife did.  It was terrible.  The carriage,
+a magnificent private carriage too, came from the direction of the
+Madeleine.  The horses had run away; and already there had been an
+accident in the Place du Chateau d'Eau, where an old woman had been
+knocked down.  Suddenly, here, over there, opposite the toy-shop,
+which is mine, by the way, the wheel of the carriage catches into
+the wheel of an enormous truck; and at once, palata! the coachman
+is thrown down, and so is the lady, who was inside,--a very
+pretty girl, who lives in this hotel."
+
+Leaving there the obliging narrator, M. de Tregars rushed through
+the narrow corridor of the Hotel des Folies.  At the moment when
+he reached the yard, he found himself in presence of Maxence.
+
+Pale, his head bare, his eyes wild, shaking with a nervous chill,
+the poor fellow looked like a madman.  Noticing M. de Tregars,
+
+"Ah, my friend!" he exclaimed, "what misfortune!"
+
+"Lucienne?"
+
+"Dead, perhaps.  The doctor will not answer for her recovery.  I
+am going to the druggist's to get a prescription."
+
+He was interrupted by the commissary of police, whose kind
+protection had hitherto preserved Mlle. Lucienne.  He was coming
+out of the little room on the ground-floor, which the Fortins used
+for an office, bedroom, and dining-room.
+
+He had recognized Marius de Tregars, and, coming up to him, he
+pressed his hand, saying, "Well, you know?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It is my fault, M. le Marquis; for we were fully notified.  I knew
+so well that Mlle. Lucienne's existence was threatened, I was so
+fully expecting a new attempt upon her life, that, whenever she went
+out riding, it was one of my men, wearing a footman's livery, who
+took his seat by the side of the coachman.  To-day my man was so
+busy, that I said to myself, 'Bash, for once!'  And behold the
+consequences!"
+
+It was with inexpressible astonishment that Maxence was listening.
+It was with a profound stupor that he discovered between Marius and
+the commissary that serious intimacy which is the result of long
+intercourse, real esteem, and common hopes.
+
+"It is not an accident, then," remarked M. de Tregars.
+
+"The coachman has spoken, doubtless?"
+
+"No: the wretch was killed on the spot."
+
+And, without waiting for another question,
+
+"But don't let us stay here," said the commissary.
+
+"Whilst Maxence runs to the drug-store, let us go into the Fortins'
+office."
+
+The husband was alone there, the wife being at that moment with
+Mlle. Lucienne.
+
+"Do me the favor to go and take a walk for about fifteen minutes,"
+said the commissary to him.  "We have to talk, this gentleman and
+myself."
+
+Humbly, without a word, and like a man who does himself justice,
+M. Fortin slipped off.
+
+And at once,--"It is clear, M. le Marquis, it is manifest, that a
+crime has been committed.  Listen, and judge for yourself.  I was
+just rising from dinner, when I was notified of what was called
+our poor Lucienne's accident.  Without even changing my clothes, I
+ran.  The carriage was lying in the street, broken to pieces.  Two
+policemen were holding the horses, which had been stopped.  I
+inquire.  I learn that Lucienne, picked up by Maxence, has been able
+to drag herself as far as the Hotel des Folies, and that the driver
+has been taken to the nearest drug-store.  Furious at my own
+negligence, and tormented by vague suspicions, it is to the druggist's
+that I go first, and in all haste.  The driver was in a backroom,
+stretched on a mattress.
+
+"His head having struck the angle of the curbstone, his skull was
+broken; and he had just breathed his last.  It was, apparently, the
+annihilation of the hope which I had, of enlightening myself by
+questioning this man.  Nevertheless, I give orders to have him
+searched.  No paper is discovered upon him to establish his identity;
+but, in one of the pockets of his pantaloons, do you know what they
+find?  Two bank-notes of a thousand francs each, carefully wrapped
+up in a fragment of newspaper."
+
+M. de Tregars had shuddered.
+
+"What a revelation!" he murmured.
+
+It was not to the present circumstance that he applied that word.
+But the commissary naturally mistook him.
+
+"Yes," he went on, "it was a revelation.  To me these two thousand
+francs were worth a confession: they could only be the wages of a
+crime.  So, without losing a moment, I jump into a cab, and drive to
+Brion's.  Everybody was upside down, because the horses had just
+been brought back.  I question; and, from the very first words, the
+correctness of my presumption is demonstrated to me.  The wretch who
+had just died was not one of Brion's coachmen.  This is what had
+happened.  At two o'clock, when the carriage ordered by M. Van
+Klopen was ready to go for Mlle. Lucienne, they had been compelled
+to send for the driver and the footman, who had forgotten themselves
+drinking in a neighboring wine-shop, with a man who had called to
+see them in the morning.  They were slightly under the influence of
+wine, but not enough so to make it imprudent to trust them with
+horses; and it was even probable that the fresh air would sober them
+completely.  They had then started; but, they had not gone very far,
+for one of their comrades had seen them stop the carriage in front
+of a wine-shop, and join there the same individual with whom they
+had been drinking all the morning."
+
+"And who was no other than the man who was killed?"
+
+"Wait.  Having obtained this information, I get some one to take me
+to the wine-shop; and I ask for the coachman and the footman from
+Brion's.  They were there still; and they are shown to me in a
+private room, lying on the floor, fast asleep.  I try to wake them
+up, but in vain.  I order to water them freely; but a pitcher of
+water thrown on their faces has no effect, save to make them utter
+an inarticulate groan.  I guess at once what they have taken.  I
+send for a physician, and I call on the wine-merchant for
+explanations.  It is his wife and his barkeeper who answer me.
+They tell me, that, at about two o'clock, a man came in the shop,
+who stated that he was employed at Brion's, and who ordered three
+glasses for himself and two comrades, whom he was expecting.
+
+"A few moments later, a carriage stops at the door; and the driver
+and the footman leave it to come in.  They were in a great hurry,
+they said, and only wished to take one glass.  They do take three,
+one after another; then they order a bottle.  They were evidently
+forgetting their horses, which they had given to hold to a
+commissionaire.  Soon the man proposes a game.  The others accept;
+and here they are, settled in the back-room, knocking on the table
+for sealed wine.  The game must have lasted at least twenty minutes.
+At the end of that time, the man who had come in first appeared,
+looking very much annoyed, saying that it was very unpleasant, that
+his comrades were dead drunk, that they will miss their work, and
+that the boss, who is anxious to please his customers, will
+certainly dismiss them.  Although he had taken as much, and more
+than the rest, he was perfectly steady; and, after reflecting for
+a moment,--'I have an idea,' he says.  'Friends should help each
+other, shouldn't they?  I am going to take the coachman's livery,
+and drive in his stead.  I happen to know the customer they were
+going after.  She is a very kind old lady, and I'll tell her a
+story to explain the absence of the footman.'
+
+"Convinced that the man is in Brion's employment, they have no
+objection to offer to this fine project.
+
+"The brigand puts on the livery of the sleeping coachman, gets up
+on the box, and starts off, after stating that he will return for
+his comrades as soon as he has got through the job, and that
+doubtless they will be sober by that time."
+
+M. de Tregars knew well enough the savoir-faire of the commissary
+not to be surprised at his promptness in obtaining precise information.
+
+Already he was going on,
+
+"Just as I was closing my examination, the doctor arrived.  I show
+him my drunkards; and at once he recognizes that I have guessed
+correctly, and that these men have been put asleep by means of one
+of those narcotics of which certain thieves make use to rob their
+victims.  A potion, which he administers to them by forcing their
+teeth open with a knife, draws them from this lethargy.  They open
+their eyes, and soon are in condition to reply to my questions.
+They are furious at the trick that has been played upon them; but
+they do not know the man.  They saw him, they swear to me, for the
+first time that very morning; and they are ignorant even of his
+name."
+
+There was no doubt possible after such complete explanations.  The
+commissary had seen correctly, and he proved it.
+
+It was not of a vulgar accident that Mlle. Lucienne had just been
+the victim, but of a crime laboriously conceived, and executed with
+unheard-of audacity,--of one of those crimes such as too many are
+committed, whose combinations, nine times out of ten, set aside
+even a suspicion, and foil all the efforts of human justice.
+
+M. de Tregars knew now what had taken place, as clearly as if he
+had himself received the confession of the guilty parties.
+
+A man had been found to execute that perilous programme,--to make
+the horses run away, and then to run into some heavy wagon.  The
+wretch was staking his life on that game; it being evident that
+the light carriage must be smashed in a thousand pieces.  But he
+must have relied upon his skill and his presence of mind, to avoid
+the shock, to jump off safe and sound; whilst Mlle. Lucienne,
+thrown upon the pavement, would probably be killed on the spot.
+The event had deceived his expectations, and he had been the victim
+of his rascality; but his death was a misfortune.
+
+"Because now," resumed the commissary, "the thread is broken in our
+hands which would infallibly have led us to the truth.  Who is it
+that ordered the crime, and paid for it?  We know it, since we know
+who benefits by the crime.  But that is not sufficient.  Justice
+requires something more than moral proofs.  Living, this bandit
+would have spoken.  His death insures the impunity of the wretches
+of whom he was but the instrument."
+
+"Perhaps," said M. Tregars.
+
+And at the same time he took out of his pocket, and showed the note
+found in Vincent Favoral's pocket-book,--that note, so obscure the
+day before, now so terribly clear.
+
+"I cannot understand your negligence.  You should get through with
+that Van Klopen affair: there is the danger."
+
+The commissary of police cast but a glance upon it, and, replying
+to the objections of his old experience rather more than addressing
+himself to M. de Tregars,
+
+"There can be no doubt about it," he murmured.  "It is to the crime
+committed to-day that these pressing recommendations relate; and,
+directed as they are to Vincent Favoral, they attest his complicity.
+It was he who had charge of finishing the Van Klopen affair; in other
+words, to get rid of Lucienne.  It was he, I'd wager my head, who
+had treated with the false coachman."
+
+He remained for over a minute absorbed in his own thoughts, then,
+
+"But who is the author of these recommendations to Vincent Favoral?
+Do you know that, M. le Marquis?" he said.
+
+They looked at each other; and the same name rose to their lips,
+
+"The Baroness de Thaller!"
+
+This name, however, they did not utter.
+
+The commissary had placed himself under the gasburner which gave
+light to the Fortin's office; and, adjusting his glasses, he was
+scrutinizing the note with the most minute attention, studying the
+grain and the transparency of the paper, the ink, and the
+handwriting.  And at last,
+
+"This note," he declared, "cannot constitute a proof against its
+author: I mean an evident, material proof, such as we require to
+obtain from a judge an order of arrest."
+
+And, as Marius was protesting,
+
+"This note," he insisted, "is written with the left hand, with
+common ink, on ordinary foolscap paper, such as is found everywhere.
+Now all left-hand writings look alike.  Draw your own conclusions."
+
+But M. de Tregars did not give it up yet.
+
+"Wait a moment," he interrupted.
+
+And briefly, though with the utmost exactness, he began telling his
+visit to the Thaller mansion, his conversation with Mlle. Cesarine,
+then with the baroness, and finally with the baron himself.
+
+He described in the most graphic manner the scene which had taken
+place in the grand parlor between Mme. de Thaller and a worse than
+suspicious-looking man,--that scene, the secret of which had been
+revealed to him in its minutest details by the looking-glass.  Its
+meaning was now as clear as day.
+
+This suspicious-looking man had been one of the agents in arranging
+the intended murder: hence the agitation of the baroness when she
+had received his card, and her haste to join him.  If she had
+started when he first spoke to her, it was because he was telling
+her of the successful execution of the crime.  If she had afterwards
+made a gesture of joy, it was because he had just informed her that
+the coachman had been killed at the same time, and that she found
+herself thus rid of a dangerous accomplice.
+
+The commissary of police shook his head.
+
+"All this is quite probable," he murmured; "but that's all."
+
+Again M. de Tregars stopped him.
+
+"I have not done yet," he said.
+
+And he went on saying how he had been suddenly and brutally
+assaulted by an unknown man in a restaurant; how he had collared
+this abject scoundrel, and taken out of his pocket a crushing letter,
+which left no doubt as to the nature of his mission.
+
+The commissary's eyes were sparkling,
+
+"That letter!" he exclaimed, "that letter!"  And, as soon as he had
+looked over it,
+
+"Ah!  This time," he resumed, "I think that we have something
+tangible.  'A troublesome gentleman to keep quiet,'--the Marquis
+de Tregars, of course, who is on the right track.  'It will be for
+you the matter of a sword-thrust.'  Naturally, dead men tell no
+tales.  'It will be for us the occasion of dividing a round amount.'
+An honest trade, indeed!"
+
+The good man was rubbing his hand with all his might.
+
+"At last we have a positive fact," he went on,--"a foundation upon
+which to base our accusations.  Don't be uneasy.  That letter is
+going to place into our hands the scoundrel who assaulted you,--who
+will make known the go-between, who himself will not fail to
+surrender the Baroness de Thaller.  Lucienne shall be avenged.  If
+we could only now lay our hands on Vincent Favoral!  But we'll find
+him yet.  I set two fellows after him this afternoon, who have a
+superior scent, and understand their business."
+
+He was here interrupted by Maxence, who was returning all out of
+breath, holding in his hand the medicines which he had gone after.
+
+"I thought that druggist would never get through," he said.
+
+And regretting to have remained away so long, feeling uneasy, and
+anxious to return up stairs,
+
+"Don't you wish to see Lucienne?" he added, addressing himself to M.
+de Tregars rather more than to the commissary.
+
+For all answer, they followed him at once.
+
+A cheerless-looking place was Mlle. Lucienne's room, without any
+furniture but a narrow iron bedstead, a dilapidated bureau, four
+straw-bottomed chairs, and a small table.  Over the bed, and at
+the windows, were white muslin curtains, with an edging that had
+once been blue, but had become yellow from repeated washings.
+
+Often Maxence had begged his friend to take a more comfortable
+lodging, and always she had refused.
+
+"We must economize," she would say.  "This room does well enough
+for me; and, besides, I am accustomed to it."
+
+When M. de Tregars and the commissary walked in, the estimable
+hostess of the Hotel des Folies was kneeling in front of the fire,
+preparing some medicine.
+
+Hearing the footsteps, she got up, and, with a finger upon her
+lips,
+
+"Hush!" she said.  "Take care not to wake her up!"  The precaution
+was useless.
+
+"I am not asleep," said Mlle. Lucienne in a feeble voice.  "Who
+is there?"
+
+"I," replied Maxence, advancing towards the bed.
+
+It was only necessary to see the poor girl in order to understand
+Maxence's frightful anxiety.  She was whiter than the sheet; and
+fever, that horrible fever which follows severe wounds, gave to her
+eyes a sinister lustre.
+
+"But you are not alone," she said again.
+
+"I am with him, my child," replied the commissary.  "I come to beg
+your pardon for having so badly protected you."
+
+She shook her head with a sad and gentle motion.
+
+"It was myself who lacked prudence," she said; "for to-day, while
+out, I thought I noticed something wrong; but it looked so foolish
+to be afraid!  If it had not happened to-day, it would have happened
+some other day.  The villains who have been pursuing me for years
+must be satisfied now.  They will soon be rid of me."
+
+"Lucienne," said Maxence in a sorrowful tone.
+
+M. de Tregars now stepped forward.
+
+"You shall live, mademoiselle," he uttered in a grave voice.  "You
+shall live to learn to love life."
+
+And, as she was looking at him in surprise,
+
+"You do not know me," he added.
+
+Timidly, and as if doubting the reality,
+
+"You," she said, "the Marquis de Tregars!"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, your brother."
+
+Had he had the control of events, Marius de Tregars would probably
+not have been in such haste to reveal this fact.
+
+But how could he control himself in presence of that bed where a
+poor girl was, perhaps, about to die, sacrificed to the terrors
+and to the cravings of the miserable woman who was her mother,--to
+die at twenty, victim of the basest and most odious of crimes?  How
+could he help feeling an intense pity at the sight of this
+unfortunate young woman who had endured every thing that a human
+being can suffer, whose life had been but a long and painful
+struggle, whose courage had risen above all the woes of adversity,
+and who had been able to pass without a stain through the mud and
+mire of Paris.
+
+Besides, Marius was not one of those men who mistrust their first
+impulse, who manifest their emotion only for a purpose, who reflect
+and calculate before giving themselves up to the inspirations of
+their heart.
+
+Lucienne was the daughter of the Marquis de Tregars: of that he was
+absolutely certain.  He knew that the same blood flowed in his veins
+and in hers; and he told her so.
+
+He told her so, above all, because he believed her in danger; and
+he wished, were she to die, that she should have, at least, that
+supreme joy.  Poor Lucienne!  Never had she dared to dream of such
+happiness.  All her blood rushed to her cheeks; and, in a voice
+vibrating with the most intense emotion,
+
+"Ah, now, yes," she uttered, "I would like to live."
+
+The commissary of police, also, felt moved.
+
+"Do not be alarmed, my child," he said in his kindest tone.
+"Before two weeks you will be up.  M. de Tregars is a great
+physician."
+
+In the mean time, she had attempted to raise herself on her pillow;
+and that simple effort had wrung from her a cry of anguish.
+
+"Dear me!  How I do suffer!"
+
+"That's because you won't keep quiet, my darling," said Mme. Fortin
+in a tone of gentle scolding.  "Have you forgotten that the doctor
+has expressly forbidden you to stir?"
+
+Then taking aside the commissary, Maxence, and M. de Tregars, she
+explained to them how imprudent it was to disturb Mlle. Lucienne's
+rest.  She was very ill, affirmed the worthy hostess; and her advice
+was, that they should send for a sick-nurse as soon as possible.
+
+She would have been extremely happy, of course, to spend the night
+by the side of her dear lodger; but, unfortunately, she could not
+think of it, the hotel requiring all her time and attention.
+Fortunately, however, she knew in the neighborhood a widow, a very
+honest woman, and without her equal in taking care of the sick.
+
+With an anxious and beseeching look, Maxence was consulting M. de
+Tregars.  In his eyes could be read the proposition that was burning
+upon his lips,
+
+"Shall I not go for Gilberte?"
+
+But that proposition he had no time to express.  Though they had
+been speaking very low, Mlle. Lucienne had heard.
+
+"I have a friend," she said, "who would certainly be willing to sit
+up with me."
+
+They all went up to her.
+
+"What friend," inquired the commissary of police.
+
+"You know her very well, sir.  It is that poor girl who had taken
+me home with her at Batignolles when I left the hospital, who came
+to my assistance during the Commune, and whom you helped to get
+out of the Versailles prisons."
+
+"Do you know what has become of her?"
+
+"Only since yesterday, when I received a letter from her, a very
+friendly letter.  She writes that she has found money to set up a
+dressmaking establishment, and that she is relying upon me to be
+her forewoman.  She is going to open in the Rue St. Lazare; but,
+in the mean time, she is stopping in the Rue du Cirque."
+
+M. de Tregars and Maxence had started slightly.
+
+"What is your friend's name?" they inquired at once.
+
+Not being aware of the particulars of the two young men's visit to
+the Rue du Cirque, the commissary of police could not understand
+the cause of their agitation.
+
+"I think," he said, "that it would hardly be proper now to send for
+that girl."
+
+"It is to her alone, on the contrary, that we must resort,"
+interrupted M. de Tregars.
+
+And, as he had good reasons to mistrust Mme. Fortin, he took the
+commissary outside the room, on the landing; and there, in a few
+words, he explained to him that this Zelie was precisely the same
+woman whom they had found in the Rue du Cirque, in that sumptuous
+mansion where Vincent Favoral, under the simple name of Vincent, had
+been living, according to the neighbors, in such a princely style.
+
+The commissary of police was astounded.  Why had he not known all
+this sooner?  Better late than never, however.
+
+"Ah! you are right, M. le Marquis, a hundred times right!" he
+declared.  "This girl must evidently know Vincent Favoral's secret,
+the key of the enigma that we are vainly trying to solve.  What
+she would not tell to you, a stranger, she will tell to Lucienne,
+her friend."
+
+Maxence offered to go himself for Zelie Cadelle.
+
+"No," answered Marius.  "If she should happen to know you, she
+would mistrust you, and would refuse to come."
+
+It was, therefore, M. Fortin who was despatched to the Rue du
+Cirque, and who went off muttering, though he had received five
+francs to take a carriage, and five francs for his trouble.
+
+"And now," said the commissary of police to Maxence, "we must both
+of us get out of the way.  I, because the fact of my being a
+commissary would frighten Mme. Cadelle; you because, being Vincent
+Favoral's son, your presence would certainly prove embarrassing
+to her."
+
+And so they went out; but M. de Tregars did not remain long alone
+with Mlle. Lucienne.  M. Fortin had had the delicacy not to tarry
+on the way.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck as Zelie Cadelle rushed like a whirlwind
+into her friend's room.
+
+Such had been his haste, that she had given no thought whatever to
+her dress.  She had stuck upon her uncombed hair the first bonnet
+she had laid her hand upon, and thrown an old shawl over the
+wrapper in which she had received Marius in the afternoon.
+
+"What, my poor Lucienne!" she exclaimed.  "Are you so sick as all
+that?"
+
+But she stopped short as she recognized M. de Tregars; and, in a
+suspicious tone,
+
+"What a singular meeting!" she said.
+
+Marius bowed.
+
+"You know Lucienne?"
+
+What she meant by that he understood perfectly.  "Lucienne is my
+sister, madame," he said coldly.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.  "What humbug!"
+
+"It's the truth," affirmed Mlle. Lucienne; "and you know that I
+never lie."
+
+Mme. Zelie was dumbfounded.
+
+"If you say so," she muttered.  "But no matter: that's queer."
+
+M. de Tregars interrupted her with a gesture,
+
+"And, what's more, it is because Lucienne is my sister that you see
+her there lying upon that bed.  They attempted to murder her to-day!"
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"It was her mother who tried to get rid of her, so as to possess
+herself of the fortune which my father had left her; and there is
+every reason to believe that the snare was contrived by Vincent
+Favoral."
+
+Mme. Zelie did not understand very well; but, when Marius and Mlle.
+Lucienne had informed her of all that it was useful for her to know,
+
+"Why," she exclaimed, "what a horrid rascal that old Vincent must
+be!"
+
+And, as M. de Tregars remained dumb,
+
+"This afternoon," she went on, "I didn't tell you any stories; but
+I didn't tell you every thing, either."  She stopped; and, after a
+moment of deliberation,
+
+"Well, I don't care for old Vincent," she said.  "Ah! he tried to
+have Lucienne killed, did he?  Well, then, I am going to tell every
+thing I know.  First of all, he wasn't any thing to me.  It isn't
+very flattering; but it is so.  He has never kissed so much as the
+end of my finger.  He used to say that he loved me, but that he
+respected me still more, because I looked so much like a daughter
+he had lost.  Old humbug!  And I believed him too!  I did, upon my
+word, at least in the beginning.  But I am not such a fool as I
+look.  I found out very soon that he was making fun of me; and that
+he was only using me as a blind to keep suspicion away from another
+woman."
+
+"From what woman?"
+
+"Ah! now, I do not know!  All I know is that she is married, that
+he is crazy about her, and that they are to run away together."
+
+"Hasn't he gone, then?"
+
+Mme. Cadelle's face had become somewhat anxious, and for over a
+minute she seemed to hesitate.
+
+"Do you know," she said at last, "that my answer is going to cost
+me a lot?  They have promised me a pile of money; but I haven't got
+it yet.  And, if I say any thing, good-by! I sha'n't have any thing."
+
+M. de Tregars was opening his lips to tell her that she might rest
+easy on that score; but she cut him short.
+
+"Well, no," she said: "Old Vincent hasn't gone.  He got up a comedy,
+so he told me, to throw the lady's husband off the track.  He sent
+off a whole lot of baggage by the railroad; but he staid in Paris."
+
+"And do you know where he is hid?"
+
+"In the Rue St. Lazare, of course: in the apartment that I hired
+two weeks ago."
+
+In a voice trembling with the excitement of almost certain success,
+"Would you consent to take me there?" asked M. de Tregars.
+
+"Whenever you like,--to-morrow."
+
+
+
+IX
+
+As he left Mlle. Lucienne's room,
+
+"There is nothing more to keep me at the Hotel des Folies," said
+the commissary of police to Maxence.  "Every thing possible will be
+done, and well done, by M. de Tregars.  I am going home, therefore;
+and I am going to take you with me.  I have a great deal to do and
+you'll help me."
+
+That was not exactly true; but he feared, on the part of Maxence,
+some imprudence which might compromise the success of M. de
+Tregars' mission.
+
+He was trying to think of every thing to leave as little as possible
+to chance; like a man who has seen the best combined plans fail for
+want of a trifling precaution.
+
+Once in the yard, he opened the door of the lodge where the
+honorable Fortins, man and wife, were deliberating, and exchanging
+their conjectures, instead of going to bed.  For they were
+wonderfully puzzled by all those events that succeeded each other,
+and anxious about all these goings and comings.
+
+"I am going home," the commissary said to them; "but, before that,
+listen to my instructions.  You will allow no one, you understand,
+--no one who is not known to you, to go up to Mlle. Lucienne's
+room.  And remember that I will admit of no excuse, and that you
+must not come and tell me afterwards, 'It isn't our fault, we can't
+see everybody that comes in,' and all that sort of nonsense."
+
+He was speaking in that harsh and imperious tone of which
+police-agents have the secret, when they are addressing people who
+have, by their conduct, placed themselves under their dependence.
+
+"We are going to close our front-door," replied the estimable
+hotel-keepers.  "We will comply strictly with your orders."
+
+"I trust so; because, if you should disobey me, I should hear it,
+and the result would be a serious trouble to you.  Besides your
+hotel being unmercifully closed up, you would find yourselves
+implicated in a very bad piece of business."
+
+The most ardent curiosity could be read in Mme. Fortin's little eyes.
+
+"I understood at once," she began, "that something extraordinary
+was going on."
+
+But the commissary interrupted her,
+
+"I have not done yet.  It may be that to-night or to-morrow some
+one will call and inquire how Mlle. Lucienne is."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"You will answer that she is as bad as possible; and that she has
+neither spoken a word, nor recovered her senses, since the accident;
+and that she will certainly not live through the day."
+
+The effort which Mme. Fortin made to remain silent gave, better than
+any thing else, an idea of the terror with which the commissary
+inspired her.
+
+"That is not all," he went on.  "As soon as the person in question
+has started off, you will follow him, without affectation, as far
+as the street-door, and you will point him out with your finger,
+here, like that, to one of my agents, who will happen to be on the
+Boulevard."
+
+"And suppose he should not be there?"
+
+"He shall be there.  You can make yourself easy on that score."
+
+The looks of distress which the honorable hotel-keepers were
+exchanging did not announce a very tranquil conscience.
+
+"In other words, here we are under surveillance," said M. Fortin
+with a groan.  "What have we done to be thus mistrusted?"
+
+To reply to him would have been a task more long than difficult.
+
+"Do as I tell you," insisted the commissary harshly, "and don't
+mind the rest, and, meantime, good-night."
+
+He was right in trusting implicitly to his agent's punctuality;
+for, as soon as he came out of the Hotel des Folies, a man passed
+by him, and without seeming to address him, or even to recognize
+him, said in a whisper,
+
+"What news?"
+
+"Nothing," he replied, "except that the Fortins are notified.  The
+trap is well set.  Keep your eyes open now, and spot any one who
+comes to ask about Mlle. Lucienne."
+
+And he hurried on, still followed by Maxence, who walked along like
+a body without soul, tortured by the most frightful anguish.
+
+As he had been away the whole evening, four or five persons were
+waiting for him at his office on matters of current business.  He
+despatched them in less than no time; after which, addressing
+himself to an agent on duty,
+
+"This evening," he said, "at about nine o'clock, in a restaurant on
+the Boulevard, a quarrel took place.  A person tried to pick a
+quarrel with another.
+
+"You will proceed at once to that restaurant; you will get the
+particulars of what took place; and you will ascertain exactly who
+this man is, his name, his profession, and his residence."
+
+Like a man accustomed to such errands,
+
+"Can I have a description of him?" inquired the agent.
+
+"Yes.  He is a man past middle age, military bearing, heavy mustache,
+ribbons in his buttonhole."
+
+"Yes, I see: one of your regular fighting fellows."
+
+"Very well.  Go then.  I shall not retire before your return.  Ah,
+I forgot; find out what they thought to-night on the 'street' about
+the Mutual Credit affair, and what they said of the arrest of one
+Saint Pavin, editor of 'The Financial Pilot,' and of a banker named
+Jottras."
+
+"Can I take a carriage?"
+
+"Do so."
+
+The agent started; and he was not fairly out of the house, when the
+commissary, opening a door which gave into a small study, called,
+"Felix!"
+
+It was his secretary, a man of about thirty, blonde, with a gentle
+and timid countenance, having, with his long coat, somewhat the
+appearance of a theological student.  He appeared immediately.
+
+"You call me, sir?"
+
+"My dear Felix," replied the commissary, "I have seen you, sometimes,
+imitate very nicely all sorts of hand-writings."
+
+The secretary blushed very much, no doubt on account of Maxence, who
+was sitting by the side of his employer.  He was a very honest
+fellow; but there are certain little talents of which people do not
+like to boast; and the talent of imitating the writing of others is
+of the number, for the reason, that, fatally and at once, it suggests
+the idea of forgery.
+
+"It was only for fun that I used to do that, sir," he stammered.
+
+"Would you be here if it had been otherwise?" said the commissary.
+"Only this time it is not for fun, but to do me a favor that I
+wish you to try again."
+
+And, taking out of his pocket the letter taken by M. de Tregars
+from the man in the restaurant,
+
+"Examine this writing," he said, "and see whether you feel capable
+of imitating it tolerably well."
+
+Spreading the letter under the full light of the lamp, the secretary
+spent at least two minutes examining it with the minute attention of
+an expert.  And at the same time he was muttering,
+
+"Not at all convenient, this.  Hard writing to imitate.  Not a
+salient feature, not a characteristic sign!  Nothing to strike the
+eye, or attract attention.  It must be some old lawyer's clerk who
+wrote this."
+
+In spite of his anxiety of mind, the commissary smiled.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if you had guessed right."
+
+Thus encouraged,
+
+"At any rate," Felix declared, "I am going to try."
+
+He took a pen, and, after trying a dozen times,
+
+"How is this?" he asked, holding out a sheet of paper.
+
+The commissary carefully compared the original with the copy.
+
+"It is not perfect," he murmured; "but at night, with the imagination
+excited by a great peril--Besides, we must risk something."
+
+"If I had a few hours to practise!"
+
+"But you have not.  Come, take up your pen, and write as well as
+you can, in that same hand, what I am going to tell you."
+
+And after a moment's thought, he dictated as follows:
+
+"All goes well.  T. drawn into a quarrel, is to fight in the morning
+with swords.  But our man, whom I cannot leave, refuses to go ahead,
+unless he is paid two thousand francs before the duel.  I have not
+the amount.  Please hand it to the bearer, who has orders to wait
+for you."
+
+The commissary, leaning over his secretary's shoulder, was following
+his hand, and, the last word being written,
+
+"Perfect!" he exclaimed.  "Now quick, the address: Mme. la Baronne
+de Thaller, Rue de le Pepiniere."
+
+There are professions which extinguish, in those who exercise them,
+all curiosity.  It is with the most complete indifference, and
+without asking a question, that the secretary had done what he had
+been requested.
+
+"Now, my dear Felix," resumed the commissary, "you will please get
+yourself up as near as possible like a restaurant-waiter, and take
+this letter to its address."
+
+"At this hour!"
+
+"Yes.  The Baroness de Thaller is out to a ball.  You will tell the
+servants that you are bringing her an answer concerning an important
+matter.  They know nothing about it; but they will allow you to wait
+for their mistress in the porter's lodge.  As soon as she comes in,
+you will hand her the letter, stating that two gentlemen who are
+taking supper in your restaurant are waiting for the answer.  It may
+be that she will exclaim that you are a scoundrel, that she does not
+know what it means: in that case, we shall have been anticipated, and
+you must get away as fast as you can.  But the chances are, that she
+will give you two thousand francs; and then you must so manage, that
+she will be seen plainly when she does it.  Is it all understood?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Go ahead, then, and do not lose a minute.  I shall wait."
+
+Away from Mlle. Lucienne, Maxence had gradually been recalled to
+the strangeness of the situation; and it was with a mingled feeling
+of curiosity and surprise that he observed the commissary acting
+and bustling about.
+
+The good man had found again all the activity of his youth, together
+with that fever of hope and that impatience of success, which
+usually disappear with age.
+
+He was going over the whole of the case again,--his first meeting
+with Mlle. Lucienne, the various attempts upon her life; and he had
+just taken out of the file the letter of information which had been
+intrusted to him, in order to compare the writing with that of the
+letter taken from his adversary by M. de Tregars, when the latter
+came in all out of breath.
+
+"Zelie has spoken!" he said.
+
+And, at once addressing Maxence,
+
+"You, my dear friend," he resumed, "you must run to the Hotel des
+Folies."
+
+"Is Lucienne worse?"
+
+"No.  Lucienne is getting on well enough.  Zelie has spoken; but
+there is no certainty, that, after due reflection, she will not
+repent, and go and give the alarm.  You will return, therefore,
+and you will not lose sight of her until I call for her in the
+morning.  If she wishes to go out, you must prevent her."
+
+The commissary had understood the importance of the precaution.
+
+"You must prevent her," he added, "even by force; and I authorize
+you, if need be, to call upon the agent whom I have placed on duty,
+watching the Hotel des Folies, and to whom I am going to send word
+immediately."
+
+Maxence started off on a run.
+
+"Poor fellow!" murmured Marius, "I know where your father is.  What
+are we going to learn now?"
+
+He had scarcely had time to communicate the information he had
+received from Mme. Cadelle, when the first of the commissary's
+emissaries made his appearance.
+
+"The commission is done," he said, in that confident tone of a man
+who thinks he has successfully accomplished a difficult task.
+
+"You know the name of the individual who sought a quarrel with M.
+de Tregars?"
+
+"His name is Corvi.  He is well known in all the tables d'hote,
+where there are women, and where they deal a healthy little game
+after dinner.  I know him well too.  He is a bad fellow, who passes
+himself off for a former superior officer in the Italian army."
+
+"His address?"
+
+"He lives at Rue de la Michodiere, in a furnished house.  I went
+there.  The porter told me that my man had just gone out with an
+ill-looking individual, and that they must be in a little cafe on
+the corner of the next street.  I ran there, and found my two
+fellows drinking beer."
+
+"Won't they give us the slip?"
+
+"No danger of that: I have got them fixed."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"It is an idea of mine.  I just thought, 'Suppose they put off?'
+And at once I went to notify some policemen, and I returned to
+station myself near the cafe.  It was just closing up.  My two
+fellows came out: I picked a quarrel with them; and now they are
+in the station-house, well recommended."
+
+The commissary knit his brows.
+
+"That's almost too much zeal," he murmured.  "Well, what's done is
+done.  Did you make any inquiries about the Saint Pavin and Jottras
+matter?"
+
+"I had no time, it was too late.  You forget, perhaps, sir, that it
+is nearly two o'clock."
+
+Just as he got through, the secretary who had been sent to the Rue
+de la Pepiniere came in.
+
+"Well?" inquired the commissary, not without evident anxiety.
+
+"I waited for Mme. de Thaller over an hour," he said.  "When she
+came home, I gave her the letter.  She read it; and, in presence of
+a number of her servants, she handed me these two thousand francs."
+
+At the sight of the bank notes, the commissary jumped to his feet.
+
+"Now we have it!" he exclaimed.  "Here is the proof that we wanted."
+
+
+
+X
+
+It was after four o'clock when M. de Tregars was at last permitted
+to return home.  He had minutely, and at length, arranged every
+thing with the commissary: he had endeavored to anticipate every
+eventuality.  His line of conduct was perfectly well marked out,
+and he carried with him the certainty that on the day which was
+about to dawn the strange game that he was playing must be finally
+won or lost.  When he reached home,
+
+"At last, here you are, sir!" exclaimed his faithful servant.
+
+It was doubtless anxiety that had kept up the old man all night; but
+so absorbed was Marius's mind, that he scarcely noticed the fact.
+
+"Did any one call in my absence?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir.  A gentleman called during the evening, M. Costeclar, who
+appeared very much vexed not to find you in.  He stated that he came
+on a very important matter that you would know all about: and he
+requested me to ask you to wait for him to-morrow, that is to-day,
+by twelve o'clock."
+
+Was M. Costeclar sent by M. de Thaller?  Had the manager of the
+Mutual Credit changed his mind?  and had he decided to accept the
+conditions which he had at first rejected?  In that case, it was
+too late.  It was no longer in the power of any human being to
+suspend the action of justice.  Without giving any further thought
+to that visit,
+
+"I am worn out with fatigue," said M. de Tregars, "and I am going
+to lie down.  At eight o'clock precisely you will call me."
+
+But it was in vain that he tried to find a short respite in sleep.
+For forty-eight hours his mind had been taxed beyond measure, his
+nerves had been wrought up to an almost intolerable degree of
+exaltation.
+
+As soon as he closed his eyes, it was with a merciless precision
+that his imagination presented to him all the events which had taken
+place since that afternoon in the Place-Royale when he had ventured
+to declare his love to Mlle. Gilberte.  Who could have told him then,
+that he would engage in that struggle, the issue of which must
+certainly be some abominable scandal in which his name would be
+mixed?  Who could have told him, that gradually, and by the very
+force of circumstances, he would be led to overcome his repugnance,
+and to rival the ruses and the tortuous combinations of the wretches
+he was trying to reach?
+
+But he was not of those who, once engaged, regret, hesitate, and
+draw back.  His conscience reproached him for nothing.  It was for
+justice and right that he was battling; and Mlle. Gilberte was the
+prize that would reward him.
+
+Eight o'clock struck; and his servant came in.
+
+"Run for a cab," he said: "I'll be ready in a moment."
+
+He was ready, in fact, when the old servant returned; and, as he
+had in his pocket some of those arguments that lend wings to the
+poorest cab-horses, in less than ten minutes he had reached the
+Hotel des Folies.
+
+"How is Mlle. Lucienne?" he inquired first of all of the worthy
+hostess.
+
+The intervention of the commissary of police had made M. Fortin and
+his wife more supple than gloves, and more gentle than doves.
+
+"The poor dear child is much better," answered Mme. Fortin; "and
+the doctor, who has just left, now feels sure of her recovery.  But
+there is a row up there."
+
+"A row?"
+
+"Yes.  That lady whom my husband went after last night insists upon
+going out; and M. Maxence won't let her: so that they are quarreling
+up there.  Just listen."
+
+The loud noise of a violent altercation could be heard distinctly.
+M. de Tregars started up stairs, and on the second-story landing he
+found Maxence holding on obstinately to the railing, whilst Mme.
+Zelie Cadelle, redder than a peony, was trying to induce him to let
+her pass, treating him at the same time to some of the choicest
+epithets of her well-stocked repertory.  Catching sight of Marius,
+
+"Is it you," she cried, "who gave orders to keep me here against my
+wishes?  By what right?  Am I your prisoner?"
+
+To irritate her would have been imprudent.
+
+"Why did you wish to leave," said M. de Tregars gently, "at the very
+moment when you knew that I was to call for you?"
+
+But she interrupted him, and, shrugging her shoulders,
+
+"Why don't you tell the truth?" she said.  "You were afraid to
+trust me."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"You are wrong!  What I promise to do I do.  I only wanted to go
+home to dress.  Can I go in the street in this costume?"
+
+And she was spreading out her wrapper, all faded and stained.
+
+"I have a carriage below," said Marius.  "No one will see us."
+
+Doubtless she understood that it was useless to hesitate.
+
+"As you please," she said.
+
+M. de Tregars took Maxence aside, and in a hurried whisper,
+
+"You must," said he, "go at once to the Rue St. Gilles, and in my
+name request your sister to accompany you.  You will take a closed
+carriage, and you'll go and wait in the Rue St. Lazare, opposite
+No. 25.  It may be that Mlle. Gilberte's assistance will become
+indispensable to me.  And, as Lucienne must not be left alone, you
+will request Mme. Fortin to go and stay with her."
+
+And, without waiting for an answer,
+
+"Let us go," he said to Mme. Cadelle.
+
+They started but the young woman was far from being in her usual
+spirits.  It was clear that she was regretting bitterly having gone
+so far, and not having been able to get away at the last moment.
+As the carriage went on, she became paler and a frown appeared upon
+her face.
+
+"No matter," she began: "it's a nasty thing I am doing there."
+
+"Do you repent then, assisting me to punish your friend's assassins?"
+said M. de Tregars.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I know very well that old Vincent is a scoundrel," she said; "but
+he had trusted me, and I am betraying him."
+
+"You are mistaken, madame.  To furnish me the means of speaking to
+M. Favoral is not to betray him; and I shall do every thing in my
+power to enable him to escape the police, and make his way abroad."
+
+"What a joke!"
+
+"It is the exact truth: I give you my word of honor."  She seemed
+to feel easier; and, when the carriage turned into the Rue St.
+Lazare, "Let us stop a moment," she said.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"So that I can buy old Vincent's breakfast.  He can't go out to eat,
+of course; and so I have to take all his meals to him."
+
+Marius's mistrust was far from being dissipated; and yet he did not
+think it prudent to refuse, promising himself, however, not to lose
+sight of Mme. Zelie.  He followed her, therefore, to the baker's
+and the butcher's; and when she had done her marketing, he entered
+with her the house of modest appearance where she had her apartment.
+
+They were already going up stairs, when the porter ran out of his
+lodge.
+
+"Madame!" he said, "madame!"
+
+Mme. Cadelle stopped.
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"A letter for you."
+
+"For me?"
+
+"Here it is.  A lady brought it less than five minutes ago.  Really,
+she looked annoyed not to find you in.  But she is going to come
+back.  She knew you were to be here this morning."
+
+M. de Tregars had also stopped.
+
+"What kind of a looking person was this lady?" he asked.
+
+"Dressed all in black, with a thick veil on her face."
+
+"All right.  I thank you."
+
+The porter returned to his lodge.  Mme. Zelie broke the seal.  The
+first envelope contained another, upon which she spelt, for she did
+not read very fluently, "To be handed to M. Vincent."
+
+"Some one knows that he is hiding here," she said in a tone of utter
+surprise.  "Who can it be?"
+
+"Who?  Why, the woman whose reputation M. Favoral was so anxious to
+spare when he put you in the Rue du Cirque house."
+
+There was nothing that irritated the young woman so much as this idea.
+
+"You are right," she said.  "What a fool he made of me; the old rascal!
+But never mind.  I am going to pay him for it now."
+
+Nevertheless when she reached her story, the third, and at the moment
+of slipping the key into the keyhole, she again seemed perplexed.
+
+"If some misfortune should happen," she sighed.
+
+"What are you afraid of?"
+
+"Old Vincent has got all sorts of arms in there.  He has sworn to me
+that the first person who forced his way into the apartments, he
+would kill him like a dog.  Suppose he should fire at us?"
+
+She was afraid, terribly afraid: she was livid, and her teeth
+chattered.
+
+"Let me go first," suggested M. de Tregars.
+
+"No.  Only, if you were a good fellow, you would do what I am going
+to ask you.  Say, will you?"
+
+"If it can be done."
+
+"Oh, certainly!  Here is the thing.  We'll go in together; but you
+must not make any noise.  There is a large closet with glass doors,
+from which every thing can be heard and seen that goes on in the
+large room.  You'll get in there.  I'll go ahead, and draw out old
+Vincent into the parlor and at the right moment, v'lan! you appear."
+
+It was after all, quite reasonable.
+
+"Agreed!" said Marius.
+
+"Then," she said, "every thing will go on right.  The entrance of
+the closet with the glass doors is on the right as you go in.  Come
+along now, and walk easy."
+
+And she opened the door.
+
+
+
+XI
+
+The apartment was exactly as described by Mme. Cadelle.  In the
+dark and narrow ante-chamber, three doors opened,--on the left,
+that of the dining-room; in the centre, that of a parlor and
+bedroom which communicated; on the right, that of the closet.  M.
+de Tregars slipped in noiselessly through the latter, and at once
+recognized that Mme. Zelie had not deceived him, and that he would
+see and hear every thing that went on in the parlor.  He saw the
+young woman walk into it.  She laid her provisions down upon the
+table, and called,
+
+"Vincent!"
+
+The former cashier of the Mutual Credit appeared at once, coming
+out of the bedroom.
+
+He was so changed, that his wife and children would have hesitated
+in recognizing him.  He had cut off his beard, pulled out almost
+the whole of his thick eye-brows, and covered his rough and
+straight hair under a brown curly wig.  He wore patent-leather boots,
+wide pantaloons, and one of those short jackets of rough material,
+and with broad sleeves which French elegance has borrowed from
+English stable-boys.  He tried to appear calm, careless, and playful;
+but the contraction of his lips betrayed a horrible anguish, and
+his look had the strange mobility of the wild beasts' eye, when,
+almost at bay, they stop for a moment, listening to the barking of
+the hounds.
+
+"I was beginning to fear that you would disappoint me," he said to
+Mme. Zelie.
+
+"It took me some time to buy your breakfast."
+
+"And is that all that kept you?"
+
+"The porter detained me too, to hand me a letter, in which I found
+one for you.  Here it is."
+
+"A letter!" exclaimed Vincent Favoral.
+
+And, snatching it from her, he tore off the envelope.  But he had
+scarcely looked over it, when he crushed it in his hand, exclaiming,
+
+"It is monstrous!  It is a mean, infamous treason!"  He was
+interrupted by a violent ringing of the door-bell.
+
+"Who can it be?" stammered Mme. Cadelle.
+
+"I know who it is," replied the former cashier.  "Open, open quick."
+
+She obeyed; and almost at once a woman walked into the parlor,
+wearing a cheap, black woolen dress.  With a sudden gesture, she
+threw off her veil; and M. de Tregars recognized the Baroness de
+Thaller.
+
+"Leave us!" she said to Mme. Zelie, in a tone which one would hardly
+dare to assume towards a bar-maid.
+
+The other felt indignant.
+
+"What, what!" she began.  "I am in my own house here."
+
+"Leave us!" repeated M. Favoral with a threatening gesture.
+"Go, go!"
+
+She went out but only to take refuge by the side of M. de Tregars.
+
+"You hear how they treat me," she said in a hoarse voice.
+
+He made no answer.  All his attention was centred upon the parlor.
+The Baroness de Thaller and the former cashier were standing
+opposite each other, like two adversaries about to fight a duel.
+
+"I have just read your letter," began Vincent Favoral.
+
+Coldly the baroness said, "Ah!"
+
+"It is a joke, I suppose."
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"You refuse to go with me?"
+
+"Positively."
+
+"And yet it was all agreed upon.  I have acted wholly under your
+urgent, pressing advice.  How many times have you repeated to me
+that to live with your husband had become an intolerable torment
+to you!  How many times have you sworn to me that you wished to be
+mine alone, begging me to procure a large sum of money, and to fly
+with you!"
+
+"I was in earnest at the time.  I have discovered, at the last
+moment, that it would be impossible for me thus to abandon my
+country, my daughter, my friends."
+
+"We can take Cesarine with us."
+
+"Do not insist."
+
+He was looking at her with a stupid, gloomy gaze.
+
+"Then," he stammered, "those tears, those prayers, those oaths!"
+
+"I have reflected."
+
+"It is not possible!  If you spoke the truth, you would not be here."
+
+"I am here to make you understand that we must give up projects
+which cannot be realized.  There are some social conventionalities
+which cannot be torn up."  As if he scarcely understood what she
+said, he repeated,
+
+"Social conventionalities!"
+
+And suddenly falling at Mme. de Thaller's feet, his head thrown
+back, and his hands clasped together,
+
+"You lie!" he said.  "Confess that you lie, and that it is a final
+trial which you are imposing upon me.  Or else have you, then,
+never loved me?  That's impossible!  I would not believe you if you
+were to say so.  A woman who does not love a man cannot be to him
+what you have been to me: she does not give herself up thus so
+joyously and so completely.  Have you, then, forgotten every thing?
+Is it possible that you do not remember those divine evenings in the
+Rue de Cirque?--those nights, the mere thought of which fires my
+brain, and consumes my blood."
+
+He was horrible to look at, horrible and ridiculous at the same
+time.  As he wished to take Mme. de Thaller's hands, she stepped
+back, and he followed her, dragging himself on his knees.
+
+"Where could you find," he continued, "a man to worship you like me,
+with an ardent, absolute, blind, mad passion?  With what can you
+reproach me?  Have I not sacrificed to you without a murmur every
+thing that a man can sacrifice here below,--fortune, family, honor,
+--to supply your extravagance, to anticipate your slightest fancies,
+to give you gold to scatter by the handful?  Did I not leave my own
+family struggling with poverty?  I would have snatched bread from
+my children's mouths in order to purchase roses to scatter under
+your footsteps.  And for years did ever a word from me betray the
+secret of our love?  What have I not endured?  You deceived me.  I
+knew it, and I said nothing.  Upon a word from you I stepped aside
+before him whom your caprice made happy for a day.  You told me,
+'Steal!' and I stole.  You told me, 'Kill!' and I tried to kill."
+
+"Fly.  A man who has twelve hundred thousand francs in gold,
+bank-notes, and good securities, can always get along."
+
+"And my wife and children?"
+
+"Maxence is old enough to help his mother.  Gilberte will find a
+husband: depend upon it.  Besides, what's to prevent you from
+sending them money?"
+
+"They would refuse it."
+
+"You will always be a fool, my dear!"
+
+To Vincent Favoral's first stupor and miserable weakness now
+succeeded a terrible passion.  All the blood had left his face:
+his eyes was flashing.
+
+"Then," he resumed, "all is really over?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Then I have been duped like the rest,--like that poor Marquis de
+Tregars, whom you had made mad also.  But he, at least saved his
+honor; whereas I--And I have no excuse; for I should have known.
+I knew that you were but the bait which the Baron de Thaller held
+out to his victims."
+
+He waited for an answer; but she maintained a contemptuous silence.
+
+"Then you think," he said with a threatening laugh, "that it will
+all end that way?"
+
+"What can you do?"
+
+"There is such a thing as justice, I imagine, and judges too.  I can
+give myself up, and reveal every thing."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"That would be throwing yourself into the wolf's mouth for nothing,"
+she said.  "You know better than any one else that my precautions
+are well enough taken to defy any thing you can do or say.  I have
+nothing to fear."
+
+"Are you quite sure of that?"
+
+"Trust to me," she said with a smile of perfect security.
+
+The former cashier of the Mutual Credit made a terrible gesture; but,
+checking himself at once, he seized one of the baroness's hands.
+She withdrew it quickly, however, and, in an accent of insurmountable
+disgust,
+
+"Enough, enough!" she said.
+
+In the adjoining closet Marius de Tregars could feel Mme. Zelie
+Cadelle shuddering by his side.
+
+"What a wretch that woman is!" she murmured; "and he--what a base
+coward!"
+
+The former cashier remained prostrated, striking the floor with his
+head.
+
+"And you would forsake me," he groaned, "when we are united by a
+past such as ours!  How could you replace me?  Where would you find
+a slave so devoted to your every wish?"
+
+The baroness was getting impatient.
+
+"Stop!" she interrupted,--"stop these demonstrations as useless
+as ridiculous."
+
+This time he did start up, as if lashed with a whip and, double
+locking the door which communicated with the ante-chamber, he put
+the key in his pocket; and, with a step as stiff and mechanical as
+that of an automaton, he disappeared in the sleeping-room.
+
+"He is going for a weapon," whispered Mme. Cadelle.
+
+It was also what Marius thought.
+
+"Run down quick," he said to Mme. Zelie.  "In a cab standing
+opposite No. 25, you will find Mlle. Gilberte Favoral waiting.  Let
+her come at once."
+
+And, rushing into the parlor,
+
+"Fly!" he said to Mme. Thaller.
+
+But she was as petrified by this apparition.
+
+"M. de Tregars!"
+
+"Yes, yes, me.  But hurry and go!"
+
+And he pushed her into the closet.
+
+It was but time.  Vincent Favoral reappeared upon the threshold of
+the bedroom.  But, if it was a weapon he had gone for, it was not
+for the one which Marius and Mme. Cadelle supposed.  It was a bundle
+of papers which he held in his hand.  Seeing M. de Tregars there,
+instead of Mme. de Thaller, an exclamation of terror and surprise
+rose to his lips.  He understood vaguely what must have taken place;
+that the man who stood there must have been concealed in the glass
+closet, and that he had assisted the baroness to escape.
+
+"Ah, the miserable wretch!" he stammered with a tongue made thick
+by passion, "the infamous wretch!  She has betrayed me; she has
+surrendered me.  I am lost!"
+
+Mastering the most terrible emotion he had ever felt,
+
+"No, no! you shall not be surrendered," uttered M. de Tregars.
+
+Collecting all the energy that the devouring passion which had
+blasted his existence had left him, the former cashier of the
+Mutual Credit took one or two steps forward.
+
+"Who are you, then?" he asked.
+
+"Do you not know me?  I am the son of that unfortunate Marquis de
+Tregars of whom you spoke a moment since.  I am Lucienne's brother."
+
+Like a man who has received a stunning blow, Vincent Favoral sank
+heavily upon a chair.
+
+"He knows all," he groaned.
+
+"Yes, all!"
+
+"You must hate me mortally."
+
+"I pity you."
+
+The old cashier had reached that point when all the faculties, after
+being strained to their utmost limits, suddenly break down, when
+the strongest man gives up, and weeps like a child.
+
+"Ah, I am the most wretched of villains!" he exclaimed.
+
+He had hid his face in his hands; and in one second,--as it happens,
+they say, to the dying on the threshold of eternity,--he reviewed
+his entire existence.
+
+"And yet," he said, "I had not the soul of a villain.  I wanted to
+get rich; but honestly, by labor, and by rigid economy.  And I
+should have succeeded.  I had a hundred and fifty thousand francs
+of my own when I met the Baron de Thaller.  Alas! why did I meet
+him?  'Twas he who first gave me to understand that it was stupid
+to work and save, when, at the bourse, with moderate luck, one might
+become a millionaire in six months."
+
+He stopped, shook his head, and suddenly,
+
+"Do you know the Baron de Thaller?" he asked.  And, without giving
+Marius time to answer,
+
+"He is a German," he went on, "a Prussian.  His father was a
+cab-driver in Berlin, and his mother waiting-maid in a brewery.  At
+the age of eighteen, he was compelled to leave his country, owing
+to some petty swindle, and came to take up his residence in Paris.
+He found employment in the office of a stock-broker, and was living
+very poorly, when he made the acquaintance of a young laundress
+named Affrays, who had for a lover a very wealthy gentleman, the
+Marquis de Tregars, whose weakness was to pass himself off for a
+poor clerk.  Affrays and Thaller were well calculated to agree.
+They did agree, and formed an association,--she contributing her
+beauty; he, his genius for intrigue; both, their corruption and
+their vices.  Soon after they met, she gave birth to a child, a
+daughter; whom she intrusted to some poor gardeners at Louveciennes,
+with the firm and settled intention to leave her there forever.
+And yet it was upon this daughter, whom they firmly hoped never to
+see again, that the two accomplices were building their fortune.
+
+"It was in the name of that daughter that Affrays wrung
+considerable sums from the Marquis de Tregars.  As soon as Thaller
+and she found themselves in possession of six hundred thousand
+francs, they dismissed the marquis, and got married.  Already, at
+that time, Thaller had taken the title of baron, and lived in some
+style.  But his first speculations were not successful.  The
+revolution of 1848 finished his ruin, and he was about being expelled
+from the bourse, when he found me on his way,--I, poor fool, who
+was going about everywhere, asking how I could advantageously invest
+my hundred and fifty thousand francs."
+
+He was speaking in a hoarse voice, shaking his clinched fist in the
+air, doubtless at the Baron de Thaller.
+
+"Unfortunately," he resumed, "it was only much later that I
+discovered all this.  At the moment, M. de Thaller dazzled me.  His
+friends, Saint Pavin and the bankers Jottras, proclaimed him the
+smartest and the most honest man in France.  Still I would not have
+given my money, if it had not been for the baroness.  The first time
+that I was introduced to her, and that she fixed upon me her great
+black eyes, I felt myself moved to the deepest recesses of my soul.
+In order to see her again, I invited her, together with her husband
+and her husband's friends, to dine with me, by the side of my wife
+and children.  She came.  Her husband made me sign every thing he
+pleased; but, as she went off, she pressed my hand."
+
+He was still shuddering at the recollection of it, the poor fellow!
+
+"The next day," he went on, "I handed to Thaller all I had in the
+world; and, in exchange, he gave me the position of cashier in the
+Mutual Credit, which he had just founded.  He treated me like an
+inferior, and did not admit me to visit his family.  But I didn't
+care: the baroness had permitted me to see her again, and almost
+every afternoon I met her at the Tuileries; and I had made bold to
+tell her that I loved her to desperation.  At last, one evening,
+she consented to make an appointment with me for the second
+following day, in an apartment which I had rented.
+
+"The day before I was to meet her, and whilst I was beside myself
+with joy, the Baron de Thaller requested me to assist him, by
+means of certain irregular entries, to conceal a deficit arising
+from unsuccessful speculations.  How could I refuse a man, whom,
+as I thought, I was about to deceive grossly!  I did as he wished.
+The next day Mme. de Thaller became my mistress; and I was a lost
+man."
+
+Was he trying to exculpate himself?  Was he merely yielding to that
+imperious sentiment, more powerful than the will or the reason,
+which impels the criminal to reveal the secret which oppresses him?
+
+"From that day," he went on, "began for me the torment of that
+double existence which I underwent for years.  I had given to my
+mistress all I had in the world; and she was insatiable.  She
+wanted money always, any way, and in heaps.  She made me buy the
+house in the Rue du Cirque for our meetings; and, between the
+demands of the husband and those of the wife, I was almost insane.
+I drew from the funds of the Mutual Credit as from an inexhaustible
+mine; and, as I foresaw that some day must come when all would be
+discovered, I always carried about me a loaded revolver, with
+which to blow out my brains when they came to arrest me."
+
+And he showed to Marius the handle of a revolver protruding from his
+pocket.
+
+"And if only she had been faithful to me!" he continued, becoming
+more and more animated.  "But what have I not endured!  When the
+Marquis de Tregars returned to Paris, and they set about defrauding
+him of his fortune, she did not hesitate a moment to become his
+mistress again.  She used to tell me, 'What a fool you are! all
+I want is his money.  I love no one but you.'  But after his death
+she took others.  She made use of our house in the Rue du Cirque
+for purposes of dissipation for herself and her daughter Cesarine.
+And I--miserable coward that I was!--I suffered all, so much
+did I tremble to lose her, so much did I fear to be weaned from
+the semblance of love with which she paid my fearful sacrifices.
+And now she would betray me, forsake me!  For every thing that has
+taken place was suggested by her in order to procure a sum wherewith
+to fly to America.  It was she who imagined the wretched comedy
+which I played, so as to throw upon myself the whole responsibility.
+M. de Thaller has had millions for his share: I have only had twelve
+hundred thousand francs."
+
+Violent nervous shudders shook his frame: his face became purple.
+He drew himself up, and, brandishing the letters which he held in
+his hand,
+
+"But all is not over!" he exclaimed.  "There are proofs which
+neither the baron nor his wife know that I have.  I have the proof
+of the infamous swindle of which the Marquis de Tregars was the
+victim.  I have the proof of the farce got up by M. de Thaller and
+myself to defraud the stockholders of the Mutual Credit!"
+
+"What do you hope for?"
+
+He was laughing a stupid laugh.
+
+"I?  I shall go and hide myself in some suburb of Paris, and write
+to Affrays to come.  She knows that I have twelve hundred thousand
+francs.  She will come; and she will keep coming as long as I have
+any money.  And when I have no more:--"
+
+He stopped short, starting back, his arms outstretched as if to
+repel a terrifying apparition.  Mlle. Gilberte had just appeared
+at the door.
+
+"My daughter!" stammered the wretch.  "Gilberte!"
+
+"The Marquise de Tregars," uttered Marius.
+
+An inexpressible look of terror and anguish convulsed the features
+of Vincent Favoral: he guessed that it was the end.
+
+"What do you want with me?" he stammered.
+
+"The money that you have stolen, father," replied the girl in an
+inexorable tone of voice,--"the twelve hundred thousand francs which
+you have here, then the proofs which are in your hands, and, finally
+your weapons."
+
+He was trembling from head to foot.
+
+"Take away my money!" he said.  "Why, that would be compelling me
+to give myself up!  Do you wish to see me in prison?"
+
+"The disgrace would fall back upon your children, sir," said M. de
+Tregars.  "We shall, on the contrary, do every thing in the world
+to enable you to evade the pursuit of the police."
+
+"Well, yes, then.  But to-morrow I must write to Affrays: I must
+see her!"
+
+"You have lost your mind, father," said Mlle. Gilberte.  "Come, do
+as I ask you."
+
+He drew himself up to his full height.
+
+"And suppose I refuse?"
+
+But it was the last effort of his will.  He yielded, though not
+without an agonizing struggle and gave up to his daughter the
+money, the proofs and the arms.  And as she was walking away,
+leaning on M. de Tregars' arm,
+
+"But send me your mother, at least," he begged.  "She will
+understand me: she will not be without pity.  She is my wife: let
+her come quick.  I will not, I can not remain alone."
+
+
+
+XII
+
+It was with convulsive haste that the Baroness de Thaller went over
+the distance that separated the Rue St. Lazare from the Rue de la
+Pepiniere.  The sudden intervention of M. de Tregars had upset all
+her ideas.  The most sinister presentiments agitated her mind.  In
+the courtyard of her residence, all the servants, gathered in a
+group, were talking.  They did not take the trouble to stand aside
+to let her pass; and she even noticed some smiles and ironical
+gigglings.  This was a terrible blow to her.  What was the matter?
+What had they heard?  In the magnificent vestibule, a man was
+sitting as she came in.  It was the same suspicious character that
+Marius de Tregars had seen in the grand parlor, in close conference
+with the baroness.
+
+"Bad news," he said with a sheepish look.
+
+"What?"
+
+"That little Lucienne must have her soul riveted to her body.  She
+is only wounded; and she'll get over it."
+
+"Never mind Lucienne.  What about M. de Tregars?"
+
+"Oh! he is another sharp one.  Instead of taking up our man's
+provocation, he collared him, and took away from him the note I
+had sent him."
+
+Mme. de Thaller started violently.
+
+"What is the meaning, then," she asked, "of your letter of last
+night, in which you requested me to hand two thousand francs to
+the bearer?"
+
+The man became pale as death.
+
+"You received a letter from me," he stammered, "last night?"
+
+"Yes, from you; and I gave the money."
+
+The man struck his forehead.
+
+"I understand it all!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What?"
+
+"They wanted proofs.  They imitated my handwriting, and you swallowed
+the bait.  That's the reason why I spent the night in the
+station-house; and, if they let me go this morning, it was to find
+out where I'd go.  I have been followed, they are shadowing me.  We
+are gone up, Mme. le Baronne.  _Sauve qui peut!_"
+
+And he ran out.
+
+More agitated than ever Mme. de Thaller went up stairs.  In the
+little red-and-gold parlor, the Baron de Thaller and Mlle. Cesarine
+were waiting for her.  Stretched upon an arm-chair, her legs crossed,
+the tip of her boot on a level with her eye, Mlle. Cesarine, with
+a look of ironical curiosity, was watching her father, who, livid
+and trembling with nervous excitement, was walking up and down, like
+a wild beast in his cage.  As soon as the baroness appeared,
+
+"Things are going badly," said her husband, "very badly.  Our game
+is devilishly compromised."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"I am but too sure of it.  Such a well-combined stroke too!  But
+every thing is against us.  In presence of the examining magistrate,
+Jottras held out well; but Saint Pavin spoke.  That dirty rascal
+was not satisfied with the share allotted to him.  On the
+information furnished by him, Costeclar was arrested this morning.
+And Costeclar knows all, since he has been your confidant, Vincent
+Favoral's, and my own.  When a man has, like him, two or three
+forgeries in his record, he is sure to speak.  He will speak.
+Perhaps he has already done so, since the police has taken
+possession of Latterman's office, with whom I had organized the
+panic and the tumble in the Mutual Credit stock.  What can we do
+to ward off this blow?"
+
+With a surer glance than her husband, Mme. de Thaller had measured
+the situation.
+
+"Do not try to ward it off," she replied: "It would be useless."
+
+"Because?"
+
+"Because M. de Tregars has found Vincent Favoral; because, at this
+very moment, they are together, arranging their plans."
+
+The baron made a terrible gesture.
+
+"Ah, thunder and lightning!" he exclaimed. "I always told you that
+this stupid fool, Favoral, would cause our ruin.  It was so easy
+for you to find an occasion for him to blow his brains out."
+
+"Was it so difficult for you to accept M. de Tregars' offers?"
+
+"It was you who made me refuse."
+
+"Was it me, too, who was so anxious to get rid of Lucienne?"
+
+For years, Mlle. Cesarine had not seemed so amused; and, in a half
+whisper, she was humming the famous tune, from "The Pearl of
+Poutoise,"
+
+        "Happy accord!  Happy couple!"
+
+M. de Thaller, beside himself, was advancing to seize the baroness:
+she was drawing back, knowing him, perhaps to be capable of any
+thing, when suddenly there was a violent knocking at the door.
+
+"In the name of the law!"
+
+It was a commissary of police.
+
+And, whilst surrounded by agents, they were taken to a cab.
+
+                    *   *   *
+
+"Orphan on both sides!" exclaimed Mlle. Cesarine, "I am free, then.
+Now we'll have some fun!"
+
+At that very moment, M. de Tregars and Mlle. Gilberte reached the
+Rue St. Gilles.
+
+Hearing that her husband had been found,
+
+"I must see him!" exclaimed Mme. Favoral.
+
+And, in spite of any thing they could tell her, she threw a shawl
+over her shoulders, and started with Mlle. Gilberte.
+
+When they had entered Mme. Zelie's apartment, of which they had a
+key, they found in the parlor, with his back towards them, Vincent
+Favoral sitting at the table, leaning forward, and apparently
+writing.  Mme. Favoral approached on tiptoe, and over her husband's
+shoulder she read what he had just written,
+
+"Affrays, my beloved, eternally-adored mistress, will you forgive
+me?  The money that I was keeping for you, my darling, the proofs
+which will crush your husband--they have taken every thing from me,
+basely, by force.  And it is my daughter--"
+
+He had stopped there.  Surprised at his immobility, Mme. Favoral
+called,
+
+"Vincent!"
+
+He made no answer.  She pushed him with her finger.  He rolled to
+the ground.  He was dead.
+
+Three months later the great Mutual Credit suit was tried before
+the Sixth Court.  The scandal was great; but public curiosity was
+strangely disappointed.  As in most of these financial affairs,
+justice, whilst exposing the most audacious frauds, was not able
+to unravel the true secret.
+
+She managed, at least, to lay hands upon every thing that the
+Baron de Thaller had hoped to save.  That worthy was condemned to
+five years' prison; M. Costeclar got off with three years; and M.
+Jottras with two.  M. Saint Pavin was acquitted.
+
+Arrested for subornation of murder, the former Marquise de Javelle
+the Baroness de Thaller, was released for want of proper proof.  But,
+implicated in the suit against her husband, she lost three-fourths
+of her fortune, and is now living with her daughter, whose debut is
+announced at the Bouffes-Parisiens, or at the Delassements-Comiques.
+
+Already, before that time, Mlle. Lucienne, completely restored, had
+married Maxence Favoral.
+
+Of the five hundred thousand francs which were returned to her, she
+applied three hundred thousand to discharge the debts of her
+father-in-law, and with the rest she induced her husband to emigrate
+to America.  Paris had become odious to both.
+
+Marius and Mlle. Gilberte, who has now become Marquise de Tregars,
+have taken up their residence at the Chateau de Tregars, three
+leagues from Quimper.  They have been followed in their retreat by
+Mme. Favoral and by General Count de Villegre.
+
+The greater portion of his father's fortune, Marius had applied to
+pay off all the personal creditors of the former cashier of the
+Mutual Credit, all the trades-people, and also M. Chapelain, old
+man Desormeaux, and M. and Mme. Desclavettes.
+
+All that is left to the Marquis and Marquise de Tregars is some
+twenty thousand francs a year, and if they ever lose them, it will
+not be at the bourse.
+
+The Mutual Credit is quoted at 467.25!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Other People's Money, by Emile Gaboriau
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY ***
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