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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wandering Jew, V6, by Eugene Sue
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+Title: The Wandering Jew, Volume 6
+
+Author: Eugene Sue
+
+Release Date: July, 2002  [Etext #3344]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 04/03/01]
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wandering Jew, V6, by Eugene Sue
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+
+
+
+
+The Wandering Jew
+
+By Eugene Sue
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+PART SECOND.--THE CHASTISEMENT.  (Concluded.)
+
+XXVI.      A Good Genius
+XXVII.     The First Last, And the Last First
+XXVIII.    The Stranger
+XXIX.      The Den
+XXX.       An Unexpected Visit
+XXXI.      Friendly Services
+XXXII.     The Advice
+XXXIII.    The Accuser
+XXXIV.     Father d'Aigrigny's Secretary
+XXXV.      Sympathy
+XXXVI.     Suspicions
+XXXVII.    Excuses
+XXXVIII.   Revelations
+XXXIX.     Pierre Simon
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A GOOD GENIUS.
+
+The first of the two, whose arrival had interrupted the answer of the
+notary, was Faringhea.  At sight of this man's forbidding countenance,
+Samuel approached, and said to him: "Who are you, sir?"
+
+After casting a piercing glance at Rodin, who started but soon recovered
+his habitual coolness, Faringhea replied to Samuel: "Prince Djalma
+arrived lately from India, in order to be present here this day, as it
+was recommended to him by an inscription on a medal, which he wore about
+his neck."
+
+"He, also!" cried Gabriel, who had been the shipmate of the Indian Prince
+from the Azores, where the vessel in which he came from Alexandria had
+been driven into port: "he also one of the heirs!  In fact, the prince
+told me during the voyage that his mother was of French origin.  But,
+doubtless, he thought it right to conceal from me the object of his
+journey.  Oh! that Indian is a noble and courageous young man.  Where is
+he?"
+
+The Strangler again looked at Rodin, and said, laying strong emphasis
+upon his words: "I left the prince yesterday evening.  He informed me
+that, although he had a great interest to be here, he might possibly
+sacrifice that interest to other motives.  I passed the night in the same
+hotel, and this morning, when I went to call on him, they told me he was
+already gone out.  My friendship for him led me to come hither, hoping
+the information I should be able to give might be of use to the prince."
+
+In making no mention of the snare into which he had fallen the day
+before, in concealing Rodin's machinations with regard to Djalma, and in
+attributing the absence of this latter to a voluntary cause, the
+Strangler evidently wished to serve the socius, trusting that Rodin would
+know how to recompense his discretion.  It is useless to observe, that
+all this story was impudently false.  Having succeeded that morning in
+escaping from his prison by a prodigious effort of cunning, audacity, and
+skill, he had run to the hotel where he had left Djalma; there he had
+learned that a man and woman, of an advanced age, and most respectable
+appearance, calling themselves relations of the young Indian, had asked
+to see him--and that, alarmed at the dangerous state of somnolency in
+which he seemed to be plunged, they had taken him home in their carriage,
+in order to pay him the necessary attention.
+
+"It is unfortunate," said the notary, "that this heir also did not make
+his appearance--but he has, unhappily, forfeited his right to the immense
+inheritance that is in question."
+
+"Oh! an immense inheritance is in question," said Faringhea, looking
+fixedly at Rodin, who prudently turned away his eyes.
+
+The second of the two personages we have mentioned entered at this
+moment.  It was the father of Marshal Simon, an old man of tall stature,
+still active and vigorous for his age.  His hair was white and thin.  His
+countenance, rather fresh-colored, was expressive at once of quickness,
+mildness and energy.
+
+Agricola advanced hastily to meet him.  "You here, M. Simon!" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, my boy," said the marshal's father, cordially pressing Agricola's
+hand "I have just arrived from my journey.  M. Hardy was to have been
+here, about some matter of inheritance, as he supposed: but, as he will
+still be absent from Paris for some time, he has charged me--"
+
+"He also an heir!--M. Francis Hardy!" cried Agricola, interrupting the
+old workman.
+
+"But how pale and agitated you are, my boy!" said the marshal's father,
+looking round with astonishment.  "What is the matter?"
+
+"What is the matter?" cried Dagobert, in despair, as he approached the
+foreman.  "The matter is that they would rob your granddaughters, and
+that I have brought them from the depths of Siberia only to witness this
+shameful deed!"
+
+"Eh?" cried the old workman, trying to recognize the soldiers face, "you
+are then--"
+
+"Dagobert."
+
+"You--the generous, devoted friend of my son!" cried the marshal's
+father, pressing the hands of Dagobert in his own with strong emotion;
+"but did you not speak of Simon's daughter?"
+
+"Of his daughters; for he is more fortunate than he imagines," said
+Dagobert.  "The poor children are twins."
+
+"And where are they?" asked the old man.
+
+"In a convent."
+
+"In a convent?"
+
+"Yes; by the treachery of this man, who keeps them there in order to
+disinherit them."
+
+"What man?"
+
+"The Marquis d'Aigrigny."
+
+"My son's mortal enemy!" cried the old workman, as he threw a glance of
+aversion at Father d'Aigrigny, whose audacity did not fail him.
+
+"And that is not all," added Agricola.  "M. Hardy, my worthy and
+excellent master, has also lost his right to this immense inheritance."
+
+"What?" cried Marshal Simon's father; "but M. Hardy did not know that
+such important interests were concerned.  He set out hastily to join one
+of his friends who was in want of him."
+
+At each of these successive revelations, Samuel felt his trouble
+increase: but he could only sigh over it, for the will of the testator
+was couched, unhappily, in precise and positive terms.
+
+Father d'Aigrigny, impatient to end this scene, which caused him cruel
+embarrassment, in spite of his apparent calmness, said to the notary, in
+a grave and expressive voice:  "It is necessary, sir, that all this
+should have an end.  If calumny could reach me, I would answer
+victoriously by the facts that have just come to light.  Why attribute to
+odious conspiracies the absence of the heirs, in whose names this soldier
+and his son have so uncourteously urged their demands?  Why should such
+absence be less explicable than the young Indian's, or than M. Hardy's,
+who, as his confidential man has just told us, did not even know the
+importance of the interests that called him hither?  Is it not probable,
+that the daughters of Marshal Simon, and Mdlle. de Cardoville have been
+prevented from coming here to-day by some very natural reasons?  But,
+once again, this has lasted too long.  I think M. Notary will agree with
+me, that this discovery of new heirs does not at all affect the question,
+which I had the honor to propose to him just now; namely whether, as
+trustee for the poor, to whom Abbe Gabriel made a free gift of all he
+possessed, I remain notwithstanding his tardy and illegal opposition, the
+only possessor of this property, which I have promised, and which I now
+again promise, in presence of all here assembled, to employ for the
+Greater Glory of the Lord?  Please to answer me plainly, M. Notary; and
+thus terminate the scene which must needs be painful to us all."
+
+"Sir," replied the notary, in a solemn tone, "on my soul and conscience,
+and in the name of law and justice--as a faithful and impartial executor
+of the last will of M. Marius de Rennepont, I declare that, by virtue of
+the deed of gift of Abbe Gabriel de Rennepont, you, M. l'Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+are the only possessor of this property, which I place at your immediate
+disposal, that you may employ the same according to the intention of the
+donor."
+
+These words pronounced with conviction and gravity, destroyed the last
+vague hopes that the representatives of the heirs might till then have
+entertained.  Samuel became paler than usual, and pressed convulsively
+the hand of Bathsheba, who had drawn near to him.  Large tears rolled
+down the cheeks of the two old people.  Dagobert and Agricola were
+plunged into the deepest dejection.  Struck with the reasoning of the
+notary, who refused to give more credence and authority to their
+remonstrances than the magistrates had done before him, they saw
+themselves forced to abandon every hope.  But Gabriel suffered more than
+any one; he felt the most terrible remorse, in reflecting that, by his
+blindness, he had been the involuntary cause and instrument of this
+abominable theft.
+
+So, when the notary, after having examined and verified the amount of
+securities contained in the cedar box, said to Father d'Aigrigny: "Take
+possession, sir, of this casket--"  "Gabriel exclaimed, with bitter
+disappointment and profound despair: "Alas! one would fancy, under these
+circumstances, that an inexorable fatality pursues all those who are
+worthy of interest, affection or respect.  Oh, my God!" added the young
+priest, clasping his hands with fervor, "Thy sovereign justice will never
+permit the triumph of such iniquity."
+
+It was as if heaven had listened to the prayer of the missionary.  Hardly
+had he spoken, when a strange event took place.
+
+Without waiting for the end of Gabriel's invocation, Rodin, profiting by
+the decision of the notary, had seized the casket in his arms, unable to
+repress a deep aspiration of joy and triumph.  At the very moment when
+Father d'Aigrigny and his socius thought themselves at last in safe
+possession of the treasure, the door of the apartment in which the clock
+had been heard striking was suddenly opened.
+
+A woman appeared upon the threshold.
+
+At sight of her, Gabriel uttered a loud cry, and remained as if
+thunderstruck.  Samuel and Bathsheba fell on their knees together, and
+raised their clasped hands.  The Jew and Jewess felt inexplicable hopes
+reviving within them.
+
+All the other actors in this scene appeared struck with stupor.  Rodin--
+Rodin himself--recoiled two steps, and replaced the casket on the table
+with a trembling hand.  Though the incident might appear natural enough--
+a woman appearing on the threshold of a door, which she had just thrown
+open--there was a pause of deep and solemn silence.  Every bosom seemed
+oppressed, and as if struggling for breath.  All experienced, at sight of
+this woman, surprise mingled with fear, and indefinable anxiety--for this
+woman was the living original of the portrait, which had been placed in
+the room a hundred and fifty years ago.  The same head-dress, the same
+flowing robe, the same countenance, so full of poignant and resigned
+grief!  She advanced slowly, and without appearing to perceive the deep
+impression she had caused.  She approached one of the pieces of
+furniture, inlaid with brass, touched a spring concealed in the moulding
+of gilded bronze, so that an upper drawer flew open, and taking from it a
+sealed parchment envelope, she walked up to the table, and placed this
+packet before the notary, who, hitherto silent and motionless, received
+it mechanically from her.
+
+Then, casting upon Gabriel, who seemed fascinated by her presence, a
+long, mild, melancholy look, this woman directed her steps towards the
+hall, the door of which had remained open.  As she passed near Samuel and
+Bathsheba, who were still kneeling, she stopped an instant, bowed her
+fair head towards them, and looked at them with tender solicitude.  Then,
+giving them her hands to kiss, she glided away as slowly as she had
+entered--throwing a last glance upon Gabriel.  The departure of this
+woman seemed to break the spell under which all present had remained for
+the last few minutes.  Gabriel was the first to speak, exclaiming, in an
+agitated voice.  "It is she--again--here--in this house!"
+
+"Who, brother?" said Agricola, uneasy at the pale and almost wild looks
+of the missionary; for the smith had not yet remarked the strange
+resemblance of the woman to the portrait, though he shared in the general
+feeling of amazement, without being able to explain it to himself.
+Dagobert and Faringhea were in a similar state of mind.
+
+"Who is this woman?" resumed Agricola, as he took the hand of Gabriel,
+which felt damp and icy cold.
+
+"Look!" said the young priest.  "Those portraits have been there for more
+than a century and a half."
+
+He pointed to the paintings before which he was now seated, and Agricola,
+Dagobert, and Faringhea raised their eyes to either side of the
+fireplace.  Three exclamations were now heard at once.
+
+"It is she--it is the same woman!" cried the smith, in amazement, "and
+her portrait has been here for a hundred and fifty years!"
+
+"What do I see?" cried Dagobert, as he gazed at the portrait of the man.
+"The friend and emissary of Marshal Simon.  Yes! it is the same face that
+I saw last year in Siberia.  Oh, yes! I recognize that wild and sorrowful
+air--those black eyebrows, which make only one!"
+
+"My eyes do not deceive me," muttered Faringhea to himself, shuddering
+with horror.  "It is the same man, with the black mark on his forehead,
+that we strangled and buried on the banks of the Ganges--the same man,
+that one of the sons of Bowanee told me, in the ruins of Tchandi, had
+been met by him afterwards at one of the gates of Bombay--the man of the
+fatal curse, who scatters death upon his passage--and his picture has
+existed for a hundred and fifty years!"
+
+And, like Dagobert and Agricola, the stranger could not withdraw his eyes
+from that strange portrait.
+
+"What a mysterious resemblance!" thought Father d'Aigrigny.  Then, as if
+struck with a sudden idea, he said to Gabriel: "But this woman is the
+same that saved your life in America?"
+
+"It is the same," answered Gabriel, with emotion; "and yet she told me
+she was going towards the North," added the young priest, speaking to
+himself.
+
+"But how came she in this house?" said Father d'Aigrigny, addressing
+Samuel.  "Answer me! did this woman come in with you, or before you?"
+
+"I came in first, and alone, when this door was first opened since a
+century and half," said Samuel, gravely.
+
+"Then how can you explain the presence of this woman here?" said Father
+d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I do not try to explain it," said the Jew.  "I see, I believe, and now I
+hope." added he, looking at Bathsheba with an indefinable expression.
+
+"But you ought to explain the presence of this woman!" said Father
+d'Aigrigny, with vague uneasiness.  "Who is she?  How came she hither?"
+
+"All I know is, sir, that my father has often told me; there are
+subterraneous communications between this house and distant parts of the
+quarter."
+
+"Oh! then nothing can be clearer," said Father d'Aigrigny; "it only
+remains to be known what this woman intends by coming hither.  As for her
+singular resemblance to this portrait, it is one of the freaks of
+nature."
+
+Rodin had shared in the general emotion, at the apparition of this
+mysterious woman.  But when he saw that she had delivered a sealed packet
+to the notary, the socius, instead of thinking of the strangeness of this
+unexpected vision, was only occupied with a violent desire to quit the
+house with the treasure which had just fallen to the Company.  He felt a
+vague anxiety at sight of the envelope with the black seal, which the
+protectress of Gabriel had delivered to the notary, and was still held
+mechanically in his hands.  The socius, therefore, judging this a very
+good opportunity to walk off with the casket, during the general silence
+and stupor which still continued, slightly touched Father d'Aigrigny's
+elbow, made him a sign of intelligence, and, tucking the cedar-wood chest
+under his arm, was hastening towards the door.
+
+"One moment, sir," said Samuel, rising, and standing in his path; "I
+request M. Notary to examine the envelope, that has just been delivered
+to him.  You may then go out."
+
+"But, sir," said Rodin, trying to force a passage, "the question is
+definitively decided in favor of Father d'Aigrigny.  Therefore, with your
+permission--"
+
+"I tell you, sir," answered the old man, in a loud voice, "that this
+casket shall not leave the house, until M. Notary has examined the
+envelope just delivered to him!"
+
+These words drew the attention of all,  Rodin was forced to retrace his
+steps.  Notwithstanding the firmness of his character, the Jew shuddered
+at the look of implacable hate which Rodin turned upon him at this
+moment.
+
+Yielding to the wish of Samuel, the notary examined the envelope with
+attention.  "Good Heaven!" he cried suddenly; "what do I see?--Ah! so
+much the better!"
+
+At this exclamation all eyes turned upon the notary.  "Oh! read, read,
+sir!" cried Samuel, clasping his hands together.  "My presentiments have
+not then deceived me!"
+
+"But, sir," said Father d'Aigrigny to the notary, for he began to share
+in the anxiety of Rodin, "what is this paper?"
+
+"A codicil," answered the notary; "a codicil, which reopens the whole
+question."
+
+"How, sir?" cried Father d'Aigrigny, in a fury, as he hastily drew nearer
+to the notary, "reopens the whole question!  By what right?"
+
+"It is impossible," added Rodin.  "We protest against it.
+
+"Gabriel! father! listen," cried Agricola, "all is not lost.  There is
+yet hope.  Do you hear, Gabriel?  There is yet hope."
+
+"What do you say?" exclaimed the young priest, rising, and hardly
+believing the words of his adopted brother.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the notary; "I will read to you the superscription of
+this envelope.  It changes, or rather, it adjourns, the whole of the
+testamentary provisions."
+
+"Gabriel!" cried Agricola, throwing himself on the neck of the
+missionary, "all is adjourned, nothing is lost!"
+
+"Listen, gentlemen," said the notary; and he read as follows:
+
+"'This is a Codicil, which for reasons herein stated, adjourns and
+prorogues to the 1st day of June, 1832, though without any other change,
+all the provisions contained in the testament made by me, at one o'clock
+this afternoon.  The house shall be reclosed, and the funds left in the
+hands of the same trustee, to be distributed to the rightful claimants on
+the 1st of June, 1832.
+
+"`Villetaneuse, this 13th of February, 1682, eleven o'clock at night.
+
+"'MARIUS DE RENNEPONT.'"
+
+
+"I protest against this codicil as a forgery!" cried Father d'Aigrigny
+livid with rage and despair.
+
+"The woman who delivered it to the notary is a suspicious character,"
+added Rodin.  "The codicil has been forged."
+
+"No, sir," said the notary, severely; "I have just compared the two
+signatures, and they are absolutely alike.  For the rest--what I said
+this morning, with regard to the absent heirs, is now applicable to you--
+the law is open; you may dispute the authenticity of this codicil.
+Meanwhile, everything will remain suspended--since the term for the
+adjustment of the inheritance is prolonged for three months and a half."
+
+When the notary had uttered these last words, Rodin's nails dripped
+blood; for the first time, his wan lips became red.
+
+"Oh, God! Thou hast heard and granted my prayer!" cried Gabriel, kneeling
+down with religious fervor, and turning his angelic face towards heaven.
+"Thy sovereign justice has not let iniquity triumph!"
+
+"What do you say, my brave boy?" cried Dagobert, who, in the first tumult
+of joy, had not exactly understood the meaning of the codicil.
+
+"All is put off, father!" exclaimed the smith; "the heirs will have three
+months and a half more to make their claim.  And now that these people
+are unmasked," added Agricola, pointing to Rodin and Father d'Aigrigny,
+"we have nothing more to fear from them.  We shall be on our guard; and
+the orphans, Mdlle. de Cardoville, my worthy master, M. Hardy, and this
+young Indian, will all recover their own."
+
+We must renounce the attempt to paint the delight, the transport of
+Gabriel and Agricola, of Dagobert, and Marshal Simon's father, of Samuel
+and Bathsheba.  Faringhea alone remained in gloomy silence, before the
+portrait of the man with the black-barred forehead.  As for the fury of
+Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, when they saw Samuel retake possession of
+the casket, we must also renounce any attempt to describe it.  On the
+notary's suggestion, who took with him the codicil, to have it opened
+according to the formalities of the law, Samuel agreed that it would be
+more prudent to deposit in the Bank of France the securities of immense
+value that were now known to be in his possession.
+
+While all the generous hearts, which had for a moment suffered so much,
+were overflowing with happiness, hope, and joy, Father d'Aigrigny and
+Rodin quitted the house with rage and death in their souls.  The reverend
+father got into his carriage, and said to his servants: "To Saint-Dizier
+House!"--Then, worn out and crushed, he fell back upon the seat, and hid
+his face in his hands, while he uttered a deep groan.  Rodin sat next to
+him, and looked with a mixture of anger and disdain at this so dejected
+and broken-spirited man.
+
+"The coward!" said he to himself.  "He despairs--and yet--"
+
+A quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in the Rue de Babylone,
+in the court-yard of Saint-Dizier House.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE FIRST LAST, AND THE LAST FIRST.
+
+The carriage had travelled rapidly to Saint-Dizier House.  During all the
+way, Rodin remained mute, contenting himself with observing Father
+d'Aigrigny, and listening to him, as he poured forth his grief and fury
+in a long monologue, interrupted by exclamations, lamentations, and
+bursts of rage, directed against the strokes of that inexorable destiny,
+which had ruined in a moment the best founded hopes.  When the carriage
+entered the courtyard, and stopped before the portico, the princess's
+face could be seen through one of the windows, half hidden by the folds
+of a curtain; in her burning anxiety, she came to see if it was really
+Father d'Aigrigny who arrived at the house.  Still more, in defiance of
+all ordinary rules, this great lady, generally so scrupulous as to
+appearances, hurried from her apartment, and descended several steps of
+the staircase, to meet Father d'Aigrigny, who was coming up with a
+dejected air.  At sight of the livid and agitated countenance of the
+reverend father, the princess stopped suddenly, and grew pale.  She
+suspected that all was lost.  A look rapidly exchanged with her old lover
+left her no doubt of the issue she so much feared.  Rodin humbly followed
+the reverend father, and both, preceded by the princess, entered the
+room.  The door once closed, the princess, addressing Father d'Aigrigny,,
+exclaimed with unspeakable anguish: "What has happened?"
+
+Instead of answering this question, the reverend father, his eyes
+sparkling with rage, his lips white, his features contracted, looked
+fixedly at the princess, and said to her:  "Do you know the amount of
+this inheritance, that we estimated at forty millions?"
+
+"I understand," cried the princess; "we have been deceived.  The
+inheritance amounts to nothing, and all you have dare has been in vain."
+
+"Yes, it has indeed been in vain," answered the reverend father, grinding
+his teeth with rage; "it was no question of forty millions, but of two
+hundred and twelve millions.
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" repeated the princess in amazement, as
+she drew back a step.  "It is impossible!"
+
+"I tell you I saw the vouchers, which were examined by the notary."
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions?" resumed the princess, with deep
+dejection.  "It is an immense and sovereign power--and you have
+renounced--you have not struggled for it, by every possible means, and
+till the last moment?"
+
+"Madame, I have done all that I could!--notwithstanding the treachery of
+Gabriel, who this very morning declared that he renounced us, and
+separated from the Society."
+
+"Ungrateful!" said the princess, unaffectedly.
+
+"The deed of gift, which I had the precaution to have prepared by the
+notary, was in such good, legal form, that in spite of the objections of
+that accursed soldier and his son, the notary had put me in possession of
+the treasure."
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" repeated the princess clasping her
+hands.  "Verily it is like a dream!"
+
+"Yes," replied Father d'Aigrigny, bitterly, "for us, this possession is
+indeed a dream, for a codicil has been discovered, which puts off for
+three months and a half all the testamentary provisions.  Now that our
+very precautions have roused the suspicion of all these heirs--now that
+they know the enormous amount at stake--they will be upon their guard;
+and all is lost."
+
+"But who is the wretch that produced this codicil?"
+
+"A woman."
+
+"What woman?"
+
+"Some wandering creature, that Gabriel says he met in America, where she
+saved his life."
+
+"And how could this woman be there--how could she know the existence of
+this codicil?"
+
+"I think it was all arranged with a miserable Jew, the guardian of the
+house, whose family has had charge of the funds for three generations; he
+had no doubt some secret instructions, in case he suspected the detention
+of any of the heirs, for this Marius de Rennepont had foreseen that our
+Company would keep their eyes upon his race."
+
+"But can you not dispute the validity of this codicil?"
+
+"What, go to law in these times--litigate about a will--incur the
+certainty of a thousand clamors, with no security for success?--It is bad
+enough, that even this should get wind.  Alas! it is terrible.  So near
+the goal! after so much care and trouble.  An affair that had been
+followed up with so much perseverance during a century and a half!"
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" said the princess.  "The Order would
+have had no need to look for establishments in foreign countries; with
+such resources, it would have been able to impose itself upon France."
+
+"Yes," resumed Father d'Aigrigny, with bitterness; "by means of
+education, we might have possessed ourselves of the rising generation.
+The power is altogether incalculable."  Then, stamping with his foot, he
+resumed: "I tell you, that it is enough to drive one mad with rage! an
+affair so wisely, ably, patiently conducted!"
+
+"Is there no hope?"
+
+"Only that Gabriel may not revoke his donation, in as far as concerns
+himself.  That alone would be a considerable sum--not less than thirty
+millions."
+
+"It is enormous--it is almost what you hoped," said the princess; "then
+why despair?"
+
+"Because it is evident that Gabriel will dispute this donation.  However
+legal it may be, he will find means to annul it, now that he is free,
+informed as to our designs, and surrounded by his adopted family.  I tell
+you, that all is lost.  There is no hope left.  I think it will be even
+prudent to write to Rome, to obtain permission to leave Paris for a
+while.  This town is odious to me!"
+
+"Oh, yes!  I see that no hope is left- since you, my friend, have decided
+almost to fly."
+
+Father d'Aigrigny was completely discouraged and broken down; this
+terrible blow had destroyed all life and energy within him.  He threw
+himself back in an arm-chair, quite overcome.  During the preceding
+dialogue, Rodin was standing humbly near the door, with his old hat in
+his hand.  Two or three times, at certain passages in the conversation
+between Father d'Aigrigny and the princess, the cadaverous face of the
+socius, whose wrath appeared to be concentrated, was slightly flushed,
+and his flappy eyelids were tinged with red, as if the blood mounted in
+consequence of an interior struggle; but, immediately after, his dull
+countenance resumed its pallid blue.
+
+"I must write instantly to Rome, to announce this defeat, which has
+become an event of the first importance, because it overthrows immense
+hopes," said Father d'Aigrigny, much depressed.
+
+The reverend father had remained seated; pointing to a table, he said to
+Rodin, with an abrupt and haughty air:
+
+"Write!"
+
+The socius placed his hat on the ground, answered with a respectful bow
+the command, and with stooping head and slanting walk, went to seat
+himself on a chair, that stood before a desk.  Then, taking pen and
+paper, he waited, silent and motionless, for the dictation of his
+superior.
+
+"With your permission, princess?" said Father d'Aigrigny to Madame de
+Saint-Dizier.  The latter answered by an impatient wave of the hand, as
+if she reproached him for the formal demand at such a time.  The reverend
+father bowed, and dictated these words in a hoarse and hollow voice: "All
+our hopes, which of late had become almost certainties, have been
+suddenly defeated.  The affair of the Rennepont inheritance, in spite of
+all the care and skill employed upon it, has completely and finally
+failed.  At the point to which matters had been brought, it is
+unfortunately worse than a failure; it is a most disastrous event for the
+Society, which was clearly entitled to this property, fraudulently
+withdrawn from a confiscation made in our favor.  My conscience at least
+bears witness, that, to the last moment, I did all that was possible to
+defend and secure our rights.  But I repeat, we must consider this
+important affair as lost absolutely and forever, and think no more about
+it."
+
+Thus dictating, Father d'Aigrigny's back was turned towards Rodin.  At a
+sudden movement made by the socius, in rising and throwing his pen upon
+the table, instead of continuing to write, the reverend father turned
+round, and, looking at Rodin with profound astonishment, said to him:
+"Well! what are you doing?"
+
+"It is time to end this--the man is mad!" said Rodin to himself, as he
+advanced slowly towards the fireplace.
+
+"What! you quit your place--you cease writing?" said the reverend father,
+in amazement.  Then, addressing the princess, who shared in his
+astonishment, he added, as he glanced contemptuously at the socius, "He
+is losing his senses."
+
+"Forgive him," replied Mme. de Saint-Dizier; "it is, no doubt, the
+emotion caused by the ruin of this affair."
+
+"Thank the princess, return to your place, and continue to write," said
+Father d'Aigrigny to Rodin, in a tone of disdainful compassion, as, with
+imperious finger, he pointed to the table.
+
+The socius, perfectly indifferent to this new order, approached the
+fireplace, drew himself up to his full height as he turned his arched
+back, planted himself firmly on his legs, stamped on the carpet with the
+heel of his clumsy, greasy shoes, crossed his hands beneath the flaps of
+his old, spotted coat, and, lifting his head, looked fixedly at Father
+d'Aigrigny.  The socius had not spoken a word, but his hideous
+countenance, now flushed, suddenly revealed such a sense of his
+superiority, and such sovereign contempt for Father d'Aigrigny, mingled
+with so calm and serene a daring, that the reverend father and the
+princess were quite confounded by it.  They felt themselves overawed by
+this little old man, so sordid and so ugly.  Father d'Aigrigny knew too
+well the customs of the Company, to believe his humble secretary capable
+of assuming so suddenly these airs of transcendent superiority without a
+motive, or rather, without a positive right.  Late, too late, the
+reverend father perceived, that this subordinate agent might be partly a
+spy, partly an experienced assistant, who, according to the constitutions
+of the Order, had the power and mission to depose and provisionally
+replace, in certain urgent cases, the incapable person over whom he was
+stationed as a guard.  The reverend father was not deceived.  From the
+general to the provincials, and to the rectors of the colleges, all the
+superior members of the Order have stationed near them, often without
+their knowledge, and in apparently the lowest capacities, men able to
+assume their functions at any given moment, and who, with this view,
+constantly keep up a direct correspondence with Rome.
+
+From the moment Rodin had assumed this position, the manners of Father
+d'Aigrigny, generally so haughty, underwent a change.  Though it cost him
+a good deal, he said with hesitation, mingled with deference: "You have,
+no doubt, the right to command me--who hitherto have commanded."  Rodin,
+without answering, drew from his well-rubbed and greasy pocket-book a
+slip of paper, stamped upon both sides, on which were written several
+lines in Latin.  When he had read it, Father d'Aigrigny pressed this
+paper respectfully, even religiously, to his lips: then returned it to
+Rodin, with a low bow.  When he again raised his head, he was purple with
+shame and vexation.  Notwithstanding his habits of passive obedience and
+immutable respect for the will of the Order, he felt a bitter and violent
+rage at seeing himself thus abruptly deposed from power.  That was not
+all.  Though, for a long time past, all relations in gallantry had ceased
+between him and Mme. de Saint-Dizier, the latter was not the less a
+woman; and for him to suffer this humiliation in presence of a woman was,
+undoubtedly, cruel, as, notwithstanding his entrance into the Order, he
+had not wholly laid aside the character of man of the world.  Moreover,
+the princess, instead of appearing hurt and offended by this sudden
+transformation of the superior into a subaltern, and of the subaltern
+into a superior, looked at Rodin with a sort of curiosity mingled with
+interest.  As a woman--as a woman, intensely ambitious, seeking to
+connect herself with every powerful influence--the princess loved this
+strange species of contrast.  She found it curious and interesting to see
+this man, almost in rags, mean in appearance, and ignobly ugly, and but
+lately the most humble of subordinates look down from the height of his
+superior intelligence upon the nobleman by birth, distinguished for the
+elegance of his manners, and just before so considerable a personage in
+the Society.  From that moment, as the more important personage of the
+two, Rodin completely took the place of Father d'Aigrigny in the
+princess's mind.  The first pang of humiliation over, the reverend
+father, though his pride bled inwardly, applied all his knowledge of the
+world to behave with redoubled courtesy towards Rodin, who had become his
+superior by this abrupt change of fortune.  But the ex-socius, incapable
+of appreciating, or rather of acknowledging, such delicate shades of
+manner, established himself at once, firmly, imperiously, brutally, in
+his new position, not from any reaction of offended pride, but from a
+consciousness of what he was really worth.  A long acquaintance with
+Father d'Aigrigny had revealed to him the inferiority of the latter.
+
+"You threw away your pen," said Father d'Aigrigny to Rodin with extreme
+deference, "while I was dictating a note for Rome.  Will you do me the
+favor to tell me how I have acted wrong?"
+
+"Directly," replied Rodin, in his sharp, cutting voice.  "For a long time
+this affair appeared to me above your strength; but I abstained from
+interfering.  And yet what mistakes! what poverty of invention; what
+coarseness in the means employed to bring it to bear!"
+
+"I can hardly understand your reproaches," answered Father d'Aigrigny,
+mildly, though a secret bitterness made its way through his apparent
+submission.  "Was not the success certain, had it not been for this
+codicil?  Did you not yourself assist in the measures that you now
+blame?"
+
+"You commanded, then, and it was my duty to obey.  Besides, you were just
+on the point of succeeding--not because of the means you had taken--but
+in spite of those means, with all their awkward and revolting brutality."
+
+"Sir--you are severe," said Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I am just.  One has to be prodigiously clever, truly, to shut up any one
+in a room, and then lock the door!  And yet, what else have you done?
+The daughters of General Simon?--imprisoned at Leipsic, shut up in a
+convent at Paris!  Adrienne de Cardoville?--placed in confinement.
+Sleepinbuff--put in prison.  Djalma?--quieted by a narcotic.  One only
+ingenious method, and a thousand times safer, because it acted morally,
+not materially, was employed to remove M. Hardy.  As for your other
+proceedings--they were all bad, uncertain, dangerous.  Why?  Because they
+were violent, and violence provokes violence.  Then it is no longer a
+struggle of keen, skillful, persevering men, seeing through the darkness
+in which they walk, but a match of fisticuffs in broad day.  Though we
+should be always in action, we should always shrink from view; and yet
+you could find no better plan than to draw universal attention to us by
+proceedings at once open and deplorably notorious.  To make them more
+secret, you call in the guard, the commissary of police, the jailers, for
+your accomplices.  It is pitiable, sir; nothing but the most brilliant
+success could cover such wretched folly; and this success has been
+wanting."
+
+"Sir," said Father d'Aigrigny, deeply hurt, for the Princess de Saint-
+Dizier, unable to conceal the sort of admiration caused in her by the
+plain, decisive words of Rodin, looked at her old lover, with an air that
+seemed to say, "He is right;"--"sir, you are more than severe in your
+judgment; and, notwithstanding the deference I owe to you, I must
+observe, that I am not accustomed--"
+
+"There are many other things to which you are not accustomed," said
+Rodin, harshly interrupting the reverend father; "but you will accustom
+yourself to them.  You have hitherto had a false idea of your own value.
+There is the old leaven of the soldier and the worlding fermenting within
+you, which deprives your reason of the coolness, lucidity, and
+penetration that it ought to possess.  You have been a fine military
+officer, brisk and gay, foremost in wars and festivals, with pleasures
+and women.  These things have half worn you out.  You will never be
+anything but a subaltern; you have been thoroughly tested.  You will
+always want that vigor and concentration of mind which governs men and
+events.  That vigor and concentration of mind I have--and do you know
+why?  It is because, solely devoted to the service of the Company, I have
+always been ugly, dirty, unloved, unloving--I have all my manhood about
+me!"
+
+In pronouncing these words, full of cynical pride, Rodin was truly
+fearful.  The princess de Saint-Dizier thought him almost handsome by his
+energy and audacity.
+
+Father d'Aigrigny, feeling himself overawed, invincibly and inexorably,
+by this diabolical being, made a last effort to resist and exclaimed,
+"Oh! sir, these boastings are no proofs of valor and power.  We must see
+you at work."
+
+"Yes," replied Rodin, coldly; "do you know at what work?"  Rodin was fond
+of this interrogative mode of expression.  "Why, at the work that you so
+basely abandon."
+
+"What!" cried the Princess de Saint-Dizier; for Father d'Aigrigny,
+stupefied at Rodin's audacity, was unable to utter a word.
+
+"I say," resumed Rodin, slowly, "that I undertake to bring to a good
+issue this affair of the Rennepont inheritance, which appears to you so
+desperate."
+
+"You?" cried Father d'Aigrigny.  "You?"
+
+"I."
+
+"But they have unmasked our maneuvers."
+
+"So much the better; we shall be obliged to invent others."
+
+"But they; will suspect us in everything."
+
+"So much the better; the success that is difficult is the most certain."
+
+"What! do you hope to make Gabriel consent not to revoke his donation,
+which is perhaps illegal?"
+
+"I mean to bring in to the coffers of the Company the whole of the two
+hundred and twelve millions, of which they wish to cheat us.  Is that
+clear?"
+
+"It is clear--but impossible."
+
+"And I tell you that it is, and must be possible.  Do you not understand,
+short-sighted as you are!" cried Rodin, animated to such a degree that
+his cadaverous face became slightly flushed; "do you not understand that
+it is no longer in our choice to hesitate?  Either these two hundred and
+twelve millions must be ours--and then the re-establishment of our
+sovereign influence in France is sure--for, in these venal times, with
+such a sum at command, you may bribe or overthrow a government, or light
+up the flame of civil war, and restore legitimacy, which is our natural
+ally, and, owing all to us, would give us all in return--"
+
+"That is clear," cried the princess, clasping her hands in admiration.
+
+"If, on the contrary," resumed Rodin, "these two hundred and twelve
+millions fall into the hands of the family of the Renneponts, it will be
+our ruin and our destruction.  We shall create a stock of bitter and
+implacable enemies.  Have you not heard the execrable designs of that
+Rennepont, with regard to the association he recommends, and which, by an
+accursed fatality, his race are just in a condition to realize?  Think of
+the forces that would rally round these millions.  There would be Marshal
+Simon, acting in the name of his daughters--that is, the man of the
+people become a duke, without being the vainer for it, which secures his
+influence with the mob, because military spirit and Bonapartism still
+represent, in the eyes of the French populace, the traditions of national
+honor and glory.  There would be Francis Hardy, the liberal, independent,
+enlightened citizen, the type of the great manufacturer, the friend of
+progress, the benefactor of his workmen.  There would be Gabriel--the
+good priest, as they say!--the apostle of the primitive gospel, the
+representative of the democracy of the church, of the poor country curate
+as opposed to the rich bishop, the tiller of the vine as opposed to him
+who sits in the shade of it; the propagator of all the ideas of
+fraternity, emancipation, progress--to use their own jargon--and that,
+not in the name of revolutionary and incendiary politics, but in the name
+of a religion of charity, love, and peace--to speak as they speak.
+There, too, would be Adrienne de Cardoville, the type of elegance, grace,
+and beauty, the priestess of the senses, which she deifies by refining
+and cultivating them.  I need not tell you of her wit and audacity; you
+know them but too well.  No one could be more dangerous to us than this
+creature, a patrician in blood, a plebeian in heart, a poet in
+imagination.  Then, too, there would be Prince Djalma, chivalrous, bold,
+ready for adventure, knowing nothing of civilized life, implacable in his
+hate as in his affection, a terrible instrument for whoever can make use
+of him.  In this detestable family, even such a wretch as Sleepinbuff,
+who in himself is of no value, raised and purified by the contact of
+these generous and far from narrow natures (as they call them), might
+represent the working class, and take a large share in the influence of
+that association.  Now do you not think that if all these people, already
+exasperated against us, because (as they say) we have wished to rob them,
+should follow the detestable counsels of this Rennepont--should unite
+their forces around this immense fortune, which would strengthen them a
+hundred-fold--do you not think that, if they declare a deadly war against
+us, they will be the most dangerous enemies that we have ever had?  I
+tell you that the Company has never been in such serious peril; yes, it
+is now a question of life and death.  We must no longer defend ourselves,
+but lead the attack, so as to annihilate this accursed race of Rennepont,
+and obtain possession of these millions."
+
+At this picture, drawn by Rodin with a feverish animation, which had only
+the more influence from its unexpectedness, the princess and Father
+d'Aigrigny looked at each other in confusion.
+
+"I confess," said the reverend father to Rodin, "I had not considered all
+the dangerous consequences of this association, recommended by M. de
+Rennepont.  I believe that the heir, from the characters we know them to
+be possessed of, would wish to realize this Utopia.  The peril is great
+and pressing; what is to be done?"
+
+"What, sir?  You have to act upon ignorant, heroic, enthusiastic natures
+like Djalma's--sensual and eccentric characters like Adrienne de
+Cardoville's--simple and ingenuous minds like Rose and Blanche Simon's--
+honest and frank dispositions like Francis Hardy's--angelic and pure
+souls like Gabriel's--brutal and stupid instincts like Jacques--and can
+you ask, "What is to be done?"
+
+"In truth, I do not understand you," said Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I believe it.  Your past conduct shows as much," replied Rodin,
+contemptuously.  "You have had recourse to the lowest and most mechanical
+contrivances, instead of acting upon the noble and generous passions,
+which, once united, would constitute so formidable a bond; but which, now
+divided and isolated, are open to every surprise, every seduction, every
+attack!  Do you, at length understand me?  Not yet?" added Rodin,
+shrugging his shoulders.  "Answer me--do people die of despair?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May not the gratitude of successful love reach the last limits of insane
+generosity?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May there not be such horrible deceptions, that suicide is the only
+refuge from frightful realities?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May not the excess of sensuality lead to the grave by a slow and
+voluptuous agony?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are there not in life such terrible circumstances that the most worldly,
+the firmest, the most impious characters, throw themselves blindly,
+overwhelmed with despair, into the arms of religion, and abandon all
+earthly greatness for sackcloth, and prayers, and solitude?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are there not a thousand occasions in which the reaction of the passions
+works the most extraordinary changes, and brings about the most tragic
+catastrophes in the life of man and woman?"
+
+"No doubt."
+
+"Well, then! why ask me, `What is to be done?'  What would you say, for
+example, if before three months are over, the most dangerous members of
+this family of the Renneponts should come to implore, upon their knees,
+admission to that very Society which they now hold in horror, and from
+which Gabriel has just separated?"
+
+"Such a conversion is impossible," cried Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"Impossible?  What were you, sir, fifteen years ago?" said Rodin.  "An
+impious and debauched man of the world.  And yet you came to us, and your
+wealth became ours.  What! we have conquered princes, kings, popes; we
+have absorbed and extinguished in our unity magnificent intelligences,
+which, from afar, shone with too dazzling a light; we have all but
+governed two worlds; we have perpetuated our Society, full of life, rich
+and formidable, even to this day, through all the hate, and all the
+persecutions that have assailed us; and yet we shall not be able to get
+the better of a single family, which threatens our Company, and has
+despoiled us of a large fortune?  What! we are not skillful enough to
+obtain this result without having recourse to awkward and dangerous
+violence?  You do not know, then, the immense field that is thrown open
+by the mutually destructive power of human passions, skillfully combined,
+opposed, restrained, excited?--particularly," added Rodin, with a strange
+smile, "when, thanks to a powerful ally, these passions are sure to be
+redoubled in ardor and energy."
+
+"What ally?" asked Father d'Aigrigny, who, as well as the Princess de
+Saint-Dizier, felt a sort of admiration mixed with terror.
+
+"Yes," resumed Rodin, without answering the reverend father; "this
+formidable ally, who comes to our assistance, may bring about the most
+astonishing transformations--make the coward brave, and the impious
+credulous, and the gentle ferocious--"
+
+"But this ally!" cried the Princess, oppressed with a vague sense of
+fear.  "This great and formidable ally--who is he?"
+
+"If he comes," resumed Rodin, still impassible, "the youngest and most
+vigorous, every moment in danger of death, will have no advantage over
+the sick man at his last gasp."
+
+"But who is this ally?" exclaimed Father d'Aigrigny, more and more
+alarmed, for as the picture became darker, Rodin's face become more
+cadaverous.
+
+"This ally, who can decimate a population, may carry away with him in the
+shroud that he drags at his heels, the whole of an accursed race; but
+even he must respect the life of that great intangible body, which does
+not perish with the death of its members--for the spirit of the Society
+of Jesus is immortal!"
+
+"And this ally?"
+
+"Oh, this ally," resumed Rodin, "who advances with slow steps, and whose
+terrible coming is announced by mournful presentiments--"
+
+"Is--"
+
+"The Cholera!"
+
+These words, pronounced by Rodin in an abrupt voice, made the Princess
+and Father d'Aigrigny grow pale and tremble.  Rodin's look was gloomy and
+chilling, like a spectre's.  For some moments, the silence of the tomb
+reigned in the saloon.  Rodin was the first to break it.  Still
+impassible, he pointed with imperious gesture to the table, where a few
+minutes before he had himself been humbly seated, and said in a sharp
+voice to Father d'Aigrigny, "Write!"
+
+The reverend father started at first with surprise; then, remembering
+that from a superior he had become an inferior, he rose, bowed lowly to
+Rodin, as he passed before him, seated himself at the table, took the
+pen, and said, "I am ready."
+
+Rodin dictated, and the reverend Father wrote as follows: "By the
+mismanagement of the Reverend Father d'Aigrigny, the affair of the
+inheritance of the Rennepont family has been seriously compromised.  The
+sum amounts to two hundred and twelve millions.  Notwithstanding the
+check we have received, we believe we may safely promise to prevent these
+Renneponts from injuring the Society, and to restore the two hundred and
+twelve millions to their legitimate possessors.  We only ask for the most
+complete and extensive powers."
+
+A quarter of an hour after this scene, Rodin left Saint Dizier House,
+brushing with his sleeve the old greasy hat, I which he had pulled off to
+return the salute of the porter by a very low bow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE STRANGER.
+
+The following scene took place on the morrow of the day in which Father
+d'Aigrigny had been so rudely degraded by Rodin to the subaltern position
+formerly occupied by the socius.
+
+It is well known that the Rue Clovis is one of the most solitary streets
+in the Montagne St. Genevieve district.  At the epoch of this narrative,
+the house No. 4, in this street, was composed of one principal building,
+through which ran a dark passage, leading to a little, gloomy court, at
+the end of which was a second building, in a singularly miserable and
+dilapidated condition.  On the ground-floor, in front of the house, was a
+half-subterraneous shop, in which was sold charcoal, fagots, vegetables,
+and milk.  Nine o'clock in the morning had just struck.  The mistress of
+the shop, one Mother Arsene, an old woman of a mild, sickly countenance,
+clad in a brown stuff dress, with a red bandanna round her head, was
+mounted on the top step of the stairs which led down to her door, and was
+employed in setting out her goods--that is, on one side of her door she
+placed a tin milk-can, and on the other some bunches of stale vegetables,
+flanked with yellowed cabbages.  At the bottom of the steps, in the
+shadowy depths of the cellar, one could see the light of the burning
+charcoal in a little stove.  This shop situated at the side of the
+passage, served as a porter's lodge, and the old woman acted as portress.
+On a sudden, a pretty little creature, coming from the house, entered
+lightly and merrily the shop.  This young girl was Rose-Pompon, the
+intimate friend of the Bacchanal Queen.--Rose-Pompon, a widow for the
+moment, whose bacchanalian cicisbeo was Ninny Moulin, the orthodox
+scapegrace, who, on occasion, after drinking his fill, could transform
+himself into Jacques Dumoulin, the religious writer, and pass gayly from
+dishevelled dances to ultramontane polemics, from Storm-blown Tulips to
+Catholic pamphlets.
+
+Rose-Pompon had just quitted her bed, as appeared by the negligence of
+her strange morning costume; no doubt, for want of any other head-dress,
+on her beautiful light hair, smooth and well-combed, was stuck jauntily a
+foraging-cap, borrowed from her masquerading costume.  Nothing could be
+more sprightly than that face, seventeen years old, rosy, fresh, dimpled,
+and brilliantly lighted up by a pair of gay, sparkling blue eyes.  Rose-
+Pompon was so closely enveloped from the neck to the feet in a red and
+green plaid cloak, rather faded, that one could guess the cause of her
+modest embarrassment.  Her naked feet, so white that one could not tell
+if she wore stockings or not, were slipped into little morocco shoes,
+with plated buckles.  It was easy to perceive that her cloak concealed
+some article which she held in her hand.
+
+"Good-day, Rose-Pompon," said Mother Arsene with a kindly air; "you are
+early this morning.  Had you no dance last night?"
+
+"Don't talk of it, Mother Arsene; I had no heart to dance.  Poor Cephyse-
+-the Bacchanal Queen--has done nothing but cry all night.  She cannot
+console herself, that her lover should be in prison."
+
+"Now, look here, my girl," said the old woman, "I must speak to you about
+your friend Cephyse.  You won't be angry?"
+
+"Am I ever angry?" said Rose-Pompon, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+"Don't you think that M. Philemon will scold me on his return?"
+
+"Scold you! what for?"
+
+"Because of his rooms, that you occupy."
+
+"Why, Mother Arsene, did not Philemon tell you, that, in his absence, I
+was to be as much mistress of his two rooms as I am of himself?"
+
+"I do not speak of you, but of your friend Cephyse, whom you have also
+brought to occupy M. Philemon's lodgings."
+
+"And where would she have gone without me, my good Mother Arsene?  Since
+her lover was arrested, she has not dared to return home, because she
+owes ever so many quarters.  Seeing her troubles.  I said to her: `Come,
+lodge at Philemon's.  When he returns, we must find another place for
+you.'"
+
+"Well, little lovey--if you only assure me that M. Philemon will not be
+angry--"
+
+"Angry! for what?  That we spoil his things?  A fine set of things he has
+to spoil!  I broke his last cup yesterday--and am forced to fetch the
+milk in this comic concern."
+
+So saying, laughing with all her might, Rose-Pompon drew her pretty
+little white arm from under her cloak, and presented to Mother Arsene one
+of those champagne glasses of colossal capacity, which hold about a
+bottle.
+
+"Oh, dear!" said the greengrocer in amazement; "it is like a glass
+trumpet."
+
+"It is Philemon's grand gala-glass, which they gave him when he took his
+degrees in boating," said Rose-Pompon, gravely.
+
+"And to think you must put your milk in it--I am really ashamed," said
+Mother Arsene.
+
+"So am I!  If I were to meet any one on the stairs, holding this glass in
+my hand like a Roman candlestick, I should burst out laughing, and break
+the last remnant of Philemon's bazaar, and he would give me his
+malediction."
+
+"There is no danger that you will meet any one.  The first-floor is gone
+out, and the second gets up very late."
+
+"Talking of lodgers," said Rose-Pompon, "is there not a room to let on
+the second-floor in the rear house?  It might do for Cephyse, when
+Philemon comes back."
+
+"Yes, there is a little closet in the roof--just over the two rooms of
+the mysterious old fellow," said Mother Arsene.
+
+"Oh, yes!  Father Charlemagne.  Have you found out anything more about
+him?"
+
+Dear me, no, my girl! only that he came this morning at break of day, and
+knocked at my shutters.  `Have you received a letter for me, my good
+lady?' said he--for he is always so polite, the dear man!--'No, sir,'
+said I.--`Well, then, pray don't disturb yourself, my good lady!' said
+he; `I will call again.' And so he went away."
+
+"Does he never sleep in the house?"
+
+"Never.  No doubt, he lodges somewhere else--but he passes some hours
+here, once every four or five days."
+
+"And always comes alone?"
+
+"Always."
+
+"Are you quite sure?  Does he never manage to slip in some little puss of
+a woman?  Take care, or Philemon will give you notice to quit," said
+Rose-Pompon, with an air of mock-modesty.
+
+"M. Charlemagne with a woman!  Oh, poor dear man!" said the greengrocer,
+raising her hands to heaven; "if you saw him, with his greasy hat, his
+old gray coat, his patched umbrella, and his simple face, he looks more
+like a saint than anything else."
+
+"But then, Mother Arsene, what does the saint do here, all alone for
+hours, in that hole at the bottom of the court, where one can hardly see
+at noon-day?"
+
+"That's what I ask myself, my dovey, what can he be doing?  It can't be
+that he comes to look at his furniture, for he has nothing but a flock-
+bed, a table, a stove, a chair, and an old trunk."
+
+"Somewhat in the style of Philemon's establishment," said Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Well, notwithstanding that, Rosey, he is as much afraid that any one
+should come into his room, as if we were all thieves, and his furniture
+was made of massy gold.  He has had a patent lock put on the door, at his
+own expense; he never leaves me his key; and he lights his fire himself,
+rather than let anybody into his room."
+
+"And you say he is old?"
+
+"Yes, fifty or sixty."
+
+"And ugly?"
+
+"Just fancy, little viper's eyes, looking as if they had been bored with
+a gimlet, in a face as pale as death--so pale, that the lips are white.
+That's for his appearance.  As for his character, the good old man's so
+polite!--he pulls off his hat so often, and makes you such low bows, that
+it is quite embarrassing."
+
+"But, to come back to the point," resumed Rose-Pompon, "what can he do
+all alone in those two rooms?  If Cephyse should take the closet, on
+Philemon's return, we may amuse ourselves by finding out something about
+it.  How much do they want for the little room?"
+
+"Why, it is in such bad condition, that I think the landlord would let it
+go for fifty or fifty-five francs a-year, for there is no room for a
+stove, and the only light comes through a small pane in the roof."
+
+"Poor Cephyse!" said Rose, sighing, and shaking her head sorrowfully.
+"After having amused herself so well, and flung away so much money with
+Jacques Rennepont, to live in such a place, and support herself by hard
+work!  She must have courage!"
+
+"Why, indeed, there is a great difference between that closet and the
+coach-and-four in which Cephyse came to fetch you the other day, with all
+the fine masks, that looked so gay--particularly the fat man in the
+silver paper helmet, with the plume and the top boots.  What a jolly
+fellow!"
+
+"Yes, Ninny Moulin.  There is no one like him to dance the forbidden
+fruit.  You should see him with Cephyse, the Bacchanal Queen.  Poor
+laughing, noisy thing!--the only noise she makes now is crying."
+
+"Oh! these young people--these young people!" said the greengrocer.
+
+"Easy, Mother Arsene; you were young once."
+
+"I hardly know.  I have always thought myself much the same as I am now."
+
+"And your lovers, Mother Arsene?"
+
+"Lovers!  Oh, yes! I was too ugly for that--and too well taken care of."
+
+"Your mother looked after you, then?"
+
+"No, my girl; but I was harnessed."
+
+"Harnessed!" cried Rose-Pompon, in amazement, interrupting the dealer.
+
+"Yes,--harnessed to a water-cart, along with my brother.  So, you see,
+when we had drawn like a pair of horses for eight or ten hours a day, I
+had no heart to think of nonsense."
+
+"Poor Mother Arsene, what a hard life," said Rose-Pompon with interest.
+
+"In the winter, when it froze, it was hard enough.  I and my brother were
+obliged to be rough-shod, for fear of slipping."
+
+"What a trade for a woman!  It breaks one's heart.  And they forbid
+people to harness dogs!" added Rose-Pompon, sententiously.[21]
+
+"Why, 'tis true," resumed Mother Arsene.  "Animals are sometimes better
+off than people.  But what would you have?  One must live, you know.  As
+you make your bed, you must lie.  It was hard enough, and I got a disease
+of the lungs by it--which was not my fault.  The strap, with which I was
+harnessed, pressed so hard against my chest, that I could scarcely
+breathe: so I left the trade, and took to a shop, which is just to tell
+you, that if I had had a pretty face and opportunity, I might have done
+like so many other young people, who begin with laughter and finish--"
+
+"With a laugh t'other side of the mouth--you would say; it is true,
+Mother Arsene.  But, you see, every one has not the courage to go into
+harness, in order to remain virtuous.  A body says to herself, you must
+have some amusement while you are young and pretty--you will not always
+be seventeen years old--and then--and then--the world will end, or you
+will get married."
+
+"But, perhaps, it would have been better to begin by that."
+
+"Yes, but one is too stupid; one does not know how to catch the men, or
+to frighten them.  One is simple, confiding, and they only laugh at us.
+Why, Mother Arsene, I am myself an example that would make you shudder;
+but 'tis quite enough to have had one's sorrows, without fretting one's
+self at the remembrance."
+
+"What, my beauty! you, so young and gay, have had sorrows?"
+
+"Ah, Mother Arsene!  I believe you.  At fifteen and a half I began to
+cry, and never left off till I was sixteen.  That was enough, I think."
+
+"They deceived you, mademoiselle?"
+
+"They did worse.  They treated me as they have treated many a poor girl,
+who had no more wish to go wrong than I had.  My story is not a three
+volume one.  My father and mother are peasants near Saint-Valery, but so
+poor--so poor, that having five children to provide for, they were
+obliged to send me, at eight years old, to my aunt, who was a charwoman
+here in Paris.  The good woman took me out of charity, and very kind it
+was of her, for I earned but little.  At eleven years of age she sent me
+to work in one of the factories of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.  I don't
+wish to speak, ill of the masters of these factories; but what do they
+care, if little boys and girls are mixed up pell-mell with young men and
+women of eighteen to twenty?  Now you see, there, as everywhere, some are
+no better than they should be; they are not particular in word or deed,
+and I ask you, what art example for the children, who hear and see more
+than you think for.  Then, what happens?  They get accustomed as they
+grow older, to hear and see things, that afterwards will not shock them
+at all."
+
+"What you say there is true, Rose-Pompon.  Poor children! who takes any
+trouble about them?--not their father or mother, for they are at their
+daily work."
+
+"Yes, yes, Mother Arsene, it is all very well; it is easy to cry down a
+young girl that has gone wrong; but if they knew all the ins and outs,
+they would perhaps pity rather than blame her.  To come back to myself--
+at fifteen years old I was tolerably pretty.  One day I had something to
+ask of the head clerk.  I went to him in his private room.  He told me he
+would grant what I wanted, and even take me under his patronage, if I
+would listen to him; and he began by trying to kiss me.  I resisted.
+Then he said to me:--'You refuse my offer?  You shall have no more work;
+I discharge you from the factory.'"
+
+"Oh, the wicked man!" said Mother Arsene.
+
+"I went home all in tears, and my poor aunt encouraged me not to yield,
+and she would try to place me elsewhere.  Yes--but it was impossible; the
+factories were all full.  Misfortunes never come single; my aunt fell
+ill, and there was not a sou in the house; I plucked up my courage, and
+returned to entreat the mercy of the clerk at the factory.  Nothing would
+do.  `So much the worse,' said he; `you are throwing away your luck.  If
+you had been more complying, I should perhaps have married you.'  What
+could I do, Mother Arsene?--misery was staring me in the face; I had no
+work; my aunt was ill; the clerk said he would marry me--I did like so
+many others."
+
+"And when, afterwards, you spoke to him about marriage?"
+
+"Of course he laughed at me, and in six months left me.  Then I wept all
+the tears in my body, till none remained--then I was very ill--and then--
+I console myself, as one may console one's self for anything.  After some
+changes, I met with Philemon.  It is upon him that I revenge myself for
+what others have done to me.  I am his tyrant," added Rose-Pompon, with a
+tragic air, as the cloud passed away which had darkened her pretty face
+during her recital to Mother Arsene.
+
+"It is true," said the latter thoughtfully.  "They deceive a poor girl--
+who is there to protect or defend her?  Oh! the evil we do does not
+always come from ourselves, and then--"
+
+"I spy Ninny Moulin!" cried Rose-Pompon, interrupting the greengrocer,
+and pointing to the other side of the street.  "How early abroad!  What
+can he want with me?" and Rose wrapped herself still more closely and
+modestly in her cloak.
+
+It was indeed Jacques Dumoulin, who advanced with his hat stuck on one
+side, with rubicund nose and sparkling eye, dressed in a loose coat,
+which displayed the rotundity of his abdomen.  His hands, one of which
+held a huge cane shouldered like a musket, were plunged into the vast
+pockets of his outer garment.
+
+Just as he reached the threshold of the door, no doubt with the intention
+of speaking to the portress, he perceived Rose-Pompon.  "What!" he
+exclaimed, "my pupil already stirring?  That is fortunate.  I came on
+purpose to bless her at the rise of morn!"
+
+So saying, Ninny Moulin advanced with open arms towards Rose-Pompon who
+drew back a step.
+
+"What, ungrateful child!" resumed the writer on divinity.  "Will you
+refuse me the morning's paternal kiss?"
+
+"I accept paternal kisses from none but Philemon.  I had a letter from
+him yesterday, with a jar of preserves, two geese, a bottle of home-made
+brandy, and an eel.  What ridiculous presents!  I kept the drink, and
+changed the rest for two darling live pigeons, which I have installed in
+Philemon's cabinet, and a very pretty dove-cote it makes me.  For the
+rest, my husband is coming back with seven hundred francs, which he got
+from his respectable family, under pretence of learning the bass viol,
+the cornet-a-piston, and the speaking trumpet, so as to make his way in
+society, and a slap-up marriage--to use your expression--my good child."
+
+"Well, my dear pupil, we will taste the family brandy, and enjoy
+ourselves in expectation of Philemon and his seven hundred francs."
+
+So saying, Ninny Moulin slapped the pockets of his waistcoat, which gave
+forth a metallic sound, and added: "I come to propose to you to embellish
+my life, to-day and to-morrow, and even the day after, if your heart is
+willing."
+
+"If the announcements are decent and fraternal, my heart does not say
+no."
+
+"Be satisfied; I will act by you as your grandfather, your great-
+grandfather, your family portrait.  We will have a ride, a dinner, the
+play, a fancy dress ball, and a supper afterwards.  Will that suit you?"
+
+"On condition that poor Cephyse is to go with us.  It will raise her
+spirits."
+
+"Well, Cephyse shall be of the party."
+
+"Have you come into a fortune, great apostle?"
+
+"Better than that, most rosy and pompous of all Rose-Pom, pons!  I am
+head editor of a religious journal; and as I must make some appearance in
+so respectable a concern, I ask every month for four weeks in advance,
+and three days of liberty.  On this condition, I consent to play the
+saint for twenty-seven days out of thirty, and to be always as grave and
+heavy as the paper itself."
+
+"A journal! that will be something droll, and dance forbidden steps all
+alone on the tables of the cafes."
+
+"Yes, it will be droll enough; but not for everybody.  They are rich
+sacristans, who pay the expenses.  They don't look to money, provided the
+journal bites, tears, burns, pounds, exterminates and destroys.  On my
+word of honor, I shall never have been in such a fury!" added Ninny
+Moulin, with a loud, hoarse laugh.  "I shall wash the wounds of my
+adversaries with venom of the finest vintage, and gall of the first
+quality."
+
+For his peroration, Ninny Moulin imitated the pop of uncorking a bottle
+of champagne--which made Rose-Pompon laugh heartily.
+
+"And what," resumed she, "will be the name of your journal of
+sacristans?"
+
+"It will be called `Neighborly Love.'"
+
+"Come! that is a very pretty name."
+
+"Wait a little! there is a second title."
+
+"Let us hear it."
+
+"`Neighborly Love; or, the Exterminator of the Incredulous, the
+Indifferent, the Lukewarm, and Others,' with this motto from the great
+Bossuet: `Those who are not for us are against us.'"
+
+"That is what Philemon says in the battles at the Chaumiere, when he
+shakes his cane."
+
+"Which proves, that the genius of the Eagle of Meaux is universal.  I
+only reproach him for having been jealous of Moliere."
+
+"Bah! actor's jealousy," said Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Naughty girl!" cried Ninny Moulin, threatening her with his finger.
+
+"But if you are going to exterminate Madame de la Sainte-Colombo, who is
+somewhat lukewarm--how about your marriage?"
+
+"My journal will advance it, on the contrary.  Only think! editor-In-
+chief is a superb position; the sacristans will praise, and push, and
+support, and bless me; I shall get La-Sainte-Colombe--and then, what a
+life I'll lead!"
+
+At this moment, a postman entered the shop, and delivered a letter to the
+greengrocer, saying: "For M. Charlemagne, post-paid!"
+
+"My!" said Rose-Pompon; "it is for the little mysterious old man, who has
+such extraordinary ways.  Does it come from far?"
+
+"I believe you; it comes from Italy, from Rome," said Ninny Moulin,
+looking in his turn at the letter, which the greengrocer held in her
+hand.  "Who is the astonishing little old man of whom you speak?"
+
+"Just imagine to yourself, my great apostle," said Rose-Pompon, "a little
+old man, who has two rooms at the bottom of that court.  He never sleeps
+there, but comes from time to time, and shuts himself up for hours,
+without ever allowing any one to enter his lodging, and without any one
+knowing what he does there."
+
+"He is a conspirator," said Ninny Moulin, laughing, "or else a comer."
+
+"Poor dear man," said Mother Arsene, "what has he done with his false
+money?  He pays me always in sous for the bit of bread and the radish I
+furnish him for his breakfast."
+
+"And what is the name of this mysterious chap?" asked Dumoulin.
+
+"M. Charlemagne," said the greengrocer.  "But look, surely one speaks of
+the devil, one is sure to see his horns."
+
+"Where's the horns?"
+
+"There, by the side of the house--that little old man, who walks with his
+neck awry, and his umbrella under his arm."
+
+"M. Rodin!" ejaculated Ninny Moulin, retreating hastily, and descending
+three steps into the shop, in order not to be seen.  Then he added.  "You
+say, that this gentleman calls himself--"
+
+"M. Charlemagne--do you know him?" asked the greengrocer.
+
+"What the devil does he do here, under a false name?" said Jacques
+Dumoulin to himself.
+
+"You know him?" said Rose-Pompon, with impatience.  "You are quite
+confused."
+
+"And this gentleman has two rooms in this house, and comes here
+mysteriously," said Jacques Dumoulin, more and more surprised.
+
+"Yes," resumed Rose-Pompon; "you can see his windows from Philemon's
+dove-cote."
+
+"Quick! quick! let me go into the passage, that I may not meet him," said
+Dumoulin.
+
+And, without having been perceived by Rodin, he glided from the shop into
+the passage, and thence mounted to the stairs, which led to the apartment
+occupied by Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Good-morning, M. Charlemagne," said Mother Arsene to Rodin, who made his
+appearance on the threshold.  "You come twice in a day; that is right,
+for your visits are extremely rare."
+
+"You are too polite, my good lady," said Rodin, with a very courteous
+bow; and he entered the shop of the greengrocer.
+
+[21] There are, really, ordinances, full of a touching interest for the
+canine race, which forbid the harnessing of dogs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE DEN.
+
+Rodin's countenance, when he entered Mother Arsene's shop, was expressive
+of the most simple candor.  He leaned his hands on the knob of his
+umbrella, and said: "I much regret, my good lady, that I roused you so
+early this morning."
+
+"You do not come often enough, my dear sir, for me to find fault with
+you."
+
+"How can I help it, my good lady?  I live in the country, and only come
+hither from time to time to settle my little affairs."
+
+"Talking of that sir, the letter you expected yesterday has arrived this
+morning.  It is large, and comes from far.  Here it is," said the
+greengrocer, drawing it from her pocket; "it cost nothing for postage."
+
+"Thank you, my dear lady," said Rodin, taking the letter with apparent
+indifference, and putting it into the side-pocket of his great-coat,
+which he carefully buttoned over.
+
+"Are you going up to your rooms, sir?"
+
+"Yes, my good, lady."
+
+"Then I will get ready your little provisions," said Mother Arsene; "as
+usual, I suppose, my dear sir?"
+
+"Just as usual."
+
+"It shall be ready in the twinkling of an eye, sir."
+
+So saying, the greengrocer took down an old basket; after throwing into
+it three or four pieces of turf, a little bundle of wood, and some
+charcoal, she covered all this fuel with a cabbage leaf; then, going to
+the further end of the shop, she took from a chest a large round loaf,
+cut off a slice, and selecting a magnificent radish with the eye of a
+connoisseur, divided it in two, made a hole in it, which she filled with
+gray salt joined the two pieces together again, and placed it carefully
+by the side of the bread, on the cabbage leaf which separated the
+eatables from the combustibles.  Finally, taking some embers from the
+stove, she put them into a little earthen pot, containing ashes, which
+she placed also in the basket.
+
+Then, reascending to her top step, Mother Arsene said to Rodin: "Here is
+your basket, sir."
+
+"A thousand thanks, my good lady," answered Rodin, and plunging his hand
+into the pocket of his trousers, he drew forth eight sous, which he
+counted out only one by one to the greengrocer, and said to her, as he
+carried off his store: "Presently, when I come down again, I will return
+your basket as usual."
+
+"Quite at your service, my dear sir, quite at your service," said Mother
+Arsene.
+
+Rodin tucked his umbrella under his left arm, took up the greengrocer's
+basket with his right hand, entered the dark passage, crossed the little
+court and mounted with light step to the second story of a dilapidated
+building; there, drawing a key from his pocket, he opened a door, which
+he locked carefully after him.  The first of the two rooms which he
+occupied was completely unfurnished, as for the second, it is impossible
+to imagine a more gloomy and miserable den.  Papering so much worn, torn
+and faded, that no one could recognize its primitive color, bedecked the
+walls.  A wretched flock-bed, covered with a moth-fretted blanket; a
+stool, and a little table of worm-eaten wood; an earthenware stove, as
+cracked as old china; a trunk with a padlock, placed under the bed--such
+was the furniture of this desolate hole.  A narrow window, with dirty
+panes, hardly gave any light to this room, which was almost deprived of
+air by the height of the building in front; two old cotton pocket-
+handkerchiefs, fastened together with pins, and made to slide upon a
+string stretched across the window, served for curtains.  The plaster of
+the roof, coming through the broken and disjointed tiles, showed the
+extreme neglect of the inhabitant of this abode.  After locking his door,
+Rodin threw his hat and umbrella on the bed, placed his basket on the
+ground, set the radish and bread on the table, and kneeling down before
+his stove, stuffed it with fuel, and lighted it by blowing with vigorous
+lungs on the embers contained in his earthen pot.
+
+When, to use the consecrated expression, the stove began to draw, Rodin
+spread out the handkerchiefs, which served him for curtains; then,
+thinking himself quite safe from every eye, he took from the side-pocket
+of his great-coat the letter that Mother Arsene had given him.  In doing
+so, he brought out several papers and different articles; one of these
+papers, folded into a thick and rumpled packet, fell upon the table, and
+flew open.  It contained a silver cross of the Legion of Honor, black
+with time.  The red ribbon of this cross had almost entirely lost its
+original color.  At sight of this cross, which he replaced in his pocket
+with the medal of which Faringhea had despoiled Djalma, Rodin shrugged
+his shoulders with a contemptuous and sardonic air; then, producing his
+large silver watch, he laid it on the table by the side of the letter
+from Rome.  He looked at this letter with a singular mixture of suspicion
+and hope, of fear, and impatient curiosity.  After a moment's reflection,
+he prepared to unseal the envelope; but suddenly he threw it down again
+upon the table, as if, by a strange caprice, he had wished to prolong for
+a few minutes that agony of uncertainty, as poignant and irritating as
+the emotion of the gambler.
+
+Looking at his watch, Rodin resolved not to open the letter, until the
+hand should mark half-past nine, of which it still wanted seven minutes.
+In one of those whims of puerile fatalism, from which great minds have
+not been exempt, Rodin said to himself: "I burn with impatience to open
+this letter.  If I do not open it till half-past nine, the news will he
+favorable."  To employ these minutes, Rodin took several turns up and
+down the room, and stood in admiring contemplation before two old prints,
+stained with damp and age, and fastened to the wall by rusty nails.  The
+first of these works of art--the only ornaments with which Rodin had
+decorated this hole--was one of those coarse pictures, illuminated with
+red, yellow, green, and blue, such as are sold at fairs; an Italian
+inscription announced that this print had been manufactured at Rome.  It
+represented a woman covered with rags, bearing a wallet, and having a
+little child upon her knees; a horrible hag of a fortune-teller held in
+her hands the hand of the little child, and seemed to read there his
+future fate, for these words in large blue letters issued from her mouth:
+"Sara Papa" (he shall be Pope).
+
+The second of these works of art, which appeared to inspire Rodin with
+deep meditations, was an excellent etching, whose careful finish and
+bold, correct drawing, contrasted singularly with the coarse coloring of
+the other picture.  This rare and splendid engraving, which had cost
+Rodin six louis (an enormous expense for him), represented a young boy
+dressed in rags.  The ugliness of his features was compensated by the
+intellectual expression of his strongly marked countenance.  Seated on a
+stone, surrounded by a herd of swine, that he seemed employed in keeping,
+he was seen in front, with his elbow resting on his knee, and his chin in
+the palm of his hand.  The pensive and reflective attitude of this young
+man, dressed as a beggar, the power expressed in his large forehead, the
+acuteness of his penetrating glance, and the firm lines of the mouth,
+seemed to reveal indomitable resolution, combined with superior
+intelligence and ready craft.  Beneath this figure, the emblems of the
+papacy encircled a medallion, in the centre of which was the head of an
+old man, the lines of which, strongly marked, recalled in a striking
+manner, notwithstanding their look of advanced age, the features of the
+young swineherd.  This engraving was entitled THE YOUTH of SIXTUS V.; the
+color print was entitled The Prediction.[22]
+
+In contemplating these prints more and more nearly, with ardent and
+inquiring eye, as though he had asked for hopes or inspirations from
+them, Rodin had come so close that, still standing, with his right arm
+bent behind his head, he rested, as it were, against the wall, whilst,
+hiding his left hand in the pocket of his black trousers, he thus held
+back one of the flaps of his olive great-coat.  For some minutes, he
+remained in this meditative attitude.
+
+Rodin, as we have said, came seldom to this lodging; according to the
+rules of his Order, he had till now lived with Father d'Aigrigny, whom he
+was specially charged to watch.  No member of the Society, particularly
+in the subaltern position which Rodin had hitherto held, could either
+shut himself in, or possess an article of furniture made to lock.  By
+this means nothing interferes with the mutual spy-system, incessantly
+carried on, which forms one of the most powerful resources of the Company
+of Jesus.  It was on account of certain combinations, purely personal to
+himself, though connected on some points with the interests of the Order,
+that Rodin, unknown to all, had taken these rooms in the Rue Clovis.  And
+it was from the depths of this obscure den that the socius corresponded
+directly with the most eminent and influential personages of the sacred
+college.  On one occasion, when Rodin wrote to Rome, that Father
+d'Aigrigny, having received orders to quit France without seeing his
+dying mother, had hesitated to set out, the socius had added, in form of
+postscriptum, at the bottom of the letter denouncing to the General of
+the Order the hesitation of Father d'Aigrigny:
+
+"Tell the Prince Cardinal that he may rely upon me, but I hope for his
+active aid in return."
+
+This familiar manner of corresponding with the most powerful dignitary of
+the Order, the almost patronizing tone of the recommendation that Rodin
+addressed to the Prince Cardinal, proved that the socius, notwithstanding
+his apparently subaltern position, was looked upon, at that epoch, as a
+very important personage, by many of the Princes of the Church, who wrote
+to him at Paris under a false name, making use of a cipher and other
+customary precautions.  After some moments passed in contemplation,
+before the portrait of Sixtus V., Rodin returned slowly to the table, on
+which lay the letter, which, by a sort of superstitious delay, he had
+deferred opening, notwithstanding his extreme curiosity.  As it still
+wanted some minutes of half-past nine, Rodin, in order not to lose time,
+set about making preparations for his frugal breakfast.  He placed on the
+table, by the side of an inkstand, furnished with pens, the slice of
+bread and the radish; then seating himself on his stool, with the stove,
+as it were, between his legs, he drew a horn-handled knife from his
+pocket, and cutting alternately a morsel of bread and a morsel of radish,
+with a sharp, well-worn blade, he began his temperate repast with a
+vigorous appetite, keeping his eye fixed on the hand of his watch.  When
+it reached the momentous hour, he unsealed the envelope with a trembling
+hand.
+
+It contained two letters.  The first appeared to give him little
+satisfaction; for, after some minutes, he shrugged his shoulders, struck
+the table impatiently with the handle of his knife, disdainfully pushed
+aside the letter with the back of his dirty hand, and perused the second
+epistle, holding his bread in one hand, and with the other mechanically
+dipping a slice of radish into the gray salt spilt on a corner of the
+table.  Suddenly, Rodin's hand remained motionless.  As he progressed in
+his reading, he appeared more and more interested, surprised, and struck.
+Rising abruptly, he ran to the window, as if to assure himself, by a
+second examination of the cipher, that he was not deceived.  The news
+announced to him in the letter seemed to be unexpected.  No doubt, Rodin
+found that he had deciphered correctly, for, letting fall his arms, not
+in dejection, but with the stupor of a satisfaction as unforeseen as
+extraordinary, he remained for some time with his head down, and his eyes
+fixed--the only mark of joy that he gave being manifested by a loud,
+frequent, and prolonged respiration.  Men who are as audacious in their
+ambition, as they are patient and obstinate in their mining and
+countermining, are surprised at their own success, when this latter
+precedes and surpasses their wise and prudent expectations.  Rodin was
+now in this case.  Thanks to prodigies of craft, address, and
+dissimulation, thanks to mighty promises of corruption, thanks to the
+singular mixture of admiration, fear, and confidence, with which his
+genius inspired many influential persons, Rodin now learned from members
+of the pontifical government, that, in case of a possible and probable
+occurrence, he might, within a given time, aspire, with a good chance of
+success, to a position which has too often excited the fear, the hate, or
+the envy of many sovereigns, and which has in turn, been occupied by
+great, good men, by abominable scoundrels, and by persons risen from the
+lowest grades of society.  But for Rodin to attain this end with
+certainty, it was absolutely necessary for him to succeed in that
+project, which he had undertaken to accomplish without violence, and only
+by the play and the rebound of passions skillfully managed.  The project
+was: To secure for the Society of Jesus the fortune of the Rennepont
+family.
+
+This possession would thus have a double and immense result; for Rodin,
+acting in accordance with his personal views, intended to make of his
+Order (whose chief was at his discretion) a stepping-stone and a means of
+intimidation.  When his first impression of surprise had passed away--an
+impression that was only a sort of modesty of ambition and self-
+diffidence, not uncommon with men of really superior powers--Rodin looked
+more coldly and logically on the matter, and almost reproached himself
+for his surprise.  But soon after, by a singular contradiction, yielding
+to one of those puerile and absurd ideas, by which men are often carried
+away when they think themselves alone and unobserved, Rodin rose
+abruptly, took the letter which had caused him such glad surprise, and
+went to display it, as it were, before the eyes of the young swineherd in
+the picture: then, shaking his head proudly and triumphantly, casting his
+reptile-glance on the portrait, he muttered between his teeth, as he
+placed his dirty finger on the pontifical emblem:  "Eh, brother? and I
+also--perhaps!"
+
+After this ridiculous interpolation, Rodin returned to his seat, and, as
+if the happy news he had just received had increased his appetite, he
+placed the letter before him, to read it once more, whilst he exercised
+his teeth, with a sort of joyous fury, on his hard bread and radish,
+chanting an old Litany.
+
+There was something strange, great, and, above all, frightful, in the
+contrast afforded by this immense ambition, already almost justified by
+events, and contained, as it were, in so miserable an abode.  Father
+d'Aigrigny (who, if not a very superior man, had at least some real
+value, was a person of high birth, very haughty, and placed in the best
+society) would never have ventured to aspire to what Rodin thus looked to
+from the first.  The only aim of Father d'Aigrigny, and even this he
+thought presumptuous, was to be one day elected General of his Order--
+that Order which embraced the world.  The difference of the ambitious
+aptitudes of these two personages is conceivable.  When a man of eminent
+abilities, of a healthy and vivacious nature, concentrates all the
+strength of his mind and body upon a single point, remaining, like Rodin,
+obstinately chaste and frugal, and renouncing every gratification of the
+heart and the senses--the man, who revolts against the sacred designs of
+his Creator, does so almost always in favor of some monstrous and
+devouring passion--some infernal divinity, which, by a sacrilegious pact,
+asks of him, in return for the bestowal of formidable power, the
+destruction of every noble sentiment, and of all those ineffable
+attractions and tender instincts with which the Maker, in His eternal
+wisdom and inexhaustible munificence, has so paternally endowed His
+creatures.
+
+During the scene that we have just described, Rodin had not perceived
+that the curtain of a window on the third story of the building opposite
+had been partially drawn aside, and had half-revealed the sprightly face
+of Rose-Pompon, and the Silenus-like countenance of Ninny Moulin.  It
+ensued that Rodin, notwithstanding his barricade of cotton handkerchiefs,
+had not been completely sheltered from the indiscreet and curious
+examination of the two dancers of the Storm-blown Tulip.
+
+[22] According to the tradition, it was predicted to the mother of Sixtus
+V., that he would be pope; and, in his youth, he is said to have kept
+swine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED VISIT.
+
+Though Rodin had experienced much surprise on reading the second letter
+from Rome, he did not choose that his answer should betray any such
+amazement.  Having finished his frugal breakfast, he took a sheet of
+paper, and rapidly wrote in cipher the following note, in the short,
+abrupt style that was natural to him when not obliged to restrain himself:
+
+"The information does not surprise me.  I had foreseen it all.
+Indecision and cowardice always bear such fruit.  This is not enough.
+Heretical Russia murders Catholic Poland.  Rome blesses the murderers,
+and curses the victims.[23]
+
+"Let it pass.
+
+"In return, Russia guarantees to Rome, by Austria, the bloody suppression
+of the patriots of Romagna.
+
+"That, too, is well.
+
+"The cut-throat band of good Cardinal Albani is not sufficient for the
+massacre of the impious liberals.  They are weary of the task.
+
+"Not so well.  They must go on."
+
+When Rodin had written these last words, his attention was suddenly
+attracted by the clear and sonorous voice of Rose-Pompon, who, knowing
+her Beranger by heart, had opened Philemon's window, and, seated on the
+sill, sang with much grace and prettiness this verse of the immortal
+song-writer:
+
+     "How wrong you are!  Is't you dare say
+	That heaven ever scowls on earth?
+	The earth that laughs up to its blue,
+	The earth that owes it joy and birth?
+	Oh, may the wine from vines it warms,
+	May holy love thence fluttering down,
+	Lend my philosophy their charms,
+	To drive away care's direful frown!
+	So, firm let's stand,
+	Full glass in hand,
+	And all evoke
+	The God of honest folk!"
+
+This song, in its divine gentleness, contrasted so strangely with the
+cold cruelty of the few lines written by Rodin, that he started and bit
+his lips with rage, as he recognized the words of the great poet, truly
+Christian, who had dealt such rude blows to the false Church.  Rodin
+waited for some moments with angry impatience, thinking the voice would
+continue; but Rose-Pompon was silent, or only continued to hum, and soon
+changed to another air, that of the Good Pope, which she entoned, but
+without words.  Rodin, not venturing to look out of his window to see who
+was this troublesome warbler, shrugged his shoulders, resumed his pen,
+and continued:
+
+"To it again.  We must exasperate the independent spirits in all
+countries--excite philosophic rage all over Europe make liberalism foam
+at the mouth--raise all that is wild and noisy against Rome.  To effect
+this, we must proclaim in the face of the world these three propositions.
+1. It is abominable to assert that a man may be saved in any faith
+whatever, provided his morals be pure.  2. It is odious and absurd to
+grant liberty of conscience to the people.  3.  The liberty of the press
+cannot be held in too much horror.[24]
+
+"We must bring the Pap-fed man to declare these propositions in every
+respect orthodox--show him their good effect upon despotic governments--
+upon true Catholics, the muzzlers of the people.  He will fall into the
+snare.  The propositions once published, the storm will burst forth.  A
+general rising against Rome--a wide schism--the sacred college divided
+into three parties.  One approves--the other blames--the third trembles.
+The Sick Man, still more frightened than he is now at having allowed the
+destruction of Poland, will shrink from the clamors, reproaches, threats,
+and violent ruptures that he has occasioned.
+
+"That is well--and goes far.
+
+"Then, set the Pope to shaking the conscience of the Sick Man, to disturb
+his mind, and terrify his soul.
+
+"To sum up.  Make everything bitter to him--divide his council--isolate
+him--frighten him--redouble the ferocious ardor of good Albini--revive
+the appetite of the Sanfedists[25]--give them a gulf of liberals--let
+there be pillage, rape, massacre, as at Cesena--a downright river of
+Carbonaro blood--the Sick Man will have a surfeit of it.  So many
+butcheries in his name--he will shrink, be sure he will shrink--every day
+will have its remorse, every night its terror, every minute its anguish;
+and the abdication he already threatens will come at last--perhaps too
+soon.  That is now the only danger; you must provide against it.
+
+"In case of an abdication, the grand penitentiary has understood me.
+Instead of confiding to a general the direction of our Order, the best
+militia of the Holy See, I should command it myself.  Thenceforward this
+militia would give me no uneasiness.  For instance: the Janissaries and
+the Praetorian Guards were always fatal to authority--why?--because they
+were able to organize themselves as defenders of the government,
+independently of the government; hence their power of intimidation.
+
+"Clement XIV. was a fool.  To brand and abolish our Company was an absurd
+fault.  To protect and make it harmless, by declaring himself the General
+of the Order, is what he should have done.  The Company, then at his
+mercy, would have consented to anything.  He would have absorbed us, made
+us vassals of the Holy See, and would no longer have had to fear our
+services.  Clement XIV. died of the cholic.  Let him heed who hears.  In
+a similar case, I should not die the same death."
+
+Just then, the clear and liquid voice of Rose-Pompon was again heard.
+Rodin bounded with rage upon his seat; but soon, as he listened to the
+following verse, new to him (for, unlike Philemon's widow, he had not his
+Beranger at his fingers' ends), the Jesuit, accessible to certain odd,
+superstitious notions, was confused and almost frightened at so singular
+a coincidence.  It is Beranger's Good Pope who speaks--
+
+     "What are monarchs? sheepish sots!
+	Or they're robbers, puffed with pride,
+	Wearing badges of crime blots,
+	Till their certain graves gape wide.
+	If they'll pour out coin for me,
+	I'll absolve them--skin and bone!
+	If they haggle--they shall see,
+	My nieces dancing on their throne!
+	So laugh away!
+	Leap, my fay!
+	Only watch one hurt the thunder
+	First of all by Zeus under,
+	I'm the Pope, the whole world's wonder!"
+
+Rodin, half-risen from his chair, with outstretched neck and attentive
+eye, was still listening, when Rose-Pompon, flitting like a bee from
+flower to flower of her repertoire, had already begun the delightful air
+of Colibri.  Hearing no more, the Jesuit reseated himself, in a sort of
+stupor; but, after some minutes' reflection, his countenance again
+brightened up, and he seemed to see a lucky omen in this singular
+incident.  He resumed his pen, and the first words he wrote partook, as
+it were, of this strange confidence in fate.
+
+"I have never had more hope of success than at this moment.  Another
+reason to neglect nothing.  Every presentiment demands redoubled zeal.  A
+new thought occurred to me yesterday.
+
+"We shall act here in concert.  I have founded an ultra-Catholic paper
+called Neighborly Love.  From its ultramontane, tyrannical, liberticidal
+fury, it will be thought the organ of Rome.  I will confirm these
+reports.  They will cause new terrors.
+
+"That will be well.
+
+"I shall raise the question of the liberty of instruction.  The raw
+liberals will support us.  Like fools, they admit us to equal rights;
+when our privileges, our influence of the confessional, our obedience to
+Rome, all place us beyond the circle of equal rights, by the advantages
+which we enjoy.  Double fools! they think us disarmed, because they have
+disarmed themselves towards us.
+
+"A burning question--irritating clamors--new cause of disgust for the
+Weak Man.  Every little makes a mickle.
+
+"That also is very well.
+
+"To sum up all in two words.  The end is abdication--the means, vexation,
+incessant torture.  The Rennepont inheritance wilt pay for the election.
+The price agreed, the merchandise will be sold."
+
+Rodin here paused abruptly, thinking he had heard some noise at that door
+of his, which opened on the staircase; therefore he listened with
+suspended breath; but all remaining silent, he thought he must have been
+deceived, and took up his pen:
+
+"I will take care of the Rennepont business--the hinge on which will turn
+our temporal operations.  We must begin from the foundation--substitute
+the play of interests, and the springs of passion, for the stupid club-
+law of Father d'Aigrigny.  He nearly compromised everything--and yet he
+has good parts, knows the world, has powers of seduction, quick insight--
+but plays ever in a single key, and is not great enough to make himself
+little.  In his stead, I shall know how to make use of him.  There is
+good stuff in the man.  I availed myself in time of the full powers given
+by the R. F. G.; I may inform Father d'Aigrigny, in case of need, of the
+secret engagements taken by the General towards myself.  Until now, I
+have let him invent for this inheritance the destination that you know
+of.  A good thought, but unseasonable.  The same end, by other means.
+
+"The information was false.  There are over two hundred millions.  Should
+the eventuality occur, what was doubtful must become certain.  An immense
+latitude is left us.  The Rennepont business is now doubly mine, and
+within three months, the two hundred millions will be ours, by the free
+will of the heirs themselves.  It must be so; for this failing, the
+temporal part would escape me, and my chances be diminished by one half.
+I have asked for full powers; time presses, and I act as if I had them.
+One piece of information is indispensable for the success of my projects.
+I expect it from you, and I must have it; do you understand me?  The
+powerful influence of your brother at the Court of Vienna will serve you
+in this.  I wish to have the most precise details as to the present
+position of the Duke de Reichstadt--the Napoleon II. of the Imperialists.
+Is it possible, by means of your brother, to open a secret correspondence
+with the prince, unknown to his attendants?
+
+"Look to this promptly.  It is urgent.  This note will he sent off to-
+day.  I shall complete it to-morrow.  It will reach you, as usual, by the
+hands of the petty shopkeeper."
+
+At the moment when Rodin was sealing this letter within a double
+envelope, he thought that he again heard a noise at the door.  He
+listened.  After some silence, several knocks were distinctly audible.
+Rodin started.  It was the first time any one had knocked at his door,
+since nearly a twelve-month that he occupied this room.  Hastily placing
+the letter in his great-coat pocket, the Jesuit opened the old trunk
+under his bed, took from it a packet of papers wrapped in a tattered
+cotton handkerchief, added to them the two letters in cipher he had just
+received, and carefully relocked the trunk.  The knocking continued
+without, and seemed to show more and more impatience.  Rodin took the
+greengrocer's basket in his hand, tucked his umbrella under his arm, and
+went with some uneasiness to ascertain who was this unexpected visitor.
+He opened the door, and found himself face to face with Rose-Pompon, the
+troublesome singer, and who now, with a light and pretty courtesy, said
+to him in the most guileless manner in the world, "M. Rodin, if you
+please?"
+
+[23] On page 110 of Lamennais' Affaires de Rome, will be seen the
+following admirable scathing of Rome by the most truly evangelical spirit
+of our age: "So long as the issue of the conflict between Poland and her
+oppressors remained in the balances, the papal official organ contained
+not one word to offend the so long victorious nation; but hardly had she
+gone down under the Czar's atrocious vengeance, and the long torture of a
+whole land doomed to rack, and exile, and servitude began, than this same
+journal found no language black enough to stain those whom fortune had
+fled.  Yet it is wrong to charge this unworthy insult to papal power; it
+only cringes to the law which Russia lays down to it, when it says:
+
+"'If you want to keep your own bones unbroken, bide where you are, beside
+the scaffold, and, as the victims pass, hoot at them!'"
+
+[24] See Pope Gregory XVI.'s Encyclical Letter to the Bishops in France,
+1832.
+
+[25] Hardly had the Sixteenth Gregory ascended the pontifical throne,
+than news came of the rising in Bologna.  His first idea was to call the
+Austrians, and incite the Sanfedist volunteer bands of fanatics.
+Cardinal Albini defeated the liberals at Cesena, where his followers
+pillaged churches, sacked the town, and ill-treated women.  At Forli,
+cold-blooded murders were committed.  In 1832 the Sanfedists (Holy
+Faithites) openly paraded their medals, bearing the heads of the Duke of
+Modem and the Pope; letters issued by the apostolic confederation;
+privileges and indulgences.  They took the following oath: "I. A. B.,
+vow to rear the throne and altar over the bones of infamous freedom-
+shriekers, and exterminate these latter without pity for children's cries
+and women's tears."  The disorders perpetrated by these marauders went
+beyond all bounds; the Romish Court regularized anarchy and organized the
+Sanfedists into volunteer corps, to which fresh privileges were granted.
+[Revue deux Mondes, Nov.  15th, 1844.--"La Revolution en Italie."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+FRIENDLY SERVICES.
+
+Notwithstanding his surprise and uneasiness, Rodin did not frown.  He
+began by locking his door after him, as he noticed the young girl's
+inquisitive glance.  Then he said to her good-naturedly, "Who do you
+want, my dear?"
+
+"M. Rodin," repeated Rose-Pompon, stoutly, opening her bright blue eyes
+to their full extent, and looking Rodin full in the face.
+
+"It's not here," said he, moving towards the stairs.  "I do not know him.
+Inquire above or below."
+
+"No, you don't! giving yourself airs at your age!" said Rose-Pompon,
+shrugging her shoulders.  "As if we did not know that you are M. Rodin."
+
+"Charlemagne," said the socius, bowing; "Charlemagne, to serve you--if I
+am able."
+
+"You are not able," answered Rose-Pompon, majestically; then she added
+with a mocking air, "So, we have our little pussy-cat hiding-places; we
+change our name; we are afraid Mamma Rodin will find us out."
+
+"Come, my dear child," said the socius, with a paternal smile; "you have
+come to the right quarter.  I am an old man, but I love youth--happy,
+joyous youth!  Amuse yourself, pray, at my expense.  Only let me pass,
+for I am in a hurry."  And Rodin again advanced towards the stairs.
+
+"M. Rodin," said Rose-Pompon, in a solemn voice, "I have very important
+things to say to you, and advice to ask about a love affair."
+
+"Why, little madcap that you are! have you nobody to tease in your own
+house, that you must come here?"
+
+"I lodge in this house, M. Rodin," answered Rose-Pompon, laying a
+malicious stress on the name of her victim.
+
+"You?  Oh, dear, only to think I did not know I had such a pretty
+neighbor."
+
+"Yes, I have lodged here six months, M. Rodin."
+
+"Really! where?"
+
+"On the third story, front, M. Rodin."
+
+"It was you, then, that sang so well just now?"
+
+"Rather."
+
+"You gave me great pleasure, I must say."
+
+"You are very polite, M. Rodin."
+
+"You lodge, I suppose, with your respectable family?"
+
+"I believe you, M. Rodin," said Rose-Pompon, casting down her eyes with a
+timid air.  "I lodge with Grandpapa Philemon, and Grandmamma Bacchanal--
+who is a queen and no mistake."
+
+Rodin had hitherto been seriously uneasy, not knowing in what manner Rose
+had discovered his real name.  But on hearing her mention the Bacchanal
+queen, with the information that she lodged in the house, he found
+something to compensate for the disagreeable incident of Rose-Pompon's
+appearance.  It was, indeed, important to Rodin to find out the Bacchanal
+Queen, the mistress of Sleepinbuff, and the sister of Mother Bunch, who
+had been noted as dangerous since her interview with the superior of the
+convent, and the part she had taken in the projected escape of Mdlle. de
+Cardoville.  Moreover, Rodin hoped--thanks to what he had just heard--to
+bring Rose-Pompon to confess to him the name of the person from whom she
+had learned that "Charlemagne" masked "Rodin."
+
+Hardly had the young girl pronounced the name of the Bacchanal queen,
+than Rodin clasped his hands, and appeared as much surprised as
+interested.
+
+"Oh, my dear child," he exclaimed, "I conjure you not to jest on this
+subject.  Are you speaking of a young girl who bears that nickname, the
+sister of a deformed needlewoman."
+
+"Yes, sir, the Bacchanal Queen is her nickname," said Rose-Pompon,
+astonished in her turn; "she is really Cephyse Soliveau, and she is my
+friend."
+
+"Oh! she is your friend?" said Rodin, reflecting.
+
+"Yes, sir, my bosom friend."
+
+"So you love her?"
+
+"Like a sister.  Poor girl!  I do what I can for her, and that's not
+much.  But how comes it that a respectable man of your age should know
+the Bacchanal Queen?--Ah! that shows you have a false name!"
+
+"My dear child, I am no longer inclined to laugh," said Rodin, with so
+sorrowful an air, that Rose-Pompon, reproaching herself with her
+pleasantry, said to him: "But how comes it that you know Cephyse?"
+
+"Alas! I do not know her--but a young fellow, that I like excessively--"
+
+"Jacques Rennepont?"
+
+"Otherwise called Sleepinbuff.  He is now in prison for debt," sighed
+Rodin.  "I saw him yesterday."
+
+"You saw him yesterday?--how strange!" said Rose-Pompon, clapping her
+hands.  "Quick! quick!--come over to Philemon's, to give Cephyse news of
+her lover.  She is so uneasy about him."
+
+"My dear child, I should like to give her good news of that worthy
+fellow, whom I like in spite of his follies, for who has not been guilty
+of follies?" added Rodin, with indulgent good-nature.
+
+"To be sure," said Rose-Pompon, twisting about as if she still wore the
+costume of a debardeur.
+
+"I will say more," added Rodin: "I love him because of his follies; for,
+talk as we may, my dear child, there is always something good at bottom,
+a good heart, or something, in those who spend generously their money for
+other people."
+
+"Well, come! you are a very good sort of a man," said Rose-Pompon,
+enchanted with Rodin's philosophy.  "But why will you not come and see
+Cephyse, and talk to her of Jacques?"
+
+"Of what use would it be to tell her what she knows already--that Jacques
+is in prison?  What I should like, would be to get the worthy fellow out
+of his scrape."
+
+"Oh, sir! only do that, only get Jacques out of prison," cried Rose-
+Pompon, warmly, "and we will both give you a kiss--me and Cephyse!"
+
+"It would be throwing kisses away, dear little madcap!" said Rodin,
+smiling.  "But be satisfied, I want no reward to induce me to do good
+when I can."
+
+"Then you hope to get Jacques out of prison?"
+
+Rodin shook his head, and answered with a grieved and disappointed air.
+"I did hope it.  Certainly, I did hope it; but now all is changed."
+
+"How's that?" asked Rose-Pompon, with surprise.
+
+"That foolish joke of calling me M. Rodin may appear very amusing to you,
+my dear child.  I understand it, you being only an echo.  Some one has
+said to you: `Go and tell M. Charlemagne that he is one M. Rodin.  That
+will be very funny.'"
+
+"Certainly, I should never myself have thought of calling you M. Rodin.
+One does not invent such names," answered Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Well! that person with his foolish jokes, has done, without knowing it,
+a great injury to Jacques Rennepont."
+
+"What! because I called you Rodin instead of Charlemagne?" cried Rose-
+Pompon, much regretting the pleasantry which she had carried on at the
+instigation of Ninny Moulin.  "But really, sir," she added, "what can
+this joke have to do with the service that you were, about to render
+Jacques?"
+
+"I am not at liberty to tell you, my child.  In truth, I am very sorry
+for poor Jacques.  Believe me, I am; but do let me pass.
+
+"Listen to me, sir, I beg," said Rose-Pompon; "if I told you the name of
+the person who told me to call you Rodin, would you interest yourself
+again for Jacques?"
+
+"I do not wish to know any one's secrets, my dear child.  In all this,
+you have been the echo of persons who are, perhaps, very dangerous; and,
+notwithstanding the interest I feel for Jacques Rennepont, I do not wish,
+you understand, to make myself enemies.  Heaven forbid!"
+
+Rose-Pompon did not at all comprehend Rodin's fears, and upon this he had
+counted; for after a second's reflection, the young girl resumed: "Well,
+sir--this is too deep for me; I do not understand it.  All I know is,
+that I am truly sorry if I have injured a good young man by a mere joke.
+I will tell you exactly how it happened.  My frankness may be of some
+use."
+
+"Frankness will often clear up the most obscure matters," said Rodin,
+sententiously.
+
+"After all," said Rose-Pompon, "it's Ninny's fault.  Why does he tell me
+nonsense, that might injure poor Cephyse's lover?  You see, sir, it
+happened in this way.  Ninny Moulin who is fond of a joke, saw you just
+now in the street.  The portress told him that your name was Charlemagne.
+He said to me: 'No; his name is Rodin.  We must play him a trick.  Go to
+his room, Rose-Pompon, knock at the door, and call him M. Rodin.  You
+will see what a rum face he will make.' I promised Ninny Moulin not to
+name him; but I do it, rather than run the risk of injuring Jacques."
+
+At Ninny Moulin's name Rodin had not been able to repress a movement of
+surprise.  This pamphleteer, whom he had employed to edit the "Neighborly
+Love," was not personally formidable; but, being fond of talking in his
+drink, he might become troublesome, particularly if Rodin, as was
+probable, had often to visit this house, to execute his project upon
+Sleepinbuff, through the medium of the Bacchanal Queen.  The socius
+resolved, therefore, to provide against this inconvenience.
+
+"So, my dear child," said he to Rose-Pompon, "it is a M. Desmoulins that
+persuaded you to play off this silly joke?"
+
+"Not Desmoulins, but Dumoulin," corrected Rose.  "He writes in the
+pewholders' papers, and defends the saints for money; for, if Ninny
+Moulin is a saint, his patrons are Saint Drinkard and Saint Flashette, as
+he himself declares."
+
+"This gentleman appears to be very gay."
+
+"Oh! a very good fellow."
+
+"But stop," resumed Rodin, appearing to recollect himself; "ain't he a
+man about thirty-six or forty, fat, with a ruddy complexion?"
+
+"Ruddy as a glass of red wine," said Rose-Pompon, "and with a pimpled
+nose like a mulberry."
+
+"That's the man--M. Dumoulin.  Oh! in that case, I am quite satisfied, my
+dear child.  The jest no longer makes me uneasy; for M. Dumoulin is a
+very worthy man--only perhaps a little too fond of his joke."
+
+"Then, sir, you will try to be useful to Jacques?  The stupid pleasantry
+of Ninny Moulin will not prevent you?"
+
+"I hope not."
+
+"But I must not tell Ninny Moulin that you know it was he who sent me to
+call you M. Rodin--eh, sir?"
+
+"Why not?  In every case, my dear child, it is always better to speak
+frankly the truth."
+
+"But, sir, Ninny Moulin so strongly recommended me not to name him to
+you--"
+
+"If you have named him, it is from a very good motive; why not avow it?
+However, my dear child, this concerns you, not me.  Do as you think
+best."
+
+"And may I tell Cephyse of your good intentions towards Jacques?"
+
+"The truth, my dear child, always the truth.  One need never hesitate to
+say what is."
+
+"Poor Cephyse! how happy she will be!" cried Rose-Pompon, cheerfully;
+"and the news will come just in time."
+
+"Only you must not exaggerate; I do not promise positively to get this
+good fellow out of prison; I say, that I will do what I can.  But what I
+promise positively is--for, since the imprisonment of poor Jacques, your
+friend must be very much straitened--"
+
+"Alas, sir!"
+
+"What I promise positively is some little assistance which your friend
+will receive to-day, to enable her to live honestly; and if she behaves
+well--hereafter--why, hereafter, we shall see."
+
+"Oh, sir! you do not know how welcome will be your assistance to poor
+Cephyse!  One might fancy you were her actual good angel.  Faith! you may
+call yourself Rodin, or Charlemagne; all I know is, that you are a nice,
+sweet--"
+
+"Come, come, do not exaggerate," said Rodin; "say a good sort of old
+fellow; nothing more, my dear child.  But see how things fall out,
+sometimes!  Who could have told me, when I heard you knock at my door--
+which, I must say, vexed me a great deal--that it was a pretty little
+neighbor of mine, who under the pretext of playing off a joke, was to put
+me in the way of doing a good action?  Go and comfort your friend; this
+evening she will receive some assistance; and let us have hope and
+confidence.  Thanks be, there are still some good people in the world!"
+
+"Oh, sir! you prove it yourself."
+
+"Not at all!  The happiness of the old is to see the young happy."
+
+This was said by Rodin with so much apparent kindness, that Rose-Pompon
+felt the tears well up to her eyes, and answered with much emotion: "Sir,
+Cephyse and me are only poor girls; there are many more virtuous in the
+world; but I venture to say, we have good hearts.  Now, if ever you
+should be ill, only send for us; there are no Sisters of Charity that
+will take better care of you.  It is all that we can offer you, without
+reckoning Philemon, who shall go through fire and water for you, I give
+you my word for it--and Cephyse, I am sure, will answer for Jacques also,
+that he will be yours in life and death."
+
+"You see, my dear child, that I was right in saying--a fitful head and a
+good heart.  Adieu, till we meet again."
+
+Thereupon Rodin, taking up the basket, which he had placed on the ground
+by the side of his umbrella, prepared to descend the stairs.
+
+"First of all, you must give me this basket; it will be in your way going
+down," said Rose-Pompon, taking the basket from the hands of Rodin,
+notwithstanding his resistance.  Then she added: "Lean upon my arm.  The
+stairs are so dark.  You might slip."
+
+"I will accept your offer, my dear child, for I am not very courageous."
+Leaning paternally on the right arm of Rose-Pompon, who held the basket
+in her left hand, Rodin descended the stairs, and crossed the court-yard.
+
+"Up there, on the third story, do you see that big face close to the
+window-frame?" said Rose-Pompon suddenly to Rodin, stopping in the centre
+of the little court.  "That is my Ninny Moulin.  Do you know him?  Is he
+the same as yours?"
+
+"The same as mine," said Rodin, raising his head, and waving his hand
+very affectionately to Jacques Dumoulin, who, stupefied thereat, retired
+abruptly from the window.
+
+"The poor fellow!  I am sure he is afraid of me since his foolish joke,"
+said Rodin, smiling.  "He is very wrong."
+
+And he accompanied these last words with a sinister nipping of the lips,
+not perceived by Rose-Pompon.
+
+"And now, my dear child," said he, as they both entered the passage, "I
+no longer need you assistance; return to your friend, and tell her the
+good news you have heard."
+
+"Yes, sir, you are right.  I burn with impatience to tell her what a good
+man you are."  And Rose-Pompon sprung towards the stairs.
+
+"Stop, stop! how about my basket that the little madcap carries off with
+her?" said Rodin.
+
+"Oh true!  I beg your pardon, sir.  Poor Cephyse! how pleased she will
+be.  Adieu, sir!"  And Rose-Pompon's pretty figure disappeared in the
+darkness of the staircase, which she mounted with an alert and impatient
+step.
+
+Rodin issued from the entry.  "Here is your basket, my good lady, said
+he, stopping at the threshold of Mother Arsene's shop.  "I give you my
+humble thanks for your kindness."
+
+"For nothing, my dear sir, for nothing.  It is all at your service.
+Well, was the radish good?"
+
+"Succulent, my dear madame, and excellent."
+
+"Oh! I am glad of it.  Shall we soon see you again?"
+
+"I hope so.  But could you tell me where is the nearest post-office?"
+
+"Turn to the left, the third house, at the grocer's."
+
+"A thousand thanks."
+
+"I wager it's a love letter for your sweetheart," said Mother Arsene,
+enlivened probably by Rose Pompon's and Ninny Moulin's proximity.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! the good lady!" said Rodin, with a titter.  Then, suddenly
+resuming his serious aspect, he made a low bow to the greengrocer,
+adding: "Your most obedient humble servant!" and walked out into the
+street.
+
+We now usher the reader into Dr. Baleinier's asylum, in which Mdlle. de
+Cardoville was confined.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE ADVICE.
+
+Adrienne de Cardoville had been still more strictly confined in Dr.
+Baleinier's house, since the double nocturnal attempt of Agricola and
+Dagobert, in which the soldier, though severely wounded, had succeeded,
+thanks to the intrepid devotion of his son, seconded by the heroic Spoil-
+sport, in gaining the little garden gate of the convent, and escaping by
+way of the boulevard, along with the young smith.  Four o'clock had just
+struck.  Adrienne, since the previous day, had been removed to a chamber
+on the second story of the asylum.  The grated window, with closed
+shutters, only admitted a faint light to this apartment.  The young lady,
+since her interview with Mother Bunch, expected to be delivered any day
+by the intervention of her friends.  But she felt painful uneasiness on
+the subject of Agricola and Dagobert, being absolutely ignorant of the
+issue of the struggle in which her intended liberators had been engaged
+with the people of the asylum and convent.  She had in vain questioned
+her keepers on the subject; they had remained perfectly mute.  These new
+incidents had augmented the bitter resentment of Adrienne against the
+Princess de Saint Dizier, Father d'Aigrigny, and their creatures.  The
+slight paleness of Mdlle. de Cardoville's charming face, and her fine
+eyes a little drooping, betrayed her recent sufferings; seated before a
+little table, with her forehead resting upon one of her hands, half
+veiled by the long curls of her golden hair, she was turning over the
+leaves of a book.  Suddenly, the door opened, and M. Baleinier entered.
+The doctor, a Jesuit, in lay attire, a docile and passive instrument of
+the will of his Order, was only half in the confidence of Father
+d'Aigrigny and the Princess de Saint-Dizier.  He was ignorant of the
+object of the imprisonment of Mdlle. de Cardoville; he was ignorant also
+of the sudden change which had taken place in the relative position of
+Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, after the reading of the testament of Marius
+de Rennepont.  The doctor had, only the day before, received orders from
+Father d'Aigrigny (now acting under the directions of Rodin) to confine
+Mdlle. de Cardoville still more strictly, to act towards her with
+redoubled severity, and to endeavor to force her, it will be seen by what
+expedients, to renounce the judicial proceedings, which she promised
+herself to take hereafter against her persecutors.  At sight of the
+doctor, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not hide the aversion and disdain with
+which this man inspired her.  M. Baleinier, on the contrary, always
+smiling, always courteous, approached Adrienne with perfect ease and
+confidence, stopped a few steps from her, as if to study her features
+more attentively, and then added like a man who is satisfied with the
+observations he had made: "Come! the unfortunate events of the night
+before last have had a less injurious influence than I feared.  There is
+some improvement; the complexion is less flushed, the look calmer, the
+eyes still somewhat too bright, but no longer shining with such unnatural
+fire.  You are getting on so well!  Now the cure must be prolonged--for
+this unfortunate night affair threw you into a state of excitement, that
+was only the more dangerous from your not being conscious of it.
+Happily, with care, your recovery will not, I hope, be very much
+delayed."  Accustomed though she was to the audacity of this tool of the
+Congregation, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not forbear saying to him, with
+a smile of bitter disdain: "What impudence, sir, there is in your
+probity!  What effrontery in your zeal to earn your hire!  Never for a
+moment do you lay aside your mask; craft and falsehood are ever on your
+lips.  Really, if this shameful comedy causes you as much fatigue as it
+does me disgust and contempt, they can never pay you enough."
+
+"Alas!" said the doctor, in a sorrowful tone; "always this unfortunate
+delusion, that you are not in want of our care!--that I am playing a
+part, when I talk to you of the sad state in which you were when we were
+obliged to bring you hither by stratagem.  Still, with the exception of
+this little sign of rebellious insanity, your condition has marvellously
+improved.  You are on the high-road to a complete cure.  By-and-by, your
+excellent heart will render me the justice that is due to me; and, one
+day, I shall be judged as I deserve."
+
+"I, believe it, sir; the day approaches, in which you will be judged as
+you deserve," said Adrienne, laying great stress upon the two words.
+
+"Always that other fixed idea," said the doctor with a sort of
+commiseration.  "Come, be reasonable.  Do not think of this
+childishness."
+
+"What! renounce my intention to demand at the hands of justice reparation
+for myself, and disgrace for you and your accomplices?  Never, sir--
+never!"
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders; "once at liberty, thank
+heaven, you will have many other things to think of, my fair enemy."
+
+"You forget piously the evil that you do; but I, sir, have a better
+memory."
+
+"Let us talk seriously.  Have you really the intention of applying to the
+courts?" inquired Dr. Baleinier, in a grave tone.
+
+"Yes, sir, and you know that what I intend, I firmly carry out."
+
+"Well! I can only conjure you not to follow out this idea," replied the
+doctor, in a still more solemn tone; "I ask it as a favor, in the name of
+your own interest."
+
+"I think, sir, that you are a little too ready to confound your interest
+with mine."
+
+"Now come," said Dr. Baleinier, with a feigned impatience, as if quite
+certain of convincing Mdlle. de Cardoville on the instant; "would you
+have the melancholy courage to plunge into despair two persons full of
+goodness and generosity?"
+
+"Only two?  The jest would be complete, if you were to reckon three: you,
+sir, and my aunt, and Abbe d'Aigrigny; for these are no doubt the
+generous persons in whose name you implore my pity."
+
+"No, madame; I speak neither of myself, nor of your aunt, nor of Abbe
+d'Aigrigny."
+
+"Of whom, then, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise.
+
+"Of two poor fellows, who, no doubt sent by those whom you call your
+friends, got into the neighboring convent the other night, and thence
+into this garden.  The guns which you heard go off were fired at them."
+
+"Alas! I thought so.  They refused to tell me if either of them was
+wounded," said Adrienne, with painful emotion.
+
+"One of them received a wound, but not very serious, since he was able to
+fly and escape pursuit."
+
+"Thank God!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, clasping her hands with fervor.
+
+"It is quite natural that you should rejoice at their escape, but by what
+strange contradiction do you now wish to put the officers of justice on
+their track?  A singular manner, truly, of rewarding their devotion!"
+
+"What do you say, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"For if they should be arrested," resumed Dr. Baleinier, without
+answering her, "as they have been guilty of housebreaking and attempted
+burglary, they would be sent to the galleys."
+
+"Heavens! and for my sake!"
+
+"Yes; it would be for you, and what is worse, by you, that they would be
+condemned."
+
+"By me, sir?"
+
+"Certainly; that is, if you follow up your vengeance against your aunt
+and Abbe d'Aigrigny--I do not speak of myself, for I am quite safe; in a
+word, if you persist in laying your complaint before the magistrates,
+that you have been unjustly confined in this house."
+
+"I do not understand you, sir.  Explain yourself," said Adrienne, with
+growing uneasiness.
+
+"Child that you are!" cried the Jesuit of the short robe, with an air of
+conviction; "do you think that if the law once takes cognizance of this
+affair, you can stop short its action where and when you please?  When
+you leave this house, you lodge a complaint against me and against your
+family; well, what happens?  The law interferes, inquires, calls
+witnesses, enters into the most minute investigations.  Then, what
+follows?  Why, that this nocturnal escalade, which the superior of the
+convent has some interest in hushing up, for fear of scandal--that this
+nocturnal attempt, I say, which I also would keep quiet, is necessarily
+divulged, and as it involves a serious crime, to which a heavy penalty is
+attached, the law will ferret into it, and find out these unfortunate
+men, and if, as is probable, they are detained in Paris by their duties
+or occupations, or even by a false security, arising from the honorable
+motives which they know to have actuated them, they will be arrested.
+And who will be the cause of this arrest?  You, by your deposition
+against us."
+
+"Oh, sir! that would be horrible; but it is impossible."
+
+"It is very possible, on the contrary," returned M. Baleinier: "so that,
+while I and the superior of the convent, who alone are really entitled to
+complain, only wish to keep quiet this unpleasant affair, it is you--you,
+for whom these unfortunate men have risked the galleys--that will deliver
+them up to justice."
+
+Though Mdlle. de Cardoville was not completely duped by the lay Jesuit,
+she guessed that the merciful intentions which he expressed with regard
+to Dagobert and his son, would be absolutely subordinate to the course
+she might take in pressing or abandoning the legitimate vengeance which
+she meant to claim of authority.  Indeed, Rodin, whose instructions the
+doctor was following without knowing it, was too cunning to have it said
+to Mdlle. de Cardoville: "If you attempt any proceedings, we denounce
+Dagobert and his son;" but he attained the same end, by inspiring
+Adrienne with fears on the subject of her two liberators, so as to
+prevent her taking any hostile measures.  Without knowing the exact law
+on the subject, Mdlle. de Cardoville had too much good sense not to
+understand that Dagobert and Agricola might be very seriously involved in
+consequence of their nocturnal adventure, and might even find themselves
+in a terrible position.  And yet, when she thought of all she had
+suffered in that house, and of all the just resentment she entertained in
+the bottom of her heart, Adrienne felt unwilling to renounce the stern
+pleasure of exposing such odious machinations to the light of day.  Dr.
+Baleinier watched with sullen attention her whom he considered his dupe,
+for he thought he could divine the cause of the silence and hesitation of
+Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"But, sir," resumed the latter, unable to conceal her anxiety, "if I were
+disposed, for whatever reason, to make no complaint, and to forget the
+wrongs I have suffered, when should I leave this place?"
+
+"I cannot tell; for I do not know when you will be radically cured," said
+the doctor, benignantly.  "You are in a very good way, but--"
+
+"Still this insolent and stupid acting!" broke forth Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, interrupting the doctor with indignation.  "I ask, and if it
+must be, I entreat you to tell me how long I am to be shut up in this
+dreadful house, for I shall leave it some day, I suppose?"
+
+"I hope so, certainly," said the Jesuit of the short robe, with unction;
+"but when, I am unable to say.  Moreover, I must tell you frankly, that
+every precaution is taken against such attempts as those of the other
+night; and the most vigorous watch will be maintained, to prevent your
+communicating with any one.  And all this in your own interest, that your
+poor head may not again be dangerously excited."
+
+"So, sir," said Adrienne, almost terrified, "compared with what awaits
+me, the last few days have been days of liberty."
+
+"Your interest before everything," answered the doctor, in a fervent
+tone.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville, feeling the impotence of her indignation and
+despair, heaved a deep sigh, and hid her face in her hands.
+
+At this moment, quick footsteps were heard in the passage, and one of the
+nurses entered, after having knocked at the door.
+
+"Sir," said she to the doctor, with a frightened air, "there are two
+gentlemen below, who wish to see you instantly, and the lady also."
+
+Adrienne raised her head hastily; her eyes were bathed in tears.
+
+"What are the names of these persons?" said M. Baleinier, much
+astonished.
+
+"One of them said to me," answered the nurse: "`Go and inform Dr.
+Baleinier that I am a magistrate, and that I come on a duty regarding
+Mdlle. de Cardoville.'"
+
+"A magistrate!" exclaimed the Jesuit of the short robe, growing purple in
+the face, and unable to hide his surprise and uneasiness.
+
+"Heaven be praised!" cried Adrienne, rising with vivacity, her
+countenance beaming through her tears with hope and joy; "my friends have
+been informed in time, and the hour of justice is arrived!"
+
+"Ask these persons to walk up," said Dr. Baleinier, after a moment's
+reflection.  Then, with a still more agitated expression of countenance,
+he approached Adrienne with a harsh, and almost menacing air, which
+contrasted with the habitual placidity of his hypocritical smile, and
+said to her in a low voice: "Take care, madame! do not rejoice too soon."
+
+"I no longer fear you," answered Mdlle. de Cardoville, with a bright,
+flashing eye.  "M. de Montbron is no doubt returned to Paris, and has
+been informed in time.  He accompanies the magistrate, and comes to
+deliver me.  I pity you, sir--both you and yours," added Adrienne, with
+an accent of bitter irony.
+
+"Madame," cried M. Baleinier, no longer able to dissemble his growing
+alarm, "I repeat to you, take care!  Remember what I have told you.  Your
+accusations would necessarily involve the discovery of what took place
+the other night.  Beware! the fate of the soldier and his son is in your
+hands.  Recollect they are in danger of the convict's chains."
+
+"Oh! I am not your dupe, sir.  You are holding out a covert menace.  Have
+at least the courage to say to me, that, if I complain to the
+magistrates, you will denounce the soldier and his son."
+
+"I repeat, that, if you make any complaint, those two people are lost,"
+answered the doctor, ambiguously.
+
+Startled by what was really dangerous in the doctor's threats, Adrienne
+asked: "Sir, if this magistrate questions me, do you think I will tell
+him a falsehood?"
+
+"You will answer what is true," said M. Baleinier, hastily, in the hope
+of still attaining his end.  "You will answer that you were in so excited
+a state of mind a few days ago, that it was thought advisable, for your
+own sake, to bring you hither, without your knowing it.  But you are now
+so much better, that you acknowledge the utility of the measures taken
+with regard to you.  I will confirm these words for, after all, it is the
+truth."
+
+"Never!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, with indignation, "never will I be
+the accomplice of so infamous a falsehood; never will I be base enough to
+justify the indignities that I have suffered!"
+
+"Here is the magistrate," said M. Baleinier, as he caught the sound of
+approaching footsteps.  "Beware!"
+
+The door opened, and, to the indescribable amazement of the doctor, Rodin
+appeared on the threshold, accompanied by a man dressed in black, with a
+dignified and severe countenance.  In the interest of his projects, and
+from motives of craft and prudence that will hereafter be known, Rodin
+had not informed Father d'Aigrigny, and consequently the doctor, of the
+unexpected visit he intended to pay to the asylum, accompanied by a
+magistrate.  On the contrary, he had only the day before given orders to
+M. Baleinier to confine Mdlle. de Cardoville still more strictly.
+Therefore, imagine the stupor of the doctor when he saw the judicial
+officer, whose unexpected presence and imposing aspect were otherwise
+sufficiently alarming, enter the room, accompanied by Rodin, Abbe
+d'Aigrigny's humble and obscure secretary.  From the door, Rodin, who was
+very shabbily dressed, as usual, pointed out Mdlle. de Cardoville to the
+magistrate, by a gesture at once respectful and compassionate.  Then,
+while the latter, who had not been able to repress a movement of
+admiration at sight of the rare beauty of Adrienne, seemed to examine her
+with as much surprise as interest, the Jesuit modestly receded several
+steps.
+
+Dr. Baleinier in his extreme astonishment, hoping to be understood by
+Rodin, made suddenly several private signals, as if to interrogate him on
+the cause of the magistrate's visit.  But this was only productive of
+fresh amazement to M. Baleinier; for Rodin did not appear to recognize
+him, or to understand his expressive pantomime, and looked at him with
+affected bewilderment.  At length, as the doctor, growing impatient,
+redoubled his mute questionings, Rodin advanced with a stride, stretched
+forward his crooked neck, and said, in a loud voice: "What is your
+pleasure, doctor?"
+
+These words, which completely disconcerted Baleinier, broke the silence
+which had reigned for some seconds, and the magistrate turned round.
+Rodin added, with imperturbable coolness: "Since our arrival, the doctor
+has been making all sorts of mysterious signs to me.  I suppose he has
+something private to communicate, but, as I have no secrets, I must beg
+him to speak out loud."
+
+This reply, so embarrassing for M.  Baleinier, uttered in a tone of
+aggression, and with an air of icy coldness, plunged the doctor into such
+new and deep amazement, that he remained for some moments without
+answering.  No doubt the magistrate was struck with this incident, and
+with the silence which followed it, for he cast a look of great severity
+on the doctor.  Mdlle. de Cardoville, who had expected to have seen M. de
+Montbron, was also singularly surprised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE ACCUSER.
+
+Baleinier, disconcerted for a moment by the unexpected presence of a
+magistrate, and by Rodin's inexplicable attitude, soon recovered his
+presence of mind, and addressing his colleague of the longer robe, said
+to him: "If I make signs to you, sir, it was that, while I wished to
+respect the silence which this gentleman"--glancing at the magistrate--
+"has preserved since his entrance, I desired to express my surprise at
+the unexpected honor of this visit."
+
+"It is to the lady that I will explain the reason for my silence, and beg
+her to excuse it," replied the magistrate, as he made a half-bow to
+Adrienne, whom he thus continued to address: "I have just received so
+serious a declaration with regard to you, madame, that I could not
+forbear looking at you for a moment in silence, to see if I could read in
+your countenance or in your attitude, the truth or falsehood of the
+accusation that has been placed in my hands; and I have every reason to
+believe that it is but too well founded."
+
+"May I at length be informed, sir," said Dr. Baleinier, in a polite but
+firm tone, "to whom I have the honor of speaking?"
+
+"Sir, I am juge d'instruction, and I have come to inform myself as to a
+fact which has been pointed out to me--"
+
+"Will you do me the honor to explain yourself, sir?" said the doctor,
+bowing.
+
+"Sir," resumed the magistrate, M. de Gernande, a man of about fifty years
+of age, full of firmness and straightforwardness, and knowing how to
+unite the austere duties of his position with benevolent politeness, "you
+are accused of having committed--a very great error, not to use a harsher
+expression.  As for the nature of that error, I prefer believing, sir,
+that you (a first rate man of science) may have been deceived in the
+calculation of a medical case, rather than suspect you of having
+forgotten all that is sacred in the exercise of a profession that is
+almost a priesthood."
+
+"When you specify the facts, sir," answered the Jesuit of the short robe,
+with a degree of haughtiness, "it will be easy for me to prove that my
+reputation as a man of science is no less free from reproach, than my
+conscience as a man of honor."
+
+"Madame," said M. de Gernande, addressing Adrienne, "is it true that you
+were conveyed to this house by stratagem?"
+
+"Sir," cried M. Baleinier, "permit me to observe, that the manner in
+which you open this question is an insult to me."
+
+"Sir, it is to the lady that I have the honor of addressing myself,"
+replied M. de Gernande, sternly; "and I am the sole judge of the
+propriety of my questions."
+
+Adrienne was about to answer affirmatively to the magistrate, when an
+expressive took from Dr. Baleinier reminded her that she would perhaps
+expose Dagobert and his son to cruel dangers.  It was no base and vulgar
+feeling of vengeance by which Adrienne was animated, but a legitimate
+indignation, inspired by odious hypocrisy.  She would have thought it
+cowardly not to unmask the criminals; but wishing to avoid compromising
+others, she said to the magistrate, with an accent full of mildness and
+dignity: "Permit me, sir, in my turn, rather to ask you a question."
+
+"Speak, madame."
+
+"Will the answer I make be considered a formal accusation?"
+
+"I have come hither, madame, to ascertain the truth, and no consideration
+should induce you to dissemble it."
+
+"So be it, sir," resumed Adrienne; "but suppose, having just causes of
+complaint, I lay them before you, in order to be allowed to leave this
+house, shall I afterwards be at liberty not to press the accusations I
+have made?"
+
+"You may abandon proceedings, madame, but the law will take up your case
+in the name of society, if its rights have been inured in your person."
+
+"Shall I then not be allowed to pardon?  Should I not be sufficiently
+avenged by a contemptuous forgetfulness of the wrongs I have suffered?"
+
+"Personally, madame, you may forgive and forget; but I have the honor to
+repeat to you, that society cannot show the same indulgence, if it should
+turn out that you have been the victim of a criminal machination--and I
+have every reason to fear it is so.  The manner in which you express
+yourself, the generosity of your sentiments, the calmness and dignity of
+your attitude, convince me that I have been well informed."
+
+"I hope, sir," said Dr. Baleinier, recovering his coolness, "that you
+will at least communicate the declaration that has been made to you."
+
+"It has been declared to me, sir," said the magistrate, in a stern voice,
+"that Mdlle. de Cardoville was brought here by stratagem."
+
+"By stratagem?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"It is true.  The lady was brought here by stratagem," answered the
+Jesuit of the short robe, after a moment's silence.
+
+"You confess it, then?" said M. de Gernande.
+
+"Certainly I do, sir.  I admit that I had recourse to means which we are
+unfortunately too often obliged to employ, when persons who most need our
+assistance are unconscious of their own sad state."
+
+"But, sir," replied the magistrate, "it has also been declared to me,
+that Mdlle. de Cardoville never required such aid."
+
+"That, sir, is a question of medical jurisprudence, which has to be
+examined and discussed," said M. Baleinier, recovering his assurance.
+
+"It will, indeed, sir, be seriously discussed; for you are accused of
+confining Mdlle. De Cardoville, while in the full possession of all her
+faculties."
+
+"And may I ask you for what purpose?" said M. de Baleinier, with a slight
+shrug of the shoulders, and in a tone of irony.  "What interest had I to
+commit such a crime, even admitting that my reputation did not place me
+above so odious and absurd a charge?"
+
+"You are said to have acted, sir, in furtherance of a family plot,
+devised against Mdlle. de Cardoville for a pecuniary motive."
+
+"And who has dared, sir, to make so calumnious a charge?" cried Dr.
+Baleinier, with indignant warmth.  "Who has had the audacity to accuse a
+respectable, and I dare to say, respected man, of having been the
+accomplice in such infamy?"
+
+"I," said Rodin, coldly.
+
+"You!" cried Dr. Baleinier, falling back two steps, as if thunderstruck.
+
+"Yes, I accuse you," repeated Rodin, in a clear sharp voice.
+
+"Yes, it was this gentleman who came to me this morning, with ample
+proofs, to demand my interference in favor of Mdlle. de Cardoville," said
+the magistrate, drawing back a little, to give Adrienne the opportunity
+of seeing her defender.
+
+Throughout this scene, Rodin's name had not hitherto been mentioned.
+Mdlle. de Cardoville had often heard speak of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's
+secretary in no very favorable terms; but, never having seen him, she did
+not know that her liberator was this very Jesuit.  She therefore looked
+towards him, with a glance in which were mingled curiosity, interest,
+surprise and gratitude.  Rodin's cadaverous countenance, his repulsive
+ugliness, his sordid dress, would a few days before have occasioned
+Adrienne a perhaps invincible feeling of disgust.  But the young lady,
+remembering how the sempstress, poor, feeble, deformed, and dressed
+almost in rags was endowed notwithstanding her wretched exterior, with
+one of the noblest and most admirable hearts, recalled this recollection
+in favor of the Jesuit.  She forgot that he was ugly and sordid, only to
+remember that he was old, that he seemed poor, and that he had come to
+her assistance.  Dr. Baleinier, notwithstanding his craft,
+notwithstanding his audacious hypocrisy, in spite even of his presence of
+mind, could not conceal how much he was disturbed by Rodin's
+denunciation.  His head became troubled as he remembered how, on the
+first day of Adrienne's confinement in this house, the implacable appeal
+of Rodin, through the hole in the door, had prevented him (Baleinier)
+from yielding to emotions of pity, inspired by the despair of this
+unfortunate young girl, driven almost to doubt of her own reason.  And
+yet it was this very Rodin, so cruel, so inexorable, the devoted agent of
+Father d'Aigrigny, who denounced him (Baleinier), and brought a
+magistrate to set Adrienne at liberty--when, only the day before, Father
+d'Aigrigny had ordered an increase of severity towards her!
+
+The lay Jesuit felt persuaded that Rodin was betraying Father d'Aigrigny
+in the most shameful manner, and that Mdlle. de Cardoville's friends had
+bribed and bought over this scoundrelly secretary.  Exasperated by what
+he considered a monstrous piece of treachery, the doctor exclaimed, in a
+voice broken with rage: "And it is you, sir, that have the impudence to
+accuse me--you, who only a few days ago--"
+
+Then, reflecting that the retort upon Rodin would be self-accusation, he
+appeared to give way to an excess of emotion, and resumed with
+bitterness: "Ah, sir, you are the last person that I should have thought
+capable of this odious denunciation.  It is shameful!"
+
+"And who had a better right than I to denounce this infamy?" answered
+Rodin, in a rude, overbearing tone.  "Was I not in a position to learn--
+unfortunately, too late--the nature of the conspiracy of which Mdlle. de
+Cardoville and others have been the victims?  Then, what was my duty as
+an honest man?  Why, to inform the magistrate, to prove what I set forth,
+and to accompany him hither.  That is what I have done."
+
+"So, sir," said the doctor, addressing the magistrate, "it is not only
+myself that this man accuses, but he dares also--"
+
+"I accuse the Abbe d'Aigrigny," resumed Rodin, in a still louder and more
+imperative tone, interrupting the doctor, "I accuse the Princess de
+Saint-Dizier, I accuse you, sir--of having, from a vile motive of self-
+interest, confined Mdlle. de Cardoville in this house, and the two
+daughters of Marshal Simon in the neighboring convent.  Is that clear?"
+
+"Alas! it is only too true," said Adrienne, hastily.  "I have seen those
+poor children all in tears, making signs of distress to me."
+
+The accusation of Rodin, with regard to the orphans, was a new and
+fearful blow for Dr. Baleinier.  He felt perfectly convinced that the
+traitor had passed clear over to the enemy's camp.  Wishing therefore to
+put an end to this embarrassing scene, he tried to put a good face on the
+matter, in spite of his emotion, and said to the magistrate:
+
+"I might confine myself, sir, to silence--disdaining to answer such
+accusations, till a judicial decision had given them some kind of
+authority.  But, strong in a good conscience I address myself to Mdlle.
+de Cardoville, and I beg her to say if this very morning I did not inform
+her, that her health would soon be sufficiently restored to allow her to
+leave this house.  I conjure her, in the name of her well-known love of
+truth to state if such was not my language, when I was alone with her--"
+
+"Come, sir!" said Rodin, interrupting Baleinier with an insolent air;
+"suppose that, from pure generosity, this dear young lady were to admit
+as much--what will it prove in your favor?--why, nothing at all."
+
+"What, sir," cried the doctor, "do you presume -"
+
+"I presume to unmask you, without asking your leave.  What have you just
+told us?  Why, that being alone with Mdlle. de Cardoville, you talked to
+her as if she were really mad.  How very conclusive!"
+
+"But, sir--" cried the doctor.
+
+"But, sir," resumed Rodin, without allowing him to continue, "it is
+evident that, foreseeing the possibility of what has occurred to-day,
+and, to provide yourself with a hole to creep out at, you have pretended
+to believe your own execrable falsehood, in presence of this poor young
+lady, that you might afterwards call in aid the evidence of your own
+assumed conviction.  Come, sir! such stories will not go down with people
+of common sense or common humanity."
+
+"Come now, sir!" exclaimed Baleinier, angrily.
+
+"Well, sir," resumed Rodin, in a still louder voice, which completely
+drowned that of the doctor; "is it true, or is it not, that you have
+recourse to the mean evasion of ascribing this odious imprisonment to a
+scientific error?  I affirm that you do so, and that you think yourself
+safe, because you can now say: `Thanks to my care, the young lady has
+recovered her reason.  What more would you have?'"
+
+"Yes, I do say that, sir, and I maintain it."
+
+"You maintain a falsehood; for it is proven that the lady never lost her
+reason for a moment."
+
+"But I, sir, maintain that she did lose it."
+
+"And I, sir, will prove the contrary," said Rodin.
+
+"You?  How will you do that?" cried the doctor.
+
+"That I shall take care not to tell you at present, as you may well
+suppose," answered Rodin, with an ironical smile, adding with
+indignation: "But, really, sir, you ought to die for shame, to dare to
+raise such a question in presence of the lady.  You should at least have
+spared her this discussion."
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"Oh, fie, sir!  I say, fie!  It is odious to maintain this argument
+before her--odious if you speak truth, doubly odious if you lie," said
+Rodin, with disgust.
+
+"This violence is inconceivable!" cried the Jesuit of the short robe,
+exasperated; "and I think the magistrate shows great partiality in
+allowing such gross calumnies to be heaped upon me!"
+
+"Sir," answered M. de Gernande, severely, "I am entitled not only to
+hear, but to provoke any contradictory discussion that may enlighten me
+in the execution of my duty; it results from all this, that, even in your
+opinion, sir, Mdlle. de Cardoville's health is sufficiently good to allow
+her to return home immediately."
+
+"At least, I do not see any very serious inconvenience likely to arise
+from it, sir," said the doctor: "only I maintain that the cure is not so
+complete as it might have been, and, on this subject, I decline all
+responsibility for the future."
+
+"You can do so, safely," said Rodin; "it is not likely that the young
+lady will ever again have recourse to your honest assistance."
+
+"It is useless, therefore, to employ my official authority, to demand the
+immediate liberation of Mdlle. de Cardoville," said the magistrate.
+
+"She is free," said Baleinier, "perfectly free."
+
+"As for the question whether you have imprisoned her on the plea of a
+suppositious madness, the law will inquire into it, sir, and you will be
+heard."
+
+"I am quite easy, sir," answered M. Baleinier, trying to look so; "my
+conscience reproaches me with nothing."
+
+"I hope it may turn out well, sir," said M. de Gernande.  "However bad
+appearances may be, more especially when persons of your station in
+society are concerned, we should always wish to be convinced of their
+innocence."  Then, turning to Adrienne, he added: "I understand, madame,
+how painful this scene must be to all your feelings of delicacy and
+generosity; hereafter, it will depend upon yourself, either to proceed
+for damages against M. Baleinier, or to let the law take its course.  One
+word more.  The bold and upright man"--here the magistrate pointed to
+Rodin--"who has taken up your cause in so frank and disinterested a
+manner, expressed a belief that you would, perhaps, take charge for the
+present of Marshal Simon's daughters, whose liberation I am about to
+demand from the convent where they also are confined by stratagem."
+
+"The fact is, sir," replied Adrienne, "that, as soon as I learned the
+arrival of Marshal Simon's daughters in Paris, my intention was to offer
+them apartments in my house.  These young ladies are my near relations.
+It is at once a duty and a pleasure for me to treat them as sisters.  I
+shall, therefore, be doubly grateful to you, sir, if you will trust them
+to my care."
+
+"I think that I cannot serve them better," answered M. de Gernande.
+Then, addressing Baleinier, he added, "Will you consent, sir, to my
+bringing these two ladies hither?  I will go and fetch them, while Mdlle.
+de Cardoville prepares for her departure.  They will then be able to
+leave this house with their relation."
+
+"I entreat the lady to make use of this house as her own, until she
+leaves it," replied M. Baleinier.  "My carriage shall be at her orders to
+take her home."
+
+"Madame," said the magistrate, approaching Adrienne, "without prejudging
+the question, which must soon be decided by, a court of law, I may at
+least regret that I was not called in sooner.  Your situation must have
+been a very cruel one."
+
+"There will at least remain to me, sir, from this mournful time," said
+Adrienne, with graceful dignity, "one precious and touching remembrance--
+that of the interest which you have shown me.  I hope that you will one
+day permit me to thank you, at my own home, not for the justice you have
+done me, but for the benevolent and paternal manner in which you have
+done it.  And moreover, sir," added Mdlle. de Cardoville, with a sweet
+smile, "I should like to prove to you, that what they call my cure is
+complete."
+
+M. de Gernande bowed respectfully in reply.  During the abort dialogue of
+the magistrate with Adrienne, their backs were both turned to Baleinier
+and Rodin.  The latter, profiting by this moment's opportunity, hastily
+slipped into the doctor's hand a note just written with a pencil in the
+bottom of his hat.  Baleinier looked at Rodin in stupefied amazement.
+But the latter made a peculiar sign, by raising his thumb to his
+forehead, and drawing it twice across his brow.  Then he remained
+impassible.  This had passed so rapidly, that when M. de Gernande turned
+round, Rodin was at a distance of several steps from Dr. Baleinier, and
+looking at Mdlle. de Cardoville with respectful interest.
+
+"Permit me to accompany you, sir," said the doctor, preceding the
+magistrate, whom Mdlle. de Cardoville saluted with much affability.  Then
+both went out, and Rodin remained alone with the young lady.
+
+After conducting M. de Gernande to the outer door of the house, M.
+Baleinier made haste to read the pencil-note written by Rodin; it ran as
+follows: "The magistrate is going to the convent, by way of the street.
+Run round by the garden, and tell the Superior to obey the order I have
+given with regard to the two young girls.  It is of the utmost
+importance."
+
+The peculiar sign which Rodin had made, and the tenor of this note,
+proved to Dr. Baleinier, who was passing from surprise to amazement, that
+the secretary, far from betraying the reverend father, was still acting
+for the Greater Glory of the Lord.  However, whilst he obeyed the orders,
+M. Baleinier sought in vain to penetrate the motives of Rodin's
+inexplicable conduct, who had himself informed the authorities of an
+affair that was to have been hushed up, and that might have the most
+disastrous consequences for Father d'Aigrigny, Madame de Saint-Dizier,
+and Baleinier himself.  But let us return to Rodin, left alone with
+Mdlle, de Cardoville.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+FATHER D'AIGRIGNY'S SECRETARY.
+
+Hardly had the magistrate and Dr. Baleinier disappeared, than Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, whose countenance was beaming with joy, exclaimed, as she
+looked at Rodin with a mixture of respect and gratitude, "At length,
+thanks to you, sir, I am free--free!  Oh, I had never before felt how
+much happiness, expansion, delight, there is in that adorable word--
+liberty!"
+
+Her bosom rose and fell, her rosy nostrils dilated, her vermilion lips
+were half open, as if she again inhaled with rapture pure and vivifying
+air.
+
+"I have been only a few days in this horrible place," she resumed, "but I
+have suffered enough from my captivity to make me resolve never to let a
+year pass without restoring to liberty some poor prisoners for debt.
+This vow no doubt appears to belong a little to the Middle Ages," added
+she, with a smile; "but I would fain borrow from that noble epoch
+something more than its old windows and furniture.  So, doubly thanks,
+sir!--for I take you as a partner in that project of deliverance, which
+has just (you see) unfolded itself in the midst of the happiness I owe to
+you, and by which you seem so much affected.  Oh! let my joy speak my
+gratitude, and pay you for your generous aid!" exclaimed the young girl
+with enthusiasm.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville had truly remarked a complete transfiguration in the
+countenance of Rodin.  This man, lately so harsh, severe, inflexible,
+with regard to Dr. Baleinier, appeared now under the influence of the
+mildest and most tender sentiments.  His little, half-veiled eyes were
+fixed upon Adrienne with an expression of ineffable interest.  Then, as
+if he wished to tear himself from these impressions, he said, speaking to
+himself, "Come, come, no weakness.  Time is too precious; my mission is
+not fulfilled.  My dear young lady," added he, addressing himself to
+Adrienne, "believe what I say--we will talk hereafter of gratitude--but
+we have now to talk of the present so important for you and your family.
+Do you know what is taking place?"
+
+Adrienne looked at the Jesuit with surprise, and said, "What is taking
+place, sir?"
+
+"Do you know the real motive of your imprisonment in this house?  Do you
+know what influenced the Princess de Saint-Dizier and Abbe d'Aigrigny?"
+
+At the sound of those detested names, Mdlle. de Cardoville's face, now so
+full of happiness, became suddenly sad, and she answered with bitterness,
+"It is hatred, sir, that no doubt animated Madame de Saint-Dizier against
+me."
+
+"Yes, hatred; and, moreover, the desire to rob you with impunity of an
+immense fortune."
+
+"Me, sir! how?"
+
+"You must be ignorant, my dear young lady, of the interest you had to be
+in the Rue Saint-Francois on the 13th February, for an inheritance?"
+
+"I was ignorant, sir, of the date and details: but I knew by some family
+papers, and thanks to an extraordinary circumstance, that one of our
+ancestors--"
+
+"Had left an enormous sum to be divided between his descendants; is it
+not so?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"But what unfortunately you did not know, my dear young lady, was that
+the heirs were all bound to be present at a certain hour on the 13th
+February.  This day and hour once past, the absent would forfeit their
+claim.  Do you now understand why you have been imprisoned here, my dear
+young lady?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I understand it," cried Mdlle. de Cardoville; "cupidity was
+added to the hatred which my aunt felt for me.  All is explained.
+Marshal Simon's daughters, having the same right as I had have, like me,
+been imprisoned."
+
+"And yet," cried Rodin, "you and they were not the only victims."
+
+"Who, then, are the others, sir?"
+
+"A young East Indian."
+
+"Prince Djalma?" said Adrienne, hastily.
+
+"For the same reason he has been nearly poisoned with a narcotic."
+
+"Great God!" cried the young girl, clasping her hands in horror.  "It is
+fearful.  That young prince, who was said to have so noble and generous a
+character!  But I had sent to Cardoville Castle--"
+
+"A confidential person, to fetch the prince to Paris--I know it, my dear
+young lady; but, by means of a trick, your friend was got out of the way,
+and the young Oriental delivered to his enemies."
+
+"And where is he now?"
+
+"I have only vague information on the subject.  I know that he is in
+Paris, and do not despair of finding him.  I shall pursue my researches
+with an almost paternal ardor, for we cannot too much love the rare
+qualities of that poor king's son.  What a heart, my dear young lady!
+what a heart!  Oh, it is a heart of gold, pure and bright as the gold of
+his country!"
+
+"We must find the prince, sir," said Adrienne with emotion; "let me
+entreat you to neglect nothing for that end.  He is my relation--alone
+here--without support--without assistance."
+
+"Certainly," replied Rodin, with commiseration.  "Poor boy!--for he is
+almost a boy--eighteen or nineteen years of age--thrown into the heart of
+Paris, of this hell--with his fresh, ardent, half-savage passions--with
+his simplicity and confidence--to what perils may he not be exposed?"
+
+"Well, we must first find him, sir," said Adrienne, hastily; "and then we
+will save him from these dangers.  Before I was confined here, I learned
+his arrival in France, and sent a confidential person to offer him the
+services of an unknown friend.  I now see that this mad idea, with which
+I have been so much reproached, was a very sensible one.  I am more
+convinced of it than ever.  The prince belongs to my family, and I owe
+him a generous hospitality.  I had destined for him the lodge I occupied
+at my aunt's."
+
+"And you, my dear young lady?"
+
+"To-day, I shall remove to a house, which I had prepared some time ago,
+with the determination of quitting Madame de Saint-Dizier, and living
+alone as I pleased.  Then, sir, as you seem bent upon being the good
+genius of our family, be as generous with regard to Prince Djalma, as you
+have been to me and Marshal Simon's daughters.  I entreat you to discover
+the hiding-place of this poor king's son, as you call him; keep my secret
+for me, and conduct him to the house offered by the unknown friend.  Let
+him not disquiet himself about anything; all his wants shall be provided
+for; he shall live--like a prince."
+
+"Yes; he will indeed live like a prince, thanks to your royal
+munificence.  But never was such kind interest better deserved.  It is
+enough to see (as I have seen) his fine, melancholy countenance--"
+
+"You have seen him, then, sir?" said Adrienne, interrupting Rodin.
+
+"Yes, my dear young lady; I was with him for about two hours.  It was
+quite enough to judge of him.  His charming features are the mirror of
+his soul."
+
+"And where did you see him, sir?"
+
+"At your old Chateau de Cardoville, my dear young lady, near which he had
+been shipwrecked in a storm, and whither I had gone to--" Rodin hesitated
+for a moment, and then, as if yielding to the frankness of his
+disposition, added: "Whither I had gone to commit a bad action--a
+shameful, miserable action, I must confess!"
+
+"You, sir?--at Cardoville House--to commit a bad action?" cried Adrienne,
+much surprised.
+
+"Alas! yes, my dear young lady," answered Rodin with simplicity.  "In one
+word, I had orders from Abbe d'Aigrigny, to place your former bailiff in
+the alternative either of losing his situation or lending himself to a
+mean action--something, in fact, that resembled spying and calumny; but
+the honest, worthy man refused."
+
+"Why, who are you, sir?" said Mdlle. de Cardoville, more and more
+astonished.
+
+"I am Rodin, lately secretary of the Abbe d'Aigrigny--a person of very
+little importance, as you see."
+
+It is impossible to describe the accent, at once humble and ingenuous, of
+the Jesuit, as he pronounced these words, which he accompanied with a
+respectful bow.  On this revelation, Mdlle. de Cardoville drew back
+abruptly.  We have said that Adrienne had sometimes heard talk of Rodin,
+the humble secretary of the Abbe d'Aigrigny, as a sort of obedient and
+passive machine.  That was not all; the bailiff of Cardoville Manor,
+writing to Adrienne on the subject of Prince Djalma, had complained of
+the perfidious and dishonest propositions of Rodin.  She felt, therefore,
+a vague suspicion, when she heard that her liberator was the man who had
+played so odious a part.  Yet this unfavorable feeling was balanced by
+the sense of what she owed to Rodin, and by his frank denunciation of
+Abbe d'Aigrigny before the magistrate.  And then the Jesuit, by his own
+confession, had anticipated, as it were, the reproaches that might have
+been addressed to him.  Still, it was with a kind of cold reserve that
+Mdlle. de Cardoville resumed this dialogue, which she had commenced with
+as much frankness as warmth and sympathy.
+
+Rodin perceived the impression he had made.  He expected it.  He was not
+the least disconcerted when Mdlle. de Cardoville said to him, as she
+fixed upon him a piercing glance, "Ah! you are M. Rodin--secretary to the
+Abbe d'Aigrigny?"
+
+"Say ex-secretary, if you please, my dear young lady," answered the
+Jesuit; "for you see clearly that I can never again enter the house of
+the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  I have made of him an implacable enemy, and I am
+now without employment--but no matter--nay, so much the better--since, at
+this price, the wicked are unmasked, and honest people rescued."
+
+These words, spoken with much simplicity, and dignity, revived a feeling
+of pity in Adrienne's heart.  She thought within herself that, after all,
+the poor old man spoke the truth.  Abbe d'Aigrigny's hate, after this
+exposure, would be inexorable, and Rodin had braved it for the sake of a
+generous action.
+
+Still Mdlle. de Cardoville answered coldly, "Since you knew, sir, that
+the propositions you were charged to make to the bailiff of Cardoville
+were shameful and perfidious, how could you undertake the mission?"
+
+"How?" replied Rodin, with a sort of painful impatience; "why, because I
+was completely under Abbe d'Aigrigny's charm, one of the most
+prodigiously clever men I have ever known, and, as I only discovered the
+day before yesterday, one of the most prodigiously dangerous men there is
+in the world.  He had conquered my scruples, by persuading me that the
+End justifies the Means.  I must confess that the end he seemed to
+propose to himself was great and beautiful; but the day before yesterday
+I was cruelly undeceived.  I was awakened, as it were, by a thunder-peal.
+Oh, my dear young lady!" added Rodin, with a sort of embarrassment and
+confusion, "let us talk no more of my fatal journey to Cardoville.
+Though I was only an ignorant and blind instrument, I feel as ashamed and
+grieved at it as if I had acted for myself.  It weighs upon me, it
+oppresses me.  I entreat you, let us speak rather of yourself, and of
+what interests you--for the soul expands with generous thoughts, even as
+the breast is dilated in pure and healthful air."
+
+Rodin had confessed his fault so spontaneously, he explained it so
+naturally, he appeared to regret it so sincerely, that Adrienne, whose
+suspicions had no other grounds, felt her distrust a good deal
+diminished.
+
+"So," she resumed, still looking attentively at Rodin, "it was at
+Cardoville that you saw Prince Djalma?"
+
+"Yes, madame; and my affection for him dates from that interview.
+Therefore I will accomplish my task.  Be satisfied, my dear young lady;
+like you, like Marshal Simon's daughters, the prince shall avoid being
+the victim of this detestable plot, which unhappily does not stop there."
+
+"And who besides, then, is threatened?"
+
+"M. Hardy, a man full of honor and probity, who is also your relation,
+and interested in this inheritance, but kept away from Paris by infamous
+treachery.  And another heir, an unfortunate artisan, who falling into a
+trap cleverly baited, has been thrown into a prison for debt."
+
+"But, sir," said Adrienne, suddenly, "for whose advantage was this
+abominable plot, which really alarms me, first devised?"
+
+"For the advantage of Abbe d'Aigrigny," answered Rodin.
+
+"How, and by what right!  Was he also an heir?"
+
+"It would take too long to explain it to you, my dear young lady.  You
+will know all one day.  Only be convinced that your family has no more
+bitter enemy that Abbe d'Aigrigny."
+
+"Sir," said Adrienne, giving way to one last suspicion, "I will speak
+frankly to you.  How can I have deserved the interest that you seem to
+take in me, and that you even extend to all the members of my family?"
+
+"My dear young lady," answered Rodin, with a smile, "were I to tell you
+the cause, you would only laugh at, or misapprehend me."
+
+"Speak, I beg of you, sir.  Do not mistrust me or yourself."
+
+"Well, then, I became interested in you--devoted to you--because your
+heart is generous, your mind lofty, your character independent and proud.
+Once attached to you, those of your race, who are indeed themselves
+worthy of interest, were no longer indifferent to me.  To serve them was
+to serve you also."
+
+"But, sir--admitting that you suppose me worthy of the too flattering
+praises you bestow upon me--how could you judge of my heart, my mind, my
+character?"
+
+"I will tell you, my dear young lady; but first I must make another
+confession, that fills me with shame.  If you were not even so
+wonderfully endowed, what you have suffered in this house should suffice
+to command the interest of every honest man--don't you think so?"
+
+"I do think it should, sir."
+
+"I might thus explain the interest I feel in you.  But no--I confess it--
+that would not have sufficed with me.  Had you been only Mdlle. de
+Cardoville--a rich, noble, beautiful young lady--I should doubtless have
+pitied your misfortune; but I should have said to myself, 'This poor
+young lady is certainly much to be pitied; but what can I, poor man, do
+in it?  My only resource is my post of secretary to the Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+and he would be the first that must be attacked.  He is all-powerful, and
+I am nothing.  To engage in a struggle with him would be to ruin myself,
+without the hope of saving this unfortunate person.' But when I learnt
+what you were, my dear young lady, I revolted, in spite of my
+inferiority.  `No,' I said, `a thousand times, no!  So fine an intellect,
+so great a heart, shall not be the victims of an abominable plot.  I may
+perish in the struggle, but I will at least make the attempt.'"
+
+No words can paint the mixture of delicacy, energy, and sensibility with
+which Rodin uttered these sentiments.  As it often happens with people
+singularly repulsive and ill-favored, if they can once bring you to
+forget their ugliness, their very deformity becomes a source of interest
+and commiseration, and you say to yourself, "What a pity that such a
+mind, such a soul, should inhabit so poor a body!"--and you are touched
+and softened by the contrast.
+
+It was thus that Mdlle. de Cardoville began to look upon Rodin.  He had
+shown himself as simple and affectionate towards her as he had been
+brutal and insolent to Dr. Baleinier.  One thing only excited the lively
+curiosity of Mdlle. de Cardoville--she wished to know how Rodin had
+conceived the devotion and admiration which she seemed to inspire.
+
+"Forgive my indiscreet and obstinate curiosity, sir, but I wish to know--"
+
+"How you were morally revealed to me--is it not so?  Oh, my dear young
+lady! nothing is more simple.  I will explain it to you in two words.
+The Abbe d'Aigrigny saw in me nothing but a writing-machine, an obtuse,
+mute, blind instrument--"
+
+"I thought M. d'Aigrigny had more penetration."
+
+"And you are right, my dear young lady; he is a man of unparalleled
+sagacity; but I deceived him by affecting more than simplicity.  Do not,
+therefore, think me false.  No; I am proud in my manner--and my pride
+consists in never appearing above my position, however subaltern it may
+be!  Do you know why?  It is that, however haughty may be my superiors, I
+can say to myself, `They do not know my value.  It is the inferiority of
+my condition, not me, that they humiliate.' By this I gain doubly--my
+self-love is spared, and I hate no one."
+
+"Yes, I understand that sort of pride," said Adrienne, more and more
+struck with Rodin's original turn of mind.
+
+"But let us return to what concerns you, my dear young lady.  On the eve
+of the 13th of February, the Abbe d'Aigrigny delivered to me a paper in
+shorthand, and said to me, `Transcribe this examination; you may add that
+it is to support the decision of a family council, which has declared, in
+accordance with the report of Dr. Baleinier, the state of mind of Mdlle.
+de Cardoville to be sufficiently alarming to render it necessary to
+confine her in a lunatic asylum.'"
+
+"Yes," said Adrienne, with bitterness; "it related to a long interview,
+which I had with the Princess de Saint-Dizier, my aunt, and which was
+taken down without my knowledge."
+
+Behold me, then, poring over my shorthand report, and beginning to
+transcribe it.  At the end of the first ten lines, I was struck with
+stupor.  I knew not if I were awake or dreaming.  `What! mad?'  They must
+be themselves insane who dare assert so monstrous a proposition!--More
+and more interested, I continued my reading--I finished it--Oh! then,
+what shall I say?  What I felt, my dear young lady, it is impossible to
+express.  It was sympathy, delight, enthusiasm!"
+
+"Sir," said Adrienne.
+
+"Yes, my dear young lady, enthusiasm!  Let not the words shock your
+modesty.  Know that these ideas, so new, so independent, so courageous
+which you expressed to your aunt with so much brilliancy, are, without
+your being aware of it, common to you and another person, for whom you
+will one day feel the most tender and religious respect."
+
+"Of whom do you speak, sir?" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, more and more
+interested.
+
+After a moment's apparent hesitation, Rodin resumed, "No, no--it is
+useless now to inform you of it.  All I can tell you, my dear young lady,
+is that, when I had finished my reading, I ran to Abbe d'Aigrigny's, to
+convince him of the error into which he had fallen with regard to you.
+It was impossible then to find him; but yesterday morning I told him
+plainly what I thought.  He only appeared surprised to find that I could
+think at all.  He received my communications with contemptuous silence.
+I thought him deceived; I continued my remonstrances, but quite in vain.
+He ordered me to follow him to the house, where the testament of your
+ancestor was to be opened.  I was so blind with regard to the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, that it required the successive arrivals of the soldier, of
+his son, and of Marshal Simon's father, to open my eyes thoroughly.
+Their indignation unveiled to me the extent of a conspiracy, plotted long
+ago, and carried on with terrible ability.  Then, I understood why you
+were confined here as a lunatic; why the daughters of Marshal Simon were
+imprisoned in a convent.  Then a thousand recollections returned to my
+mind; fragments of letters and statements, which had been given me to
+copy or decipher, and of which I had never been able to find the
+explanation, put me on the track of this odious machination.  To express
+then and there the sudden horror I felt at these crimes, would have been
+to ruin all.  I did not make this mistake.  I opposed cunning to cunning;
+I appeared even more eager than Abbe d'Aigrigny.  Had this immense
+inheritance been destined for me alone, I could not have shown myself
+more grasping and merciless.  Thanks to this stratagem, Abbe d'Aigrigny
+had no suspicion.  A providential accident having rescued the inheritance
+from his hands, he left the house in a state of profound consternation.
+For my part, I felt indescribable joy; for I had now the means of saving
+and avenging you, my dear young lady.  As usual, I went yesterday evening
+to my place of business.  During the absence of the abbe, it was easy for
+me to peruse the correspondence relative to the inheritance.  In this way
+I was able to unite all the threads of this immense plot.  Oh! then, my
+dear young lady, I remained, struck with horror, in presence of the
+discoveries that I made, and that I never should have made under any
+other circumstances."
+
+"What discoveries, sir?"
+
+"There are some secrets which are terrible to those who possess them.  Do
+not ask me to explain, my dear young lady; but, in this examination, the
+league formed against you and your relations, from motives of insatiable
+cupidity, appeared to me in all its dark audacity.  Thereupon, the lively
+and deep interest which I already felt for you, my dear young lady, was
+augmented greatly, and extended itself to the other innocent victims of
+this infernal conspiracy.  In spite of my weakness, I determined to risk
+all, to unmask the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  I collected the necessary proofs, to
+give my declaration before the magistrate the needful authority; and,
+this morning, I left the abbe's house without revealing to him my
+projects.  He might have employed some violent method to detain me; yet
+it would have been cowardly to attack him without warning.  Once out of
+his house, I wrote to him, that I had in my hands proof enough of his
+crimes, to attack him openly in the face of day.  I would accuse, and he
+must defend himself.  I went directly to a magistrate, and you know the
+rest."
+
+At this juncture, the door opened, and one of the nurses appeared, and
+said to Rodin: "Sir, the messenger that you and the magistrate sent to
+the Rue Brise-Miche has just come back."
+
+"Has he left the letter?"
+
+"Yes, sir; and it was taken upstairs directly."
+
+"Very well.  Leave us!"  The nurse went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+SYMPATHY.
+
+If it had been possible for Mdlle. de Cardoville to harbor any suspicion
+of the sincerity of Rodin's devotion, it must have given way before this
+reasoning, unfortunately so simple and undeniable.  How could she suppose
+the faintest complicity between the Abbe d'Aigrigny and his secretary,
+when it was the latter who completely unveiled the machinations of his
+master, and exposed them to the tribunals? when in this, Rodin went even
+further than Mdlle. de Cardoville would herself have gone?  Of what
+secret design could she suspect the Jesuit?  At worst, of a desire to
+earn by his services the profitable patronage of the young lady.
+
+And then, had he not just now protested against this supposition, by
+declaring his devotion, not to Mdlle. de Cardoville--not to the fair,
+rich, noble lady--but to the high-souled and generous girl?  Finally, as
+Rodin had said himself, could any but a miserable wretch fail to be
+interested in Adrienne's fate?  A strange mixture of curiosity, surprise,
+and interest, was joined with Mdlle. de Cardoville's feelings of
+gratitude towards Rodin.  Yet, as she recognized the superior mind under
+that humble exterior, she was suddenly struck with a grave suspicion.
+"Sir," said she to Rodin, "I always confess to the persons I esteem the
+doubts they may have inspired, so that they may justify themselves, and
+excuse me, if I am wrong."
+
+Rodin looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise, as if mentally
+calculating the suspicions than she might entertain, and replied, after a
+moment's silence: "You are perhaps thinking of my journey to Cardoville,
+of my base proposals to your good and worthy bailiff?  Oh! if you--"
+
+"No, no, sir," said Adrienne, interrupting him; "you made that confession
+spontaneously, and I quite understand, that, blinded with regard to M.
+d'Aigrigny, you passively executed instructions repugnant to your
+delicacy.  But how comes it, that, with your incontestable merits, you
+have so long; occupied so mean a position in his service?"
+
+"It is true," said Rodin, with a smile; "that must impress you
+unfavorably, my dear young lady; for a man of any capacity, who remains
+long in an inferior condition, has evidently some radical vice, some bad
+or base passion--"
+
+"It is generally true, sir."
+
+"And personally true--with regard to myself."
+
+"What, sir! do you make this avowal?"
+
+"Alas!  I confess that I have a bad passion, to which, for forty years, I
+have sacrificed all chances of attaining to a better position."
+
+"And this passion, sir?"
+
+"Since I must make the unpleasant avowal, this passion is indolence--yes,
+indolence--the horror of all activity of mind, of all moral
+responsibility, of taking the lead in anything.  With the twelve hundred
+francs that Abbe d'Aigrigny gave me, I was the happiest man in the world;
+I trusted to the nobleness of his views; his thoughts became mine, his
+wishes mine.  My work once finished, I returned to my poor little
+chamber, I lighted my fire, I dined on vegetables--then, taking up some
+book of philosophy, little known, and dreaming over it, I gave free
+course to my imagination, which, restrained all the day long, carried me
+through numberless theories to a delicious Utopia.  Then, from the
+eminences of my intelligence, lifted up Lord knows whither, by the
+audacity of my thoughts, I seemed to look down upon my master, and upon
+the great men of the earth.  This fever lasted for three or four hours,
+after which I had a good sleep; and, the next morning, I went lightly to
+my work, secure of my daily bread, without cares for the future, living
+content with little, waiting with impatience for the delights of my
+solitary evening, and saying to myself as I went on writing like a stupid
+machine: `And yet--and yet--if I chose!'--"
+
+"Doubtless, you could, like others, surer than others, have reached a
+higher position," said Adrienne, greatly struck with Rodin's practical
+philosophy.
+
+"Yes, I think I could have done so; but for what purpose?--You see, my
+dear young lady, what often renders people of some merit puzzles to the
+vulgar, is that they are frequently content to say: 'If I chose!'"
+
+"But, sir, without attaching much importance to the luxuries of life,
+there is a certain degree of comfort, which age renders almost
+indispensable, and which you seem to have utterly renounced."
+
+"Undeceive yourself, if you please, my dear young lady," said Rodin, with
+a playful smile.  "I am a true Sybarite; I require absolutely warm
+clothes, a good stove, a soft mattress, a good piece of bread, a fresh
+radish, flavored with good cheap salt, and some good, clear water; and,
+notwithstanding this complication of wants, my twelve hundred francs have
+always more than sufficed, for I have been able to make some little
+savings."
+
+"But now that you are without employment, how will you manage to live,
+sir?" said Adrienne, more and more interested by the singularities of
+this man, and wishing to put his disinterestedness to the proof.
+
+"I have laid by a little, which will serve me till I have unravelled the
+last thread of Father d'Aigrigny's dark designs.  I owe myself this
+reparation, for having been his dupe; three or four days, I hope, will
+complete the work.  After that, I have the certainty of meeting with a
+situation, in my native province, under a collector of taxes: some time
+ago, the offer was made me by a friend; but then I would not leave Father
+d'Aigrigny, notwithstanding the advantages proposed.  Fancy, my dear
+young lady--eight hundred francs, with board and lodging!  As I am a
+little of the roughest, I should have preferred lodging apart; but, as
+they give me so much, I must submit to this little inconvenience."
+
+Nothing could exceed Rodin's ingenuity, in making these little household
+confidences (so abominably false) to Mdlle. de Cardoville, who felt her
+last suspicions give way.
+
+"What, sir?" said she to the Jesuit, with interest; "in three or four
+days, you mean to quit Paris?"
+
+"I hope to do so, my dear young lady; and that," added he, in a
+mysterious tone, "and that for many reasons.  But what would be very
+precious to me," he resumed, in a serious voice, as he looked at Adrienne
+with emotion, "would be to carry with me the conviction, that you did me
+the justice to believe, that, on merely reading your interview with the
+Princess de Saint-Dizier, I recognized at once qualities quite unexampled
+in our day, in a young person of your age and condition."
+
+"Ah, sir!" said Adrienne, with a smile, "do not think yourself obliged to
+return so soon the sincere praises that I bestowed on your superiority of
+mind.  I should be better pleased with ingratitude."
+
+"Oh, no!  I do not flatter you, my dear young lady.  Why should I?  We
+may probably never meet again.  I do not flatter you; I understand you--
+that's all--and what will seem strange to you, is, that your appearance
+complete, the idea which I had already formed of you, my dear young lady,
+in reading your interview with your aunt: and some parts of your
+character, hitherto obscure to me, are now fully displayed."
+
+"Really, sir, you astonish me more and more."
+
+"I can't help it!  I merely describe my impressions.  I can now explain
+perfectly, for example, your passionate love of the beautiful, your eager
+worship of the refinements of the senses, your ardent aspirations for a
+better state of things, your courageous contempt of many degrading and
+servile customs, to which woman is condemned; yes, now I understand the
+noble pride with which you contemplate the mob of vain, self-sufficient,
+ridiculous men, who look upon woman as a creature destined for their
+service, according to the laws made after their own not very handsome
+image.  In the eyes of these hedge-tyrants, woman, a kind of inferior
+being to whom a council of cardinals deigned to grant a soul by a
+majority of two voices, ought to think herself supremely happy in being
+the servant of these petty pachas, old at thirty, worn-out, used up,
+weary with excesses, wishing only for repose, and seeking, as they say,
+to make an end of it, which they set about by marrying some poor girl,
+who is on her side desirous to make a beginning."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville would certainly have smiled at these satirical
+remarks, if she had not been greatly struck by hearing Rodin express in
+such appropriate terms her own ideas, though it was the first time in her
+life that she saw this dangerous man.  Adrienne forgot, or rather, she
+was not aware, that she had to deal with a Jesuit of rare intelligence,
+uniting the information and the mysterious resources of the police-spy
+with the profound sagacity of the confessor; one of those diabolic
+priests, who, by the help of a few hints, avowals, letters, reconstruct a
+character, as Cuvier could reconstruct a body from zoological fragments.
+Far from interrupting Rodin, Adrienne listened to him with growing
+curiosity.  Sure of the effect he produced, he continued, in a tone of
+indignation: "And your aunt and the Abbe d'Aigrigny treated you as mad,
+because you revolted against the yoke of such tyrants! because, hating
+the shameful vices of slavery, you chose to be independent with the
+suitable qualities of independence, free with the proud virtues of
+liberty!"
+
+"But, sir," said Adrienne, more and more surprised, "how can my thoughts
+be so familiar to you?"
+
+"First, I know you perfectly, thanks to your interview with the Princess
+de Saint-Dizier: and next, if it should happen that we both pursue the
+same end, though by different means," resumed Rodin, artfully, as he
+looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with an air of intelligence, "why should
+not our convictions be the same?"
+
+"I do not understand you, sir.  Of what end do you speak?"
+
+"The end pursued incessantly by all lofty, generous, independent spirits-
+-some acting, like you, my dear young lady, from passion, from instinct,
+without perhaps explaining to themselves the high mission they are called
+on to ful, fil.  Thus, for example, when you take pleasure in the most
+refined delights, when you surround yourself with all that charms the
+senses, do you think that you only yield to the attractions of the
+beautiful, to the desire of exquisite enjoyments?  No! ah, no! for then
+you would be incomplete, odiously selfish, a dry egotist, with a fine
+taste--nothing more--and at your age, it would be hideous, my dear young
+lady, it would be hideous!"
+
+"And do you really think thus severely of me?" said Adrienne, with
+uneasiness, so much influence had this man irresistibly attained over
+her.
+
+"Certainly, I should think thus of you, if you loved luxury for luxury's
+sake; but, no--quite another sentiment animates you," resumed the Jesuit.
+"Let us reason a little.  Feeling a passionate desire for all these
+enjoyments, you know their value and their need more than any one--is it
+not so?"
+
+"It is so," replied Adrienne, deeply interested.
+
+"Your gratitude and favor are then necessarily acquired by those who,
+poor, laborious, and unknown, have procured for you these marvels of
+luxury, which you could not do without?"
+
+"This feeling of gratitude is so strong in me, sir," replied Adrienne,
+more and more pleased to find herself so well understood, "that I once
+had inscribed on a masterpiece of goldsmith's work, instead of the name
+of the seller, that of the poor unknown artist who designed it, and who
+has since risen to his true place."
+
+"There you see, I was not deceived," went on Rodin; "the taste for
+enjoyment renders you grateful to those who procure it for you; and that
+is not all; here am I, an example, neither better nor worse than my
+neighbors, but accustomed to privations, which cause me no suffering--so
+that the privations of others necessarily touch me less nearly than they
+do you, my dear young lady; for your habits of comfort must needs render
+you more compassionate towards misfortune.  You would yourself suffer too
+much from poverty, not to pity and succor those who are its victims."
+
+"Really, sir," said Adrienne, who began to feel herself under the fatal
+charm of Rodin, "the more I listen to you, the more I am convinced that
+you would defend a thousand times better than I could those ideas for
+which I was so harshly reproached by Madame de Saint-Dizier and Abbe
+d'Aigrigny.  Oh! speak, speak, sir!  I cannot tell you with what
+happiness, with what pride I listen."
+
+Attentive and moved, her eyes fixed on the Jesuit with as much interest
+as sympathy and curiosity, Adrienne, by a graceful toss of the head that
+was habitual to her, threw hack her long, golden curls, the better to
+contemplate Rodin, who thus resumed: "You are astonished, my dear young
+lady, that you were not understood by your aunt or by Abbe d'Aigrigny!
+What point of contact had you with these hypocritical, jealous, crafty
+minds, such as I can judge them to be now?  Do you wish a new proof of
+their hateful blindness?  Among what they called your monstrous follies,
+which was the worst, the most damnable?  Why, your resolution to live
+alone and in your own way, to dispose freely of the present and the
+future.  They declared this to be odious, detestable, immoral.  And yet--
+was this resolution dictated by a mad love of liberty? no!--by a
+disordered aversion to all restraint?  no!--by the desire of singularity?
+--no!--for then I, too, should have blamed you severely."
+
+"Other reasons have indeed guided me, sir, I assure you," said Adrienne
+eagerly, for she had become very eager for the esteem with which her
+character might inspire Rodin.
+
+"Oh! I know it well; your motives could only be excellent ones," replied
+the Jesuit.  "Why then did you take this resolution, so much called in
+question?  Was it to brave established etiquette? no! for you respected
+them until the hate of Mme. de Saint-Dizier forced you to withdraw
+yourself from her unbearable guardianship.  Was it to live alone, to
+escape the eyes of the world? no! you would be a hundred times more open
+to observation in this than any other condition.  Was it to make a bad
+use of your liberty? no, ah, no! those who design evil seek for darkness
+and solitude; while you place yourself right before the jealous anal
+envious eyes of the vulgar crowd.  Why then do you take this
+determination, so courageous and rare, unexampled in a young person of
+your age?  Shall I tell you, my dear young lady?  It is, that you wish to
+prove, by your example, that a woman of pure heart and honest mind, with
+a firm character and independence of soul, may nobly and proudly throw
+off the humiliating guardianship that custom has imposed upon her.  Yes,
+instead of accepting the fate of a revolted slave, a life only destined
+to hypocrisy or vice, you wish to live freely in presence of all the
+world, independent, honorable, and respected.  You wish to have, like
+man, the exercise of your own free will, the entire responsibility of all
+your actions, so as to establish the fact, that a woman left completely
+to herself, may equal man in reason, wisdom, uprightness, and surpass him
+indelicacy and dignity.  That is your design, my dear young lady.  It is
+noble and great.  Will your example be imitated?  I hope it may; but
+whether it be so or not, your generous attempt, believe me, will place
+you in a high and worthy position."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville's eyes shone with a proud and gentle brightness, her
+cheeks were slightly colored, her bosom heaved, she raised her charming
+head with a movement of involuntary pride; at length completely under the
+charm of that diabolical man she exclaimed: "But, sir, who are you that
+can thus know and analyze my most secret thoughts, and read my soul more
+clearly than myself, so as to give new life and action to those ideas of
+independence which have long stirred within me?  Who are you, that can
+thus elevate me in my own eyes, for now I am conscious of accomplishing a
+mission, honorable to myself, and perhaps useful to my sisters immersed
+in slavery?  Once again, sir, who are you?"
+
+"Who am I, madame?" answered Rodin, with a smile of the greatest good-
+nature; "I have already told you that I am a poor old man, who for the
+last forty years, having served in the day time as a writing machine to
+record the ideas of others, went home every evening to work out ideas of
+his own--a good kind of man who, from his garret, watches and even takes
+some little share in the movement of generous spirits, advancing towards
+an end that is nearer than is commonly thought.  And thus, my dear young
+lady, as I told you just now, you and I are both tending towards the same
+objects, though you may do the same without reflection, and merely in
+obedience to your rare and divine instincts.  So continue so to live,
+fair, free, and happy!--it is your mission--more providential than you
+may think it.  Yes; continue to surround yourself with all the marvels of
+luxury and art; refine your senses, purify your tastes, by the exquisite
+choice of your enjoyments; by genius, grace, and purity raise yourself
+above the stupid and ill-favored mob of men, that will instantly surround
+you, when they behold you alone and free; they will consider you an easy
+prey, destined to please their cupidity, their egotism, their folly.
+
+Laugh at them, and mock these idiotic and sordid pretensions.  Be the
+queen of your own world, and make yourself respected as a queen.  Love--
+shine--enjoy--it is your part upon earth.  All the flowers, with which
+you are whelmed in profusion, will one day bear fruit.  You think that
+you have lived only for pleasure; in reality, you will have lived for the
+noblest aims that could tempt a great and lofty soul.  And so--some years
+hence--we may meet again, perhaps; you, fairer and more followed than
+ever; I, older and more obscure.  But, no matter--a secret voice, I am
+sure, says to you at this moment, that between us two, however different,
+there exists an invisible bond, a mysterious communion, which nothing
+hereafter will ever be able to destroy!"
+
+He uttered these final words in a tone of such profound emotion, that
+Adrienne started.  Rodin had approached without her perceiving it, and
+without, as it were, walking at all, for he dragged his steps along the
+floor, with a sort of serpent motion; and he had spoken with so much
+warmth and enthusiasm, that his pale face had become slightly tinged, and
+his repulsive ugliness had almost disappeared before the brilliancy of
+his small sharp eyes, now wide open, and fixed full upon Adrienne.  The
+latter leaned forward, with half-open lips and deep-drawn breath, nor
+could she take her eyes from the Jesuit's; he had ceased to speak, and
+yet she was still listening.  The feelings of the fair young lady, in
+presence of this little old man, dirty, ugly, and poor, were
+inexplicable.  That comparison so common, and yet so true, of the
+frightful fascination of the bird by the serpent, might give some idea of
+the singular impression made upon her.  Rodin's tactics were skillful and
+sure.  Until now, Mdlle. de Cardoville had never analyzed her tastes or
+instincts.  She had followed them, because they were inoffensive and
+charming.  How happy and proud she then was sure to be to hear a man of
+superior mind not only praise these tendencies, for which she had been
+heretofore so severely blamed, but congratulate her upon them, as upon
+something great, noble, and divine!  If Rodin had only addressed himself
+to Adrienne's self-conceit, he would have failed in his perfidious
+designs, for she had not the least spark of vanity.  But he addressed
+himself to all that was enthusiastic and generous in her heart; that
+which he appeared to encourage and admire in her was really worthy of
+encouragement and admiration.  How could she fail to be the dupe of such
+language, concealing though it did such dark and fatal projects?
+
+Struck with the Jesuit's rare intelligence, feeling her curiosity greatly
+excited by some mysterious words that he had purposely uttered, hardly
+explaining to herself the strange influence which this pernicious
+counsellor already exercised over her, and animated by respectful
+compassion for a man of his age and talents placed in so precarious a
+position, Adrienne said to him, with all her natural cordiality, "A man
+of your merit and character, sir, ought not to be at the mercy of the
+caprice of circumstances.  Some of your words have opened a new horizon
+before me; I feel that, on many points, your counsels may be of the
+greatest use to me.  Moreover, in coming to fetch me from this house, and
+in devoting yourself to the service of other persons of my family, you
+have shown me marks of interest which I cannot forget without
+ingratitude.  You have lost a humble but secure situation.  Permit me--"
+
+"Not a word more, my dear young lady,"said Rodin, interrupting Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, with an air of chagrin. "I feel for you the deepest sympathy;
+I am honored by having ideas in common with you; I believe firmly that
+some day you will have to ask advice of the poor old philosopher; and,
+precisely because of all that, I must and ought to maintain towards you
+the most complete independence."
+
+"But, sir, it is I that would be the obliged party, if you deigned to
+accept what I offer."
+
+"Oh, my dear young lady," said Rodin, with a smile: "I know that your
+generosity would always know how to make gratitude light and easy; but,
+once more, I cannot accept anything from you.  One day, perhaps, you will
+know why."
+
+"One day?"
+
+"It is impossible for me to tell you more.  And then, supposing I were
+under an obligation to you, how could I tell you all that was good and
+beautiful in your actions?  Hereafter, if you are somewhat indebted to me
+for my advice, so much the better; I shall be the more ready to blame
+you, if I find anything to blame."
+
+"In this way, sir, you would forbid me to be grateful to you."
+
+"No, no," said Rodin, with apparent emotion.  "Oh, believe me! there will
+come a solemn moment, in which you may repay all, in a manner worthy of
+yourself and me."
+
+This conversation was here interrupted by the nurse, who said to Adrienne
+as she entered: "Madame, there is a little humpback workwoman downstairs,
+who wishes to speak to you.  As, according to the doctor's new orders,
+you are to do as you like, I have come to ask, if I am to bring her up to
+you.  She is so badly dressed, that I did not venture."
+
+"Bring her up, by all means," said Adrienne, hastily, for she had
+recognized Mother Bunch by the nurse's description.  "Bring her up
+directly."
+
+"The doctor has also left word, that his carriage is to be at your
+orders, madame; are the horses to be put to?"
+
+Yes, in a quarter of an hour," answered Adrienne to the nurse, who went
+out; then, addressing Rodin, she continued: "I do not think the
+magistrate can now be long, before he returns with Marshal Simon's
+daughters?"
+
+"I think not, my dear young lady; but who is this deformed workwoman?"
+asked Rodin, with an air of indifference.
+
+"The adopted sister of a gallant fellow, who risked all in endeavoring to
+rescue me from this house.  And, sir," said Adrienne, with emotion, "this
+young workwoman is a rare and excellent creature.  Never was a nobler
+mind, a more generous heart, concealed beneath an exterior less--"
+
+But reflecting, that Rodin seemed to unite in his own person the same
+moral and physical contrasts as the sewing-girl, Adrienne stopped short,
+and then added, with inimitable grace, as she looked at the Jesuit, who
+was somewhat astonished at the sudden pause: "No; this noble girl is not
+the only person who proves how loftiness of soul, and superiority of
+mind, can make us indifferent to the vain advantages which belong only to
+the accidents of birth or fortune."  At the moment of Adrienne speaking
+these last words, Mother Bunch entered the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+SUSPICIONS.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville sprang hastily to meet the visitor, and said to her,
+in a voice of emotion, as she extended her arms towards her: "Come--come
+--there is no grating to separate us now!"
+
+On this allusion, which reminded her how her poor, laborious hand had
+been respectfully kissed by the fair and rich patrician, the young
+workwoman felt a sentiment of gratitude, which was at once ineffable and
+proud.  But, as she hesitated to respond to the cordial reception,
+Adrienne embraced her with touching affection.  When Mother Bunch found
+herself clasped in the fair arms of Mdlle. de Cardoville, when she felt
+the fresh and rosy lips of the young lady fraternally pressed to her own
+pale and sickly cheek, she burst into tears without being able to utter a
+word.  Rodin, retired in a corner of the chamber, locked on this scene
+with secret uneasiness.  Informed of the refusal, so full of dignity,
+which Mother Bunch had opposed to the perfidious temptations of the
+superior of St. Mary's Convent, and knowing the deep devotion of this
+generous creature for Agricola--a devotion which for some days she had so
+bravely extended to Mdlle. de Cardoville--the Jesuit did not like to see
+the latter thus laboring to increase that affection.  He thought, wisely,
+that one should never despise friend or enemy, however small they may
+appear.  Now, devotion to Mdlle. de Cardoville constituted an enemy in
+his eyes; and we know, moreover, that Rodin combined in his character
+rare firmness, with a certain degree of superstitious weakness, and he
+now felt uneasy at the singular impression of fear which Mother Bunch
+inspired in him.  He determined to recollect this presentiment.
+
+Delicate natures sometimes display in the smallest things the most
+charming instincts of grace and goodness.  Thus, when the sewing-girl was
+shedding abundant and sweet tears of gratitude, Adrienne took a richly
+embroidered handkerchief, and dried the pale and melancholy face.  This
+action, so simple and spontaneous, spared the work-girl one humiliation;
+for, alas! humiliation and suffering are the two gulfs, along the edge of
+which misfortune continually passes.  Therefore, the least kindness is in
+general a double benefit to the unfortunate.  Perhaps the reader may
+smile in disdain at the puerile circumstance we mention.  But poor Mother
+Bunch, not venturing to take from her pocket her old ragged handkerchief,
+would long have remained blinded by her tears, if Mdlle. de Cardoville
+had not come to her aid.
+
+"Oh! you are so good--so nobly charitable, lady!" was all that the
+sempstress could say, in a tone of deep emotion; for she was still more
+touched by the attention of the young lady, than she would perhaps have
+been by a service rendered.
+
+"Look there, sir," said Adrienne to Rodin, who drew near hastily.  "Yes,"
+added the young patrician, proudly, "I have indeed discovered a treasure.
+Look at her, sir; and love her as I love her, honor as I honor.  She has
+one of those hearts for which we are seeking."
+
+"And which, thank heaven, we are still able to find, my dear young lady!"
+said Rodin, as he bowed to the needle-woman.
+
+The latter raised her eyes slowly, and locked at the Jesuit.  At sight of
+that cadaverous countenance, which was smiling benignantly upon her, the
+young girl started.  It was strange! she had never seen this man, and yet
+she felt instantly the same fear and repulsion that he had felt with
+regard to her.  Generally timid and confused, the work-girl could not
+withdraw her eyes from Rodin's; her heart beat violently, as at the
+coming of some great danger, and, as the excellent creature feared only
+for those she loved, she approached Adrienne involuntarily, keeping her
+eyes fixed on Rodin.  The Jesuit was too good a physiognomist not to
+perceive the formidable impression he had made, and he felt an increase
+of his instinctive aversion for the sempstress.  Instead of casting down
+his eyes, he appeared to examine her with such sustained attention, that
+Mdlle. de Cardoville was astonished at it.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear girl," said Rodin, as if recalling his
+recollections, and addressing himself to Mother Bunch, "I beg your
+pardon--but I think--if I am not deceived--did you not go a few days
+since to St. Mary's Convent, hard by?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"No doubt, it was you.  Where then was my head?" cried Rodin.  "It was
+you--I should have guessed it sooner."
+
+"Of what do you speak, sir?" asked Adrienne.
+
+"Oh! you are right, my dear young lady," said Rodin, pointing to the
+hunchback.  "She has indeed a noble heart, such as we seek.  If you knew
+with what dignity, with what courage this poor girl, who was out of work
+and, for her, to want work is to want everything--if you knew, I say,
+with what dignity she rejected the shameful wages that the superior of
+the convent was unprincipled enough to offer, on condition of her acting
+as a spy in a family where it was proposed to place her."
+
+"Oh, that is infamous!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, with disgust.  "Such
+a proposal to this poor girl--to her!"
+
+"Madame," said Mother Bunch, bitterly, "I had no work, I was poor, they
+did not know me--and they thought they might propose anything to the
+likes of me."
+
+"And I tell you," said Rodin, "that it was a double baseness on the part
+of the superior, to offer such temptation to misery, and it was doubly
+noble in you to refuse."
+
+"Sir," said the sewing-girl, with modest embarrassment.
+
+"Oh! I am not to be intimidated," resumed Rod in.  "Praise or blame, I
+speak out roughly what I think.  Ask this dear young lady," he added,
+with a glance at Adrienne.  "I tell you plainly, that I think as well of
+you as she does herself."
+
+"Believe me, dear," said Adrienne, "there are some sorts of praise which
+honor, recompense, and encourage; and M. Rodin's is of the number.  I
+know it,--yes, I know it."
+
+"Nay, my dear young lady, you must not ascribe to me all the honor of
+this judgment."
+
+"How so, sir?"
+
+"Is not this dear girl the adopted sister of Agricola Baudoin, the
+gallant workman, the energetic and popular poet?  Is not the affection of
+such a man the best of guarantees, and does it not enable us to judge, as
+it were, by the label?" added Rodin, with a smile.
+
+"You are right, sir," said Adrienne; "for, before knowing this dear girl,
+I began to feel deeply interested in her, from the day that her adopted
+brother spoke to me about her.  He expressed himself with so much warmth,
+so much enthusiasm, that I at once conceived an esteem for the person
+capable of inspiring so noble an attachment."
+
+These words of Adrienne, joined to another circumstance, had such an
+effect upon their hearer, that her pale face became crimson.  The
+unfortunate hunchback loved Agricola, with love as passionate as it was
+secret and painful: the most indirect allusion to this fatal sentiment
+occasioned her the most cruel embarrassment.  Now, the moment Mdlle. de
+Cardoville spoke of Agricola's attachment for Mother Bunch, the latter
+had encountered Rodin's observing and penetrating look fixed upon her.
+Alone with Adrienne, the sempstress would have felt only a momentary
+confusion on hearing the name of the smith; but unfortunately she fancied
+that the Jesuit, who already filled her with involuntary fear, had seen
+into her heart, and read the secrets of that fatal love, of which she was
+the victim.  Thence the deep blushes of the poor girl, and the
+embarrassment so painfully visible, that Adrienne was struck with it.
+
+A subtle and prompt mind, like Rodin's on perceiving the smallest effect,
+immediately seeks the cause.  Proceeding by comparison, the Jesuit saw on
+one side a deformed, but intelligent young girl, capable of passionate
+devotion; on the other, a young workman, handsome, bold, frank, and full
+of talent.  "Brought up together, sympathizing with each other on many
+points, there must be some fraternal affection between them," said he to
+himself; "but fraternal affection does not blush, and the hunchback
+blushed and grew troubled beneath my look; does she, then, Love
+Agricola?"
+
+Once on the scent of this discovery, Rodin wished to pursue the
+investigation.  Remarking the surprise and visible uneasiness that Mother
+Bunch had caused in Adrienne, he said to the latter, with a smile,
+looking significantly at the needlewoman: "You see, my dear young lady,
+how she blushes.  The good girl is troubled by what we said of the
+attachment of this gallant workman."
+
+The needlewoman hung down her head, overcome with confusion.  After the
+pause of a second, during which Rodin preserved silence, so as to give
+time for his cruel remark to pierce the heart of the victim, the savage
+resumed: "Look at the dear girl! how embarrassed she appears!"
+
+Again, after another silence, perceiving that Mother Bunch from crimson
+had become deadly pale, and was trembling in all her limbs, the Jesuit
+feared he had gone too far, whilst Adrienne said to her friend, with
+anxiety: "Why, dear child, are you so agitated?"
+
+"Oh! it is clear enough," resumed Rodin, with an air of perfect
+simplicity; for having discovered what he wished to know, he now chose to
+appear unconscious.  "It is quite clear and plain.  This good girl has
+the modesty of a kind and tender sister for a brother.  When you praise
+him, she fancies that she is herself praised."
+
+"And she is as modest as she is excellent," added Adrienne, taking bath
+of the girl's hands, "the least praise, either of her adopted brother or
+of herself, troubles her in this way.  But it is mere childishness, and I
+must scold her for it."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville spoke sincerely, for the explanation given by Rodin
+appeared to her very plausible.  Like all other persons who, dreading
+every moment the discovery of some painful secret have their courage as
+easily restored as shaken, Mother Bunch persuaded herself (and she needed
+to do so, to escape dying of shame), that the last words of Rodin were
+sincere, and that he had no idea of the love she felt for Agricola.  So
+her agony diminished, and she found words to reply to Mdlle. de
+Cardoville.
+
+"Excuse me, madame," she said timidly, "I am so little accustomed to such
+kindness as that with which you overwhelm me, that I make a sorry return
+for all your goodness."
+
+"Kindness, my poor girl?" said Adrienne.  "I have done nothing for you
+yet.  But, thank heaven! from this day I shall be able to keep my
+promise, and reward your devotion to me, your courageous resignation,
+your sacred love of labor, and the dignity of which you have given so
+many proofs, under the most cruel privations.  In a word, from this day,
+if you do not object to it, we will part no more."
+
+"Madame, you are too kind," said Mother Bunch, in a trembling voice;
+"but I--"
+
+"Oh! be satisfied," said Adrienne, anticipating her meaning.  "If you
+accept my offer, I shall know how to reconcile with my desire (not a
+little selfish) of having you near me, the independence of your
+character, your habits of labor, your taste for retirement, and your
+anxiety to devote yourself to those who deserve commiseration; it is, I
+confess, by affording you the means of satisfying these generous
+tendencies, that I hope to seduce and keep you by me."
+
+"But what have I done?" asked the other, simply, "to merit any gratitude
+from you?  Did you not begin, on the contrary, by acting so generously to
+my adopted brother?"
+
+"Oh! I do not speak of gratitude," said Adrienne; "we are quits.  I speak
+of friendship and sincere affection, which I now offer you."
+
+"Friendship to me, madame?"
+
+"Come, come," said Adrienne, with a charming smile, "do not be proud
+because your position gives you the advantage.  I have set my heart on
+having you for a friend, and you will see that it shall be so.  But now
+that I think of it (a little late, you will say), what good wind brings
+you hither?"
+
+"This morning M. Dagobert received a letter, in which he was requested to
+come to this place, to learn some news that would be of the greatest
+interest to him.  Thinking it concerned Marshal Simon's daughters, he
+said to me: `Mother Bunch, you have taken so much interest in those dear
+children, that you must come with me: you shall witness my joy on finding
+them, and that will be your reward.'"
+
+Adrienne glanced at Rodin.  The latter made an affirmative movement of
+the head, and answered: "Yes, yes, my dear young lady: it was I who wrote
+to the brave soldier, but without signing the letter, or giving any
+explanation.  You shall know why."
+
+"Then, my dear girl, why did you come alone?" said Adrienne.
+
+"Alas, madame! on arriving here, it was your kind reception that made me
+forget my fears."
+
+"What fears?" asked Rodin.
+
+"Knowing that you lived here, madame, I supposed the letter was from you;
+I told M. Dagobert so, and he thought the same.  When we arrived, his
+impatience was so great, that he asked at the door if the orphans were in
+this house, and he gave their description.  They told him no.  Then, in
+spite of my supplications, he insisted on going to the convent to inquire
+about them."
+
+"What imprudence!" cried Adrienne.
+
+"After what took place the other night, when he broke in," added Rodin,
+shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"It was in vain to tell him," returned Mother Bunch, "that the letter did
+not announce positively, that the orphans would be delivered up to him;
+but that, no doubt, he would gain some information about them.  He
+refused to hear anything, but said to me: `If I cannot find them, I will
+rejoin you.  But they were at the convent the day before yesterday, and
+now that all is discovered, they cannot refuse to give them up--"
+
+"And with such a man there is no disputing!" said Rodin, with a smile.
+
+"I hope they will not recognize him!" said Adrienne, remembering
+Baleinier's threats.
+
+"It is not likely," replied Rodin; "they will only refuse him admittance.
+That will be, I hope, the worst misfortune that will happen.  Besides,
+the magistrate will soon be here with the girls.  I am no longer wanted:
+other cares require my attention.  I must seek out Prince Djalma.  Only
+tell me, my dear young lady, where I shall find you, to keep you informed
+of my discoveries, and to take measures with regard to the young prince,
+if my inquiries, as I hope, shall be attended with success."
+
+"You will find me in my new house, Rue d'Anjou, formerly Beaulieu House.
+But now I think of it," said Adrienne, suddenly, after some moments of
+reflection, "it would not be prudent or proper, on many accounts, to
+lodge the Prince Djalma in the pavilion I occupied at Saint-Dizier House.
+I saw, some time ago, a charming little house, all furnished and ready;
+it only requires some embellishments, that could be completed in twenty-
+four hours, to make it a delightful residence.  Yes, that will be a
+thousand times preferable," added Mdlle. de Cardoville, after a new
+interval of silence; "and I shall thus be able to preserve the strictest
+incognito."
+
+"What!" cried Rodin, whose projects would be much impeded by this new
+resolution of the young lady; "you do not wish him to know who you are?"
+
+"I wish Prince Djalma to know absolutely nothing of the anonymous friend
+who comes to his aid; I desire that my name should not be pronounced
+before him, and that he should not even know of my existence--at least,
+for the present.  Hereafter--in a month, perhaps--I will see;
+circumstances will guide me."
+
+"But this incognito," said Rodin, hiding his disappointment, "will be
+difficult to preserve."
+
+"If the prince had inhabited the lodge, I agree with you; the
+neighborhood of my aunt would have enlightened him, and this fear is one
+of the reasons that have induced me to renounce my first project.  But
+the prince will inhabit a distant quarter--the Rue Blanche.  Who will
+inform him of my secret?  One of my old friends, M. Norval--you, sir--and
+this dear girl," pointing to Mother Bunch, "on whose discretion I can
+depend as on your own, will be my only confidants.  My secret will then
+be quite safe.  Besides, we will talk further on this subject to-morrow.
+You must begin by discovering the retreat of this unfortunate young
+prince."
+
+Rodin, though much vexed at Adrienne's subtle determination with regard
+to Djalma, put the best face on the matter, and replied: "Your intentions
+shall be scrupulously fulfilled, my dear young lady; and to-morrow, with
+your leave, I hope to give you a good account of what you are pleased to
+call my providential mission."
+
+"To-morrow, then, I shall expect you with impatience," said Adrienne, to
+Rodin, affectionately.  "Permit me always to rely upon you, as from this
+day you may count upon me.  You must be indulgent with me, sir; for I see
+that I shall yet have many counsels, many services to ask of you--though
+I already owe you so much."
+
+"You will never owe me enough, my dear young lady, never enough," said
+Rodin, as he moved discreetly towards the door, after bowing to Adrienne.
+At the very moment he was going out, he found himself face to face with
+Dagobert.
+
+"Holloa! at last I have caught one!" shouted the soldier, as he seized
+the Jesuit by the collar with a vigorous hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+EXCUSES.
+
+On seeing Dagobert grasp Rodin so roughly by the collar, Mdlle. de
+Cardoville exclaimed in terror, as she advanced several steps towards the
+soldier: "In the name of Heaven, sir! what are you doing?"
+
+"What am I doing?" echoed the soldier, harshly, without relaxing his hold
+on Rodin, and turning his head towards Adrienne, whom he did not know;
+"I take this opportunity to squeeze the throat of one of the wretches in
+the band of that renegade, until he tells me where my poor children are."
+
+"You strangle me," said the Jesuit, in a stifled voice, as he tried to
+escape from the soldier.
+
+"Where are the orphans, since they are not here, and the convent door has
+been closed against me?" cried Dagobert, in a voice of thunder.
+
+"Help! help!" gasped Rodin.
+
+"Oh! it is dreadful!" said Adrienne, as, pale and trembling, she held up
+her clasped hands to Dagobert.  "Have mercy, sir! listen to me! listen to
+him!"
+
+"M. Dagobert!" cried Mother Bunch, seizing with her weak hands the
+soldier's arm, and showing him Adrienne, "this is Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+What violence in her presence! and then, you are deceived doubtless!"
+
+At the name of Mdlle. de Cardoville, the benefactress of his son, the
+soldier turned round suddenly, and loosened his hold on Rodin.  The
+latter, crimson with rage and suffocation, set about adjusting his collar
+and his cravat.
+
+"I beg your pardon, madame," said Dagobert, going towards Adrienne, who
+was still pale with fright; "I did not known who you were, and the first
+impulse of anger quite carried me away."
+
+"But what has this gentleman done to you?" said Adrienne.  "If you had
+listened to me, you would have learned "
+
+"Excuse me if I interrupt you, madame," said the soldier to Adrienne, in
+a hollow voice.  Then addressing himself to Rodin, who had recovered his
+coolness, he added: "Thank the lady, and begone!--If you remain here, I
+will not answer for myself."
+
+"One word only, my dear sir," said Rodin.
+
+"I tell you that if you remain, I will not answer for myself!" cried
+Dagobert, stamping his foot.
+
+"But, for heaven's sake, tell me the cause of this anger," resumed
+Adrienne; "above all, do not trust to appearances.  Calm yourself, and
+listen."
+
+"Calm myself, madame!" cried Dagobert, in despair; "I can think only of
+one thing, ma dame--of the arrival of Marshal Simon--he will be in Paris
+to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"Is it possible?" said Adrienne.  Rodin started with surprise and joy.
+
+"Yesterday evening," proceeded Dagobert, "I received a letter from the
+marshal: he has landed at Havre.  For three days I have taken step after
+step, hoping that the orphans would be restored to me, as the
+machinations of those wretches have failed."  He pointed to Rodin with a
+new gesture of impatience.  "Well! it is not so.  They are conspiring
+some new infamy.  I am prepared for anything."
+
+"But, sir," said Rodin advancing, "permit me--"
+
+"Begone!" cried Dagobert, whose irritation and anxiety redoubled, as he
+thought how at any moment Marshal Simon might arrive in Paris.  "Begone!
+Were it not for this lady, I would at least be revenged on some one."
+
+Rodin made a nod of intelligence to Adrienne, whom he approached
+prudently, and, pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of affectionate
+commiseration, he said to the latter:  "I will leave you, sir, and the
+more willingly, as I was about to withdraw when you entered."  Then,
+coming still closer to Mdlle. de Cardoville, the Jesuit whispered to her,
+"Poor soldier! he is beside himself with grief, and would be incapable of
+hearing me.  Explain it all to him, my dear young lady; he will be nicely
+caught," added he, with a cunning air.  "But in the meantime," resumed
+Rodin, feeling in the side-pocket of his great-coat and taking out a
+small parcel, "let me beg you to give him this, my dear young lady.  It
+is my revenge, and a very good one."
+
+And while Adrienne, holding the little parcel in her hand looked at the
+Jesuit with astonishment, the latter laying his forefinger upon his lip,
+as if recommending silence, drew backward on tiptoe to the door, and went
+out after again pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of pity; while the
+soldier, in sullen dejection, with his head drooping, and his arms
+crossed upon his bosom, remained deaf to the sewing-girl's earnest
+consolations.  When Rodin had left the room, Adrienne, approaching the
+soldier, said to him, in her mild voice, with an expression of deep
+interest, "Your sudden entry prevented my asking you a question that
+greatly concerns me.  How is your wound?"
+
+"Thank you, madame," said Dagobert, starting from his painful lethargy,
+"it is of no consequence, but I have not time to think of it.  I am sorry
+to have been so rough in your presence, and to have driven away that
+wretch; but 'tis more than I could master.  At sight of those people, my
+blood is all up."
+
+"And yet, believe me, you have been too hasty in your judgment.  The
+person who was just now here--"
+
+"Too hasty, madame!  I do not see him to-day for the first time.  He was
+with that renegade the Abbe d'Aigrigny--"
+
+"No doubt!--and yet he is an honest and excellent man."
+
+"He!" cried Dagobert.
+
+"Yes; for at this moment he is busy about only one thing restoring to you
+those dear children!"
+
+"He!" repeated Dagobert, as if he could not believe what he heard.  "He
+restore me my children?"
+
+"Yes; and sooner, perhaps, than you think for."
+
+"Madame," said Dagobert, abruptly, "he deceives you.  You are the dupe of
+that old rascal."
+
+"No," said Adrienne, shaking her head, with a smile.  "I have proofs of
+his good faith.  First of all, it is he who delivers me from this house."
+
+"Is it true?" said Dagobert, quite confounded.
+
+"Very true; and here is, perhaps, something that will reconcile you to
+him," said Adrienne, as she delivered the small parcel which Rodin had
+given her as he went out.  "Not wishing to exasperate you by his
+presence, he said to me: `Give this to that brave soldier; it is my
+revenge.'"
+
+Dagobert looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise, as he mechanically
+opened the little parcel.  When he had unfolded it, and discovered his
+own silver cross, black with age, and the old red, faded ribbon,
+treasures taken from him at the White Falcon Inn, at the same time as his
+papers, he exclaimed in a broken voice: "My cross! my cross!  It is my
+cross!"  In the excitement of his joy, he pressed the silver star to his
+gray moustache.
+
+Adrienne and the other were deeply affected by the emotion of the old
+soldier, who continued, as he ran towards the door by which Rodin had
+gone out: "Next to a service rendered to Marshal Simon, my wife, or son,
+nothing could be more precious to me.  And you answer for this worthy
+man, madame, and I have ill used him in your presence!  Oh! he is
+entitled to reparation, and he shall have it."
+
+So saying, Dagobert left the room precipitately, hastened through two
+other apartments, gained the staircase, and descending it rapidly,
+overtook Rodin on the lowest step.
+
+"Sir," said the soldier to him, in an agitated voice, as he seized him by
+the arm, "you must come upstairs directly."
+
+"You should make up your mind to one thing or the other, my dear sir,"
+said Rodin, stopping good-naturedly; "one moment you tell me to begone,
+and the next to return.  How are we to decide?"
+
+"Just now, sir, I was wrong; and when I am wrong, I acknowledge it.  I
+abused and ill-treated you before witnesses; I will make you my apologies
+before witnesses."
+
+"But, my dear sir--I am much obliged to you--I am in a hurry."
+
+"I cannot help your being in a hurry.  I tell you, I must have you come
+upstairs, directly--or else--or else," resumed Dagobert, taking the hand
+of the Jesuit, and pressing it with as much cordiality as emotion, "or
+else the happiness you have caused the in returning my cross will not be
+complete."
+
+"Well, then, my good friend, let us go up."
+
+"And not only have you restored me my cross, for which I have wept many
+tears, believe me, unknown to any one," cried Dagobert, much affected;
+"but the young lady told me, that, thanks to you, those poor children but
+tell me--no false joy-is it really true?--My God! is it really true?"
+
+"Ah! ah!  Mr. Inquisitive," said Rodin, with a cunning smile.  Then he
+added: "Be perfectly tranquil, my growler; you shall have your two angels
+back again."  And the Jesuit began to ascend the stairs.
+
+"Will they be restored to me to-day?" cried Dagobert, stopping Rodin
+abruptly, by catching hold of his sleeve.
+
+"Now, really, my good friend," said the Jesuit, "let us come to the
+point.  Are we to go up or down?  I do not find fault, but you turn me
+about like a teetotum."
+
+"You are right.  We shall be better able to explain things upstairs.
+Come with me--quick! quick!" said Dagobert, as, taking the Jesuit by the
+arm, he hurried him along, and brought him triumphantly into the room,
+where Adrienne and Mother Bunch had remained in much surprise at the
+soldier's sudden disappearance.
+
+"Here he is! here he is!" cried Dagobert, as he entered.  "Luckily, I
+caught him at the bottom of the stairs."
+
+"And you have made me come up at a fine pace!" added Rodin, pretty well
+out of breath.
+
+"Now, sir," said Dagobert, in a grave voice, "I declare, in presence of
+all, that I was wrong to abuse and ill-treat you.  I make you my apology
+for it, sir; and I acknowledge, with joy, that I owe you--much--oh! very
+much and when I owe, I pay."
+
+So saying, Dagobert held out his honest hand to Rodin, who pressed it in
+a very affable manner, and replied: "Now, really--what is all this about?
+What great service do you speak of?"
+
+"This!" said Dagobert, holding up the cross before Rodin's eyes.  "You do
+not know, then, what this cross is to me?"
+
+"On the contrary, supposing you would set great store by it, I intended
+to have the pleasure of delivering it myself.  I had brought it for that
+purpose; but, between ourselves, you gave me so warm a reception, that I
+had not the time--"
+
+"Sir," said Dagobert, in confusion, "I assure you that I sincerely repent
+of what I have done."
+
+"I know it, my good friend; do not say another word about it.  You were
+then much attached to this cross?"
+
+"Attached to it, sir!" cried Dagobert.  "Why, this cross," and he kissed
+it as he spoke, "is my relic.  He from whom it came was my saint--my
+hero--and he had touched it with his hand!"
+
+"Oh!" said Rodin, feigning to regard the cross with as much curiosity as
+respectful admiration; "did Napoleon--the Great Napoleon--indeed touch
+with his own hand--that victorious hand!--this noble star of honor?"
+
+"Yes, sir, with his own hand.  He placed it there upon my bleeding
+breast, as a cure for my fifth wound.  So that, you see, were I dying of
+hunger, I think I should not hesitate betwixt bread and my cross--that I
+might, in any case, have it on my heart in death.  But, enough--enough!-
+let us talk of something else.  It is foolish in an old soldier, is it
+not?" added Dagobert, drawing his hand across his eyes, and then, as if
+ashamed to deny what he really felt: "Well, then! yes," he resumed,
+raising his head proudly, and no longer seeking to conceal the tears that
+rolled down his cheek; "yes, I weep for joy, to have found my cross--my
+cross, that the Emperor gave me with his victorious hand, as this worthy
+man has called it."
+
+"Then blessed be my poor old hand for having restored you the glorious
+treasure!" said Rodin, with emotion.  "In truth," he added, "the day will
+be a good one for everybody--as I announced to you this morning in my
+letter."
+
+"That letter without a signature?" asked the soldier, more and more
+astonished.  "Was it from you?"
+
+"It was I who wrote it.  Only, fearing some new snare of the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, I did not choose, you understand, to explain myself more
+clearly."
+
+"Then--I shall see--my orphans?"
+
+Rodin nodded affirmatively, with an expression of great good-nature.
+
+"Presently--perhaps immediately," said Adrienne, with smile.  "Well! was
+I right in telling you that you had not judged this gentleman fairly?"
+
+"Why did he not tell me this when I came in?" cried Dagobert, almost
+beside himself with joy.
+
+"There was one difficulty in the way, my good friend," said Rodin;  "it
+was, that when you came in, you nearly throttled me."
+
+"True; I was too hasty.  Once more, I ask your pardon.  But was I to
+blame?  I had only seen you with that Abbe d'Aigrigny, and in the first
+moment--"
+
+"This dear young lady," said Rodin, bowing to Adrienne, "will tell you
+that I have been, without knowing it, the accomplice IN many perfidious
+actions; but as soon as I began to see my way through the darkness, I
+quitted the evil course on which I had entered, and returned to that
+which is honest, just and true."
+
+Adrienne nodded affirmatively to Dagobert, who appeared to consult her
+look.
+
+"If I did not sign the letter that I wrote to you, my good friend, it was
+partly from fear that my name might inspire suspicion; and if I asked you
+to come hither, instead of to the convent, it was that I had some dread--
+like this dear young lady--lest you might be recognized by the porter or
+by the gardener, your affair of the other night rendering such a
+recognition somewhat dangerous."
+
+"But M. Baleinier knows all; I forgot that," said Adrienne, with
+uneasiness.  "He threatened to denounce M. Dagobert and his son, if I
+made any complaint."
+
+"Do not be alarmed, my dear young lady; it will soon he for you to
+dictate conditions," replied Rodin.  "Leave that to me; and as for you,
+my good friend, your torments are now finished."
+
+"Yes," said Adrienne, "an upright and worthy magistrate has gone to the
+convent, to fetch Marshal Simon's daughters.  He will bring them hither;
+but he thought with me, that it would be most proper for them to take up
+their abode in my house.  I cannot, however, come to this decision
+without your consent, for it is to you that these orphans were entrusted
+by their mother."
+
+"You wish to take her place with regard to them, madame?" replied
+Dagobert.  "I can only thank you with all my heart, for myself and for
+the children.  But, as the lesson has been a sharp one, I must beg to
+remain at the door of their chamber, night and day.  If they go out with
+you, I must be allowed to follow them at a little distance, so as to keep
+them in view, just like Spoil-sport, who has proved himself a better
+guardian than myself.  When the marshal is once here--it will be in a day
+or two--my post will be relieved.  Heaven grant it may be soon!"
+
+"Yes," replied Rodin, in a firm voice, "heaven grant he may arrive soon,
+for he will have to demand a terrible reckoning of the Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+for the persecution of his daughters; and yet the marshal does not know
+all."
+
+"And don't you tremble for the renegade?" asked Dagobert, as he thought
+how the marquis would soon find himself face to face with the marshal.
+
+"I never care for cowards and traitors," answered Rodin; "and when
+Marshal Simon returns--" Then, after a pause of some seconds, he
+continued: "If he will do me the honor to hear me, he shall be edified as
+to the conduct of the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  The marshal knows that his
+dearest friends, as well as himself, have been victims of the hatred of
+that dangerous man."
+
+"How so?" said Dagobert.
+
+"Why, yourself, for instance," replied Rodin; "you are an example of what
+I advance."
+
+"Do you think it was mere chance, that brought about the scene at the
+White Falcon Inn, near Leipsic?"
+
+"Who told you of that scene?" said Dagobert in astonishment.
+
+"Where you accepted the challenge of Morok," continued the Jesuit,
+without answering Dagobert's question, "and so fell into a trap, or else
+refused it, and were then arrested for want of papers, and thrown into
+prison as a vagabond, with these poor children.  Now, do you know the
+object of this violence?  It was to prevent your being here on the 13th
+of February."
+
+"But the more I hear, sir," said Adrienne, "the more I am alarmed at the
+audacity of the Abbe d'Aigrigny, and the extent of the means he has at
+his command.  Really," she resumed, with increasing surprise, "if your
+words were not entitled to absolute belief--"
+
+"You would doubt their truth, madame?" said Dagobert.  "It is like me.
+Bad as he is.  I cannot think that this renegade had relations with a
+wild-beast showman as far off as Saxony; and then, how could he know that
+I and the children were to pass through Leipsic?  It is impossible, my
+good man."
+
+"In fact, sir," resumed Adrienne, "I fear that you are deceived by your
+dislike (a very legitimate one) of Abbe d'Aigrigny, and that you ascribe
+to him an almost fabulous degree of power and extent of influence."
+
+After a moment's silence, during which Rodin looked first at Adrienne and
+then at Dagobert, with a kind of pity, he resumed.  "How could the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny have your cross in his possession, if he had no connection
+with Morok?"
+
+"That is true, sir," said Dagobert; "joy prevented me from reflecting.
+But how indeed, did my cross come into your hands?"
+
+"By means of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's having precisely those relations with
+Leipsic, of which you and the young lady seem to doubt."
+
+"But how did my cross get to Paris?"
+
+"Tell me; you were arrested at Leipsic for want of papers--is it not so?"
+
+"Yes; but I could never understand how my passports and money disappeared
+from my knapsack.  I thought I must have had the misfortune to lose
+them."
+
+Rodin shrugged his shoulders, and replied: "You were robbed of them at
+the White Falcon Inn, by Goliath, one of Morok's servants, and the latter
+sent the papers and the cross to the Abbe d'Aigrigny, to prove that he
+had succeeded in executing his orders with respect to the orphans and
+yourself.  It was the day before yesterday, that I obtained the key of
+that dark machination.  Cross and papers were amongst the stores of Abbe
+d'Aigrigny; the papers formed a considerable bundle, and he might have
+missed them; but, hoping to see you this morning, and knowing how a
+soldier of the Empire values his cross, his sacred relic, as you call it,
+my good friend--I did not hesitate.  I put the relic into my pocket.
+`After all,' said I, `it is only restitution, and my delicacy perhaps
+exaggerates this breach of trust.'"
+
+"You could not have done a better action," said Adrienne; "and, for my
+part, because of the interest I feel for M. Dagobert--I take it as a
+personal favor.  But, sir," after a moment's silence, she resumed with
+anxiety: "What terrible power must be at the command of M. d'Aigrigny,
+for him to have such extensive and formidable relations in a foreign
+country!"
+
+"Silence!" said Rodin, in a low voice, and looking round him with an air
+of alarm.  "Silence! In heaven's name do not ask me about it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+REVELATIONS.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville, much astonished at the alarm displayed by Rodin,
+when she had asked him for some explanation of the formidable and far-
+reaching power of the Abby d'Aigrigny, said to him: "Why, sir, what is
+there so strange in the question that I have just asked you?"
+
+After a moment's silence, Rodin cast his looks all around, with well-
+feigned uneasiness, and replied in a whisper: "Once more, madame, do not
+question me on so fearful a subject.  The walls of this house may have
+ears."
+
+Adrienne and Dagobert looked at each other with growing surprise.  Mother
+Bunch, by an instinct of incredible force, continued to regard Rodin with
+invincible suspicion.  Sometimes she stole a glance at him, as if trying
+to penetrate the mask of this man, who filled her with fear.  At one
+moment, the Jesuit encountered her anxious gaze, obstinately fixed upon
+him; immediately he nodded to her with the greatest amenity.  The young
+girl, alarmed at finding herself observed, turned away with a shudder.
+
+"No, no, my dear young lady," resumed Rodin, with a sigh, as he saw
+Mdlle. de Cardoville astonished at his silence; "do not question me on
+the subject of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's power!"
+
+"But, to persist, sir," said Adrienne; "why this hesitation to answer?
+What do you fear?"
+
+"Ah, my dear young lady," said Rodin, shuddering, "those people are so
+powerful! their animosity is so terrible!"
+
+"Be satisfied, sir; I owe you too much, for my support ever to fail you."
+
+"Ah, my dear young lady," cried Rodin, as if hurt by the supposition;
+"think better of me, I entreat you.  Is it for myself that I fear?--No,
+no; I am too obscure, too inoffensive; but it is for you, for Marshal
+Simon, for the other members of your family, that all is to be feared.
+Oh, my dear young lady! let me beg you to ask no questions.  There are
+secrets which are fatal to those who possess them."
+
+"But, sir, is it not better to know the perils with which one is
+threatened?"
+
+"When you know the manoeuvres of your enemy, you may at least defend
+yourself," said Dagobert.  "I prefer an attack in broad daylight to an
+ambuscade."
+
+"And I assure you," resumed Adrienne, "the few words you have spoken
+cause me a vague uneasiness."
+
+"Well, if I must, my dear young lady," replied the Jesuit, appearing to
+make a great effort, "since you do not understand my hints, I will be
+more explicit; but remember," added he, in a deeply serious tone, "that
+you have persevered in forcing me to tell you what you had perhaps better
+not have known."
+
+"Speak, Sir, I pray you speak," said Adrienne.
+
+Drawing about him Adrienne, Dagobert, and Mother Bunch, Rodin said to
+them in a low voce, and with a mysterious air: "Have you never heard of a
+powerful association, which extends its net over all the earth, and
+counts its disciples, agents, and fanatics in every class of society
+which has had, and often has still, the ear of kings and nobles--which,
+in a word, can raise its creatures to the highest positions, and with a
+word can reduce them again to the nothingness from which it alone could
+uplift them?"
+
+"Good heaven, sir!" said Adrienne, "what formidable association?  Until
+now I never heard of it."
+
+"I believe you; and yet your ignorance on this subject greatly astonishes
+me, my dear young lady."
+
+"And why should it astonish you?"
+
+"Because you lived some time with your aunt, and must have often seen the
+Abbe d'Aigrigny."
+
+"I lived at the princess's, but not with her; for a thousand reasons she
+had inspired me with warrantable aversion."
+
+"In truth, my dear young lady, my remark was ill-judged.  It was there,
+above all, and particularly in your presence, that they would keep
+silence with regard to this association--and yet to it alone did the
+Princess de Saint-Dizier owe her formidable influence in the world,
+during the last reign.  Well, then; know this--it is the aid of that
+association which renders the Abbe d'Aigrigny so dangerous a man.
+
+By it he was enabled to follow and to reach divers members of your
+family, some in Siberia, some in India, others on the heights of the
+American mountains; but, as I have told you, it was only the day before
+yesterday, and by chance, that, examining the papers of Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+I found the trace of his connection with this Company, of which he is the
+most active and able chief."
+
+"But the name, sir, the name of this Company?" said Adrienne.
+
+"Well! it is--" but Rodin stopped short.
+
+"It is," repeated Adrienne, who was now as much interested as Dagobert
+and the sempstress; "it is--"
+
+Rodin looked round him, beckoned all the actors in this scene to draw
+nearer, and said in a whisper, laying great stress upon the words: "It
+is--the Society of Jesus!" and he again shuddered.
+
+"The Jesuits!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, unable to restrain a burst of
+laughter, which was the more buoyant, as, from the mysterious precautions
+of Rodin, she had expected some very different revelation.  "The
+Jesuits!" she resumed, still laughing.  "They have no existence, except
+in books; they are frightful historical personages, certainly; but why
+should you put forward Madame de Saint-Dizier and M. d'Aigrigny in that
+character?  Such as they are, they have done quite enough to justify my
+aversion and disdain."
+
+After listening in silence to Mdlle. de Cardoville Rodin continued, with
+a grave and agitated air: "Your blindness frightens me, my dear, young
+lady; the past should have given you some anxiety for the future, since,
+more than any one, you have already suffered from the fatal influence of
+this Company, whose existence you regard as a dream!"
+
+"I, sir?" said Adrienne, with a smile, although a little surprised.
+
+"You."
+
+"Under what circumstances?"
+
+"You ask me this question! my dear young lady! you ask me this question!-
+-and yet you have been confined here as a mad person!  Is it not enough
+to tell you that the master of this house is one of the most devoted lay
+members of the Company, and therefore the blind instrument of the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny?"
+
+"So," said Adrienne, this time without smiling, "Dr. Baleinier"
+
+"Obeyed the Abbe d'Aigrigny, the most formidable chief of that formidable
+society.  He employs his genius for evil; but I must confess he is a man
+of genius.  Therefore, it is upon him that you and yours must fix all
+your doubts and suspicions; it is against him that you must be upon your
+guard.  For, believe me, I know him, and he does not look upon the game
+as lost.  You must be prepared for new attacks, doubtless of another
+kind, but only the more dangerous on that account--"
+
+"Luckily, you give us notice," said Dagobert, "and you will be on our
+side."
+
+"I can do very little, my good friends; but that little is at the service
+of honest people," said Rodin.
+
+"Now," said Adrienne, with a thoughtful air, completely persuaded by
+Rodin's air of conviction, "I can explain the inconceivable influence
+that my aunt exercised in the world.  I ascribed it chiefly to her
+relations with persons in power; I thought that she, like the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, was concerned in dark intrigues, for which religion served as
+a veil--but I was far from believing what you tell me."
+
+"How many things you have got to learn!" resumed Rodin.  "If you knew, my
+dear young lady, with what art these people surround you, without your
+being aware of it, by agents devoted to themselves!  Every one of your
+steps is known to them, when they have any interest in such knowledge.
+Thus, little by little, they act upon you--slowly, cautiously, darkly.
+They circumvent you by every possible means, from flattery to terror--
+seduce or frighten, in order at last to rule you, without your being
+conscious of their authority.  Such is their object, and I must confess
+they pursue it with detestable ability."
+
+Rodin had spoken with so much sincerity, that Adrienne trembled; then,
+reproaching herself with these fears, she resumed: "And yet, no--I can
+never believe in so infernal a power; the might of priestly ambition
+belongs to another age.  Heaven be praised, it has disappeared forever!"
+
+"Yes, certainly, it is out of sight; for they now know how to disperse
+and disappear, when circumstances require it.  But then are they the most
+dangerous; for suspicion is laid asleep, and they keep watch in the dark.
+Oh! my dear young lady, if you knew their frightful ability!  In my
+hatred of all that is oppressive, cowardly, and hypocritical, I had
+studied the history of that terrible society, before I knew that the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny belonged to it.  Oh! it is dreadful.  If you knew what means
+they employ!  When I tell you that, thanks to their diabolical devices,
+the most pure and devoted appearances often conceal the most horrible
+snares."  Rodin's eye rested, as if by chance, on the hunchback; but,
+seeing that Adrienne did not take the hint, the Jesuit continued: "In a
+word--are you not exposed to their pursuits?--have they any interest in
+gaining you over?--oh! from that moment, suspect all that surround you,
+suspect the most noble attachments, the most tender affections, for these
+monsters sometimes succeed in corrupting your best friends, and making a
+terrible use of them, in proportion to the blindness of your confidence."
+
+"Oh! it is impossible," cried Adrienne, in horror.  "You must exaggerate.
+No! hell itself never dreamed of more frightful treachery!"
+
+"Alas, my dear young lady!  one of your relations, M. Hardy--the most
+loyal and generous-hearted man that could be--has been the victim of some
+such infamous treachery.  Do you know what we learned from the reading of
+your ancestor's will?  Why, that he died the victim of the malevolence of
+these people; and now, at the lapse of a hundred and fifty years, his
+descendants are still exposed to the hate of that indestructible
+society."
+
+"Oh, sir! it terrifies me," said Adrienne, feeling her heart sink within
+her.  "But are there no weapons against such attacks?"
+
+"Prudence, my dear young lady--the most watchful caution--the most
+incessant study and suspicion of all that approach you."
+
+"But such a life would be frightful!  It is a torture to be the victim of
+continual suspicions, doubts, and fears."
+
+"Without doubt!  They know it well, the wretches!  That constitutes their
+strength.  They often triumph by the very excess of the precautions taken
+against them.  Thus, my dear young lady, and you, brave and worthy
+soldier, in the name of all that is dear to you, be on your guard, and do
+not lightly impart your confidence.  Be on your guard, for you have
+nearly fallen the victims of those people.  They will always be your
+implacable enemies.  And you, also, poor, interesting girl!" added the
+Jesuit, speaking to Mother Bunch, "follow my advice--fear these people.
+Sleep, as the proverb says, with one eye open."
+
+"I, sir!" said the work-girl.  "What have I done? what have I to fear?"
+
+"What have you done?  Dear me!  Do not you tenderly love this young lady,
+your protectress? have you not attempted to assist her?  Are you not the
+adopted sister of the son of this intrepid soldier, the brave Agricola!
+Alas, poor, girl! are not these sufficient claims to their hatred, in
+spite of your obscurity?  Nay, my dear young lady! do not think that I
+exaggerate.  Reflect! only reflect!  Think what I have just said to the
+faithful companion-in-arms of Marshal Simon, with regard to his
+imprisonment at Leipsic.  Think what happened to yourself, when, against
+all law and reason, you were brought hither.  Then you will see, that
+there is nothing exaggerated in the picture I have drawn of the secret
+power of this Company.  Be always on your guard, and, in doubtful cases,
+do not fear to apply to me.  In three days, I have learned enough by my
+own experience, with regard to their manner of acting, to be able to
+point out to you many a snare, device, and danger, and to protect you
+from them."
+
+"In any such case, sir," replied Mdlle. de Cardoville, "my interests, as
+well as gratitude, would point to you as my best counsellor."
+
+According to the skillful tactics of the sons of Loyola, who sometimes
+deny their own existence, in order to escape from an adversary--and
+sometimes proclaim with audacity the living power of their organization,
+in order to intimidate the feeble-R-odin had laughed in the face of the
+bailiff of Cardoville, when the latter had spoken of the existence of the
+Jesuits; while now, at this moment, picturing their means of action, he
+endeavored, and he succeeded in the endeavor, to impregnate the mind of
+Mdlle. de Cardoville with some germs of doubt, which were gradually to
+develop themselves by reflection, and serve hereafter the dark projects
+that he meditated.  Mother Bunch still felt considerable alarm with
+regard to Rodin.  Yet, since she had heard the fatal powers of the
+formidable Order revealed to Adrienne, the young sempstress, far from
+suspecting the Jesuit of having the audacity to speak thus of a society
+of which he was himself a member, felt grateful to him, in spite of
+herself, for the important advice that he had just given her patroness.
+The side-glance which she now cast upon him (which Rodin also detected,
+for he watched the young girl with sustained attention), was full of
+gratitude, mingled with surprise.  Guessing the nature of this
+impression, and wishing entirely to remove her unfavorable opinion, and
+also to anticipate a revelation which would be made sooner or later, the
+Jesuit appeared to have forgotten something of great importance, and
+exclaimed, striking his forehead: "What was I thinking of?"  Then,
+speaking to Mother Bunch, he added: "Do you know where your sister is, my
+dear girl?"  Disconcerted and saddened by this unexpected question, the
+workwoman answered with a blush, for she remembered her last interview
+with the brilliant Bacchanal Queen: "I have not seen my sister for some
+days, sir."
+
+"Well, my dear girl, she is not very comfortable," said Rodin; "I
+promised one of her friends to send her some little assistance.  I have
+applied to a charitable person, and that is what I received for her."  So
+saying, he drew from his pocket a sealed roll of coin, which he delivered
+to Mother Bunch, who was now both surprised and affected.
+
+"You have a sister in trouble, and I know nothing of it?" said Adrienne,
+hastily.  "This is not right of you, my child!"
+
+"Do not blame her," said Rodin.  "First of a11, she did not know that her
+sister was in distress, and, secondly, she could not ask you, my dear
+young lady, to interest yourself about her."
+
+As Mdlle. de Cardoville looked at Rodin with astonishment, he added,
+again speaking to the hunchback: "Is not that true, my dear girl!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the sempstress, casting down her eyes and blushing.
+Then she added, hastily and anxiously: "But when did you see my sister,
+sir? where is she? how did she fall into distress?"
+
+"All that would take too long to tell you, my dear girl; but go as soon
+as possible to the greengrocer's in the Rue Clovis, and ask to speak to
+your sister as from M. Charlemagne or M.  Rodin, which you please, for I
+am equally well known in that house by my Christian name as by my
+surname, and then you will learn all about it.  Only tell your sister,
+that, if she behaves well, and keeps to her good resolutions, there are
+some who will continue to look after her."
+
+More and more surprised, Mother Bunch was about to answer Rodin, when the
+door opened, and M. de Gernande entered.  The countenance of the
+magistrate was grave and sad.
+
+"Marshal Simon's daughters!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"Unfortunately, they are not with me," answered the judge.
+
+"Then, where are they, sir?  What have they done with them?  The day
+before yesterday, they were in the convent!" cried Dagobert, overwhelmed
+by this complete destruction of his hopes.
+
+Hardly had the soldier pronounced these words, when, profiting by the
+impulse which gathered all the actors in this scene about the magistrate,
+Rodin withdrew discreetly towards the door, and disappeared without any
+one perceiving his absence.  Whilst the soldier, thus suddenly thrown
+back to the depths of his despair, looked at M. de Gernande, waiting with
+anxiety for the answer, Adrienne said to the magistrate: "But, sir, when
+you applied at the convent, what explanation did the superior give on the
+subject of these young girls?"
+
+"The lady superior refused to give any explanation, madame.  `You
+pretend,' said she, `that the young persons of whom you speak are
+detained here against their will.  Since the law gives you the right of
+entering this house, make your search.' `But, madame, please to answer me
+positively,' said I to the superior; `do you declare, that you know
+nothing of the young girls, whom I have come to claim?' `I have nothing
+to say on this subject, sir.  You assert, that you are authorized to make
+a search: make it.' Not being able to get any other explanation,"
+continued the magistrate, "I searched all parts of the convent, and had
+every door opened--but, unfortunately, I could find no trace of these
+young ladies."
+
+"They must have sent them elsewhere," cried Dagobert; "who knows?--
+perhaps, ill.  They will kill them--O God! they will kill them!" cried
+he, in a heart-rending tone.
+
+"After such a refusal, what is to be done?  Pray, sir, give us your
+advice; you are our providence," said Adrienne, turning to speak to
+Rodin, who she fancied was behind her.  "What is your--"
+
+Then, perceiving that the Jesuit had suddenly disappeared, she said to
+Mother Bunch, with uneasiness: "Where is M. Rodin?"
+
+"I do not know, madame," answered the girl, looking round her; "he is no
+longer here."
+
+"It is strange," said Adrienne, "to disappear so abruptly!"
+
+"I told you he was a traitor!" cried Dagobert, stamping with rage; "they
+are all in a plot together."
+
+"No, no," said Mdlle. de Cardoville; "do not think that.  But the absence
+is not the less to be regretted, for, under these difficult
+circumstances, he might have given us very useful information, thanks to
+the position he occupied at M. d'Aigrigny's."
+
+"I confess, madame, that I rather reckoned upon it," said M. de Gernande;
+"and I returned hither, not only to inform you of the fruitless result of
+my search, but also to seek from the upright and honorable roan, who so
+courageously unveiled these odious machinations, the aid of his counsels
+in this contingency."
+
+Strangely enough, for the last few moments Dagobert was so completely
+absorbed in thought, that he paid no attention to the words of the
+magistrate, however important to him.  He did not even perceive the
+departure of M. de Gernande, who retired after promising Adrienne that he
+would neglect no means to arrive at the truth, in regard to the
+disappearance of the orphans.  Uneasy at this silence, wishing to quit
+the house immediately, and induce Dagobert to accompany her, Adrienne,
+after exchanging a rapid glance with Mother Bunch, was advancing towards
+the soldier, when hasty steps were heard from without the chamber, and a
+manly sonorous voice, exclaiming with impatience, "Where is he--where is
+he?"
+
+At the sound of this voice, Dagobert seemed to rouse himself with a
+start, made a sudden bound, and with a loud cry, rushed towards the door.
+It opened.  Marshal Simon appeared on the threshold!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+PIERRE SIMON.
+
+Marshal Pierre Simon, Duke de Ligny, was a man of tall stature, plainly
+dressed in a blue frock-coat, buttoned up to the throat, with a red
+ribbon tied to the top buttonhole.  You could not have wished to see a
+more frank, honest, and chivalrous cast of countenance than the
+marshal's.  He had a broad forehead, an aquiline nose, a well formed
+chin, and a complexion bronzed by exposure to the Indian sun.  His hair,
+cut very short, was inclined to gray about the temples; but his eyebrows
+were still as black as his large, hanging moustache.  His walk was free
+and bold, and his decided movements showed his military impetuosity.  A
+man of the people, a man of war and action, the frank cordiality of his
+address invited friendliness and sympathy.  As enlightened as he was
+intrepid as generous as he was sincere, his manly, plebeian pride was the
+most remarkable part of his character.  As others are proud of their high
+birth, so was he of his obscure origin, because it was ennobled by the
+fine qualities of his father, the rigid republican, the intelligent and
+laborious artisan, who, for the space of forty years, had been the
+example and the glory of his fellow-workmen.  In accepting with gratitude
+the aristocratic title which the Emperor had bestowed upon him, Pierre
+Simon acted with that delicacy which receives from a friendly hand a
+perfectly useless gift, and estimates it according to the intention of
+the giver.  The religious veneration of Pierre Simon for the Emperor had
+never been blind; in proportion as his devotion and love for his idol
+were instructive and necessary, his admiration was serious, and founded
+upon reason.  Far from resembling those swashbucklers who love fighting
+for its own sake, Marshal Simon not only admired his hero as the greatest
+captain in the world, but he admired him, above all, because he knew that
+the Emperor had only accepted war in the hope of one day being able to
+dictate universal peace; for if peace obtained by glory and strength is
+great, fruitful, and magnificent, peace yielded by weakness and cowardice
+is sterile, disastrous, and dishonoring.  The son of a workman, Pierre
+Simon still further admired the Emperor, because that imperial parvenu
+had always known how to make that popular heart beat nobly, and,
+remembering the people, from the masses of whom he first arose, had
+invited them fraternally to share in regal and aristocratic pomp.
+
+When Marshal Simon entered the room, his countenance was much agitated.
+At sight of Dagobert, a flash of joy illumined his features; he rushed
+towards the soldier, extending his arms, and exclaimed, "My friend! my
+old friend!"
+
+Dagobert answered this affectionate salute with silent emotion.  Then the
+marshal, disengaging himself from his arms, and fixing his moist eyes
+upon him, said to him in so agitated a voice that his lips trembled,
+"Well, didst arrive in time for the 13th of February?"
+
+"Yes, general; but everything is postponed for four months."
+
+"And--my wife?--my child?"  At this question Dagobert shuddered, hung down
+his head, and was silent.
+
+"They are not, then, here?" asked Simon, with more surprise than
+uneasiness.  "They told me they were not at your house, but that I should
+find you here--and I came immediately.  Are they not with you?"
+
+"General," said Dagobert, becoming deadly pale; "general--"  Drying the
+drops of cold sweat that stood upon his forehead, he was unable to
+articulate a word, for his voice was checked in his parched throat.
+
+"You frighten me!" exclaimed Pierre Simon, becoming pale as the soldier,
+and seizing him by the arm.
+
+At this, Adrienne advanced, with a countenance full of grief and
+sympathy; seeing the cruel embarrassment of Dagobert, she wished to come
+to his assistance, and she said to Pierre Simon, in a mild but agitated
+voice, "Marshal, I am Mdlle. de Cardoville--a relation of your dear
+children."
+
+Pierre Simon turned around suddenly, as much struck with the dazzling
+beauty of Adrienne as with the words she had just pronounced.  He
+stammered out in his surprise, "You, madame--a relation--of my children!"
+
+He laid a stress on the last words, and looked at Dagobert in a kind of
+stupor.
+
+"Yes, marshal your children," hastily replied Adrienne; "and the love of
+those charming twin sisters--"
+
+"Twin sisters!" cried Pierre Simon, interrupting Mdlle. de Cardoville,
+with an outburst of joy impossible to describe.  "Two daughters instead
+of one!  Oh! what happiness for their mother!  Pardon me, madame, for
+being so impolite," he continued; "and so little grateful for what you
+tell me.  But you will understand it; I have been seventeen years without
+seeing my wife; I come, and I find three loved beings, instead of two.
+Thanks, madame: would I could express all the gratitude I owe you!  You
+are our relation; this is no doubt your house; my wife and children are
+with you.  Is it so?  You think that my sudden appearance might be
+prejudicial to them?  I will wait--but madame, you, that I am certain are
+good as fair--pity my impatience--will make haste to prepare them to
+receive me--"
+
+More and more agitated, Dagobert avoided the marshal's gaze, and trembled
+like a leaf.  Adrienne cast down her eyes without answering.  Her heart
+sunk within her, at thought of dealing the terrible blow to Marshal
+Simon.
+
+The latter, astonished at this silence, looking at Adrienne, then at the
+soldier, became first uneasy, and at last alarmed.  "Dagobert!" he
+exclaimed, "something is concealed from me!"
+
+"General!" stammered the soldier, "I assure you--I--I--."
+
+"Madame!" cried Pierre Simon, "I conjure you, in pity, speak to me
+frankly!--my anxiety is horrible.  My first fears return upon me.  What
+is it?  Are my wife and daughters ill?  Are they in danger?  Oh! speak!
+speak!"
+
+"Your daughters, marshal," said Adrienne "have been rather unwell, since
+their long journey--but they are in no danger."
+
+"Oh, heaven! it is my wife!"
+
+"Have courage, sir!" said Mdlle. de Cardoville, sadly. "Alas! you must
+seek consolation in the affection of the  two angels that remain to you."
+
+"General!" said Dagobert, in a firm grave tone, "I returned from Siberia-
+-alone with your two daughters."
+
+"And their mother! their mother!" cried Simon, in a voice of despair.
+
+"I set out with the two orphans the day after her death," said the
+soldier.
+
+"Dead?" exclaimed Pierre Simon, overwhelmed by the stroke; "dead?"  A
+mournful silence was the only answer.  The marshal staggered beneath this
+unexpected shock, leaned on the back of a chair for support, and then,
+sinking into the seat, concealed his face with his hands.  For same
+minutes nothing was heard but stifled sobs, for not only had Pierre Simon
+idolized his wife, but by one of those singular compromises, that a man
+long cruelly tried sometimes makes with destiny, Pierre Simon, with the
+fatalism of loving souls, thought he had a right to reckon upon happiness
+after so many years of suffering, and had not for a moment doubted that
+he should find his wife and child--a double consolation reserved to him
+after going through so much.  Very different from certain people, whom
+the habit of misfortune renders less exacting, Simon had reckoned upon
+happiness as complete as had been his misery.  His wife and child were
+the sole, indispensable conditions of this felicity, and, had the mother
+survived her daughters, she would have no more replaced them in his eyes
+than they did her.  Weakness or avarice of the heart, so it was; we
+insist upon this singularity, because the consequences of these incessant
+and painful regrets exercised a great influence on the future life of
+Marshal Simon.  Adrienne and Dagobert had respected the overwhelming
+grief of this unfortunate man.  When he had given a free course to his
+tears, he raised his manly countenance, now of marble paleness, drew his
+hand across his blood-shot eyes, rose, and said to Adrienne, "Pardon me,
+madame; I could not conquer my first emotion.  Permit me to retire.  I
+have cruel details to ask of the worthy friend who only quitted my wife
+at the last moment.  Have the kindness to let me see my children--my poor
+orphans!--" And the marshal's voice again broke.
+
+"Marshal," said Mdlle. de Cardoville, "just now we were expecting your
+dear children: unfortunately, we have been deceived in our hopes."
+Pierre Simon first looked at Adrienne without answering, as if he had not
+heard or understood.--" But console yourself," resumed the young girl;
+"we have yet no reason to despair."
+
+"To despair?" repeated the marshaling by turns at Mdlle. de Cardoville
+despair?--of what, in heaven's name?"
+
+"Of seeing your children, marshal," said Adrienne; "the presence of their
+father will facilitate the search."
+
+"The search!" cried Pierre Simon.  "Then, my daughters are not here?"
+
+"No, sir," said Adrienne, at length; "they have been taken from the
+affectionate care of the excellent man who brought them from Russia, to
+be removed to a convent."
+
+"Wretch!" cried Pierre Simon, advancing towards Dagobert, with a menacing
+and terrible aspect; "you shall answer to me for all!"
+
+"Oh, sir, do not blame him!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"General," said Dagobert, in a tone of mournful resignation, "I merit
+your anger.  It is my fault.  Forced to absent myself from Paris, I
+entrusted the children to my wife; her confessor turned her head, and
+persuaded her that your daughters would be better in a convent than at
+our house.  She believed him, and let them be conveyed there.  Now they
+say at the convent, that they do not know where they are.  This is the
+truth: do what you will with me; I have only to silently endure."
+
+"This is infamous!" cried Pierre Simon, pointing to Dagobert, with a
+gesture of despairing indignation.  "In whom can a man confide, if he has
+deceived me? Oh, my God!"
+
+"Stay, marshal! do not blame him," repeated Mdlle. de Cardoville; "do not
+think so!  He has risked life and honor to rescue your children from the
+convent.  He is not the only one who has failed in this attempt.  Just
+now, a magistrate--despite his character and authority--was not more
+successful.  His firmness towards the superior, his minute search of the
+convent, were all in vain.  Up to this time it has been impossible to
+find these unfortunate children."
+
+"But where's this convent!" cried Marshal Simon, raising his head, his
+face all pale and agitated with grief and rage.  "Where is it?  Do these
+vermin know what a father is, deprived of his children?"  At the moment
+when Marshal Simon, turning towards Dagobert, pronounced these words,
+Rodin, holding Rose and Blanche by the hand, appeared at the open door of
+the chamber.  On hearing the marshal's exclamation, he started with
+surprise, and a flash of diabolical joy lit up his grim countenance--for
+he had not expected to meet Pierre Simon so opportunely.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville was the first to perceive the presence of Rodin.
+She exclaimed, as she hastened towards him: "Oh!  I was not deceived.  He
+is still our providence."
+
+"My poor children!" said Rodin, in a low voice, to the young girls, as he
+pointed to Pierre Simon, "this is your father!"
+
+"Sir!" cried Adrienne, following close upon Rose and Blanche.  "Your
+children are here!"
+
+As Simon turned round abruptly, his two daughters threw themselves into
+his arms.  Here was a long silence, broken only by sobs, and kisses, and
+exclamations of joy.
+
+"Come forward, at least, and enjoy the good you have done!" said Mdlle.
+de Cardoville, drying her eyes, and turning towards Rodin, who, leaning
+against the door, seemed to contemplate this scene with deep emotion.
+
+Dagobert, at sight of Rodin bringing back the children, was at first
+struck with stupor, and unable to move a step; but hearing the words of
+Adrienne, and yielding to a burst of almost insane gratitude, he threw
+himself on his knees before the Jesuit, joined his hands together, and
+exclaimed in a broken voice: "You have saved me, by bringing back these
+children."
+
+"Oh, bless you, sir!" said Mother Bunch, yielding to the general current.
+
+"My good friends, this is too much," said Rodin, as if his emotions were
+beyond his strength; "this is really too much for me.  Excuse me to the
+marshal, and tell him that I am repaid by the sight of his happiness."
+
+"Pray, sir," said Adrienne, "let the marshal at least have the
+opportunity to see and know you."
+
+"Oh, remain! you that have saved us all!" cried Dagobert, trying to stop
+Rodin.
+
+"Providence, you know, my dear young lady, does not trouble itself about
+the good that is done, but the good that remains to do," said Rodin, with
+an accent of playful kindness.  "Must I not think of Prince Djalma?  My
+task is not finished, and moments are precious.  Come," he added,
+disengaging himself gently from Dagobert's hold, "come the day has been
+as good a one as I had hoped..  The Abbe d'Aigrigny is unmasked; you are
+free, my dear young lady; you have recovered your cross, my brave
+soldier; Mother Bunch is sure of a protectress; the marshal has found his
+children.  I have my share in all these joys, it is a full share--my
+heart is satisfied.  Adieu, my friends, till we meet again."  So saying,
+Rodin waved his hand affectionately to Adrienne, Dagobert, and the
+hunchback, and withdrew, waving his hand with a look of delight on
+Marshal Simon, who, seated between his daughters, held them in his arms,
+and covered them with tears and kisses, remaining quite indifferent to
+all that was passing around him.
+
+An hour after this scene, Mdlle. de Cardoville and the sempstress,
+Marshal Simon, his two daughters and Dagobert quitted Dr. Beleinier's
+asylum.
+
+In terminating this episode, a few words by way of moral, with regard to
+lunatic asylums and convents may not be out of place.  We have said, and
+we repeat, that the laws which apply to the superintendence of lunatic
+asylums appear to us insufficient.  Facts that have recently transpired
+before the courts, and other facts that have been privately communicated
+to us, evidently prove this insufficiency.  Doubtless, magistrates have
+full power to visit lunatic asylums.  They are even required to make such
+visits.  But we know, from the best authority, that the numerous and
+pressing occupations of magistrates, whose number is often out of
+proportion with the labor imposed upon them, render these inspections so
+rare, that they are, so to speak, illusory.  It appears, therefore, to us
+advisable to institute a system of inspections, at least twice a month,
+especially designed for lunatic asylums, and entrusted to a physician and
+a magistrate, so that every complaint may be submitted to a double
+examination.  Doubtless, the law is sufficient when its ministers are
+fully informed; but how many formalities, how many difficulties must be
+gone through, before they can be so, particularly when the unfortunate
+creature who needs their assistance, already suspected, isolated, and
+imprisoned, has no friend to come forward in defence, and demand, in his
+or her name, the protection of the authorities!  Is it not imperative,
+therefore, on the civil power, to meet these necessities by a periodical
+and well-organized system of inspection?
+
+What we here say of lunatic asylums will apply with still greater force
+to convents for women, seminaries, and houses inhabited by religious
+bodies.  Recent and notorious facts, with which all France has rung,
+have, unfortunately, proved that violence, forcible detention, barbarous
+usage, abduction of minors, and illegal imprisonment, accompanied by
+torture, are occurrences which, if not frequent, are at least possible in
+religious houses.  It required singular accidents, audacious and cynical
+brutalities; to bring these detestable actions to public knowledge.  How
+many other victims have been, and, perhaps still are, entombed in those
+large silent mansions, where no profane look may penetrate, and which,
+through the privileges of the clergy, escape the superintendence of the
+civil power.  Is it not deplorable that these dwellings should not also
+be subject to periodical inspection, by visitors consisting, if it be
+desired, of a priest, a magistrate, and some delegate of the municipal
+authorities?  If nothing takes place, but what is legal, human, and
+charitable, in these establishments, which have all the character,
+and incur all the responsibility, of public institutions, why this
+resistance, this furious indignation of the church party, when any
+mention is made of touching what they call their privileges?  There is
+something higher than the constitutions devised at Rome.  We mean the Law
+of France--the common law--which grants to all protection, but which, in
+return, exacts from all respect and obedience.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wandering Jew, V6, by Eugene Sue
+
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wandering Jew v6, by Eugene Sue
+#6 in our series by Eugene Sue
+
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+Title: The Wandering Jew, v6
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+Author: Eugene Sue
+
+Release Date: December, 2002  [Etext #3344]
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+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+and Pat Castevens  <patcat@ctnet.net>
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WANDERING JEW
+
+By Eugene Sue
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+PART SECOND.--THE CHASTISEMENT.  (Concluded.)
+
+XXVI.      A Good Genius
+XXVII.     The First Last, And the Last First
+XXVIII.    The Stranger
+XXIX.      The Den
+XXX.       An Unexpected Visit
+XXXI.      Friendly Services
+XXXII.     The Advice
+XXXIII.    The Accuser
+XXXIV.     Father d'Aigrigny's Secretary
+XXXV.      Sympathy
+XXXVI.     Suspicions
+XXXVII.    Excuses
+XXXVIII.   Revelations
+XXXIX.     Pierre Simon
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A GOOD GENIUS.
+
+The first of the two, whose arrival had interrupted the answer of the
+notary, was Faringhea.  At sight of this man's forbidding countenance,
+Samuel approached, and said to him: "Who are you, sir?"
+
+After casting a piercing glance at Rodin, who started but soon recovered
+his habitual coolness, Faringhea replied to Samuel: "Prince Djalma
+arrived lately from India, in order to be present here this day, as it
+was recommended to him by an inscription on a medal, which he wore about
+his neck."
+
+"He, also!" cried Gabriel, who had been the shipmate of the Indian Prince
+from the Azores, where the vessel in which he came from Alexandria had
+been driven into port: "he also one of the heirs!  In fact, the prince
+told me during the voyage that his mother was of French origin.  But,
+doubtless, he thought it right to conceal from me the object of his
+journey.  Oh! that Indian is a noble and courageous young man.  Where is
+he?"
+
+The Strangler again looked at Rodin, and said, laying strong emphasis
+upon his words: "I left the prince yesterday evening.  He informed me
+that, although he had a great interest to be here, he might possibly
+sacrifice that interest to other motives.  I passed the night in the same
+hotel, and this morning, when I went to call on him, they told me he was
+already gone out.  My friendship for him led me to come hither, hoping
+the information I should be able to give might be of use to the prince."
+
+In making no mention of the snare into which he had fallen the day
+before, in concealing Rodin's machinations with regard to Djalma, and in
+attributing the absence of this latter to a voluntary cause, the
+Strangler evidently wished to serve the socius, trusting that Rodin would
+know how to recompense his discretion.  It is useless to observe, that
+all this story was impudently false.  Having succeeded that morning in
+escaping from his prison by a prodigious effort of cunning, audacity, and
+skill, he had run to the hotel where he had left Djalma; there he had
+learned that a man and woman, of an advanced age, and most respectable
+appearance, calling themselves relations of the young Indian, had asked
+to see him--and that, alarmed at the dangerous state of somnolency in
+which he seemed to be plunged, they had taken him home in their carriage,
+in order to pay him the necessary attention.
+
+"It is unfortunate," said the notary, "that this heir also did not make
+his appearance--but he has, unhappily, forfeited his right to the immense
+inheritance that is in question."
+
+"Oh! an immense inheritance is in question," said Faringhea, looking
+fixedly at Rodin, who prudently turned away his eyes.
+
+The second of the two personages we have mentioned entered at this
+moment.  It was the father of Marshal Simon, an old man of tall stature,
+still active and vigorous for his age.  His hair was white and thin.  His
+countenance, rather fresh-colored, was expressive at once of quickness,
+mildness and energy.
+
+Agricola advanced hastily to meet him.  "You here, M. Simon!" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, my boy," said the marshal's father, cordially pressing Agricola's
+hand "I have just arrived from my journey.  M. Hardy was to have been
+here, about some matter of inheritance, as he supposed: but, as he will
+still be absent from Paris for some time, he has charged me--"
+
+"He also an heir!--M. Francis Hardy!" cried Agricola, interrupting the
+old workman.
+
+"But how pale and agitated you are, my boy!" said the marshal's father,
+looking round with astonishment.  "What is the matter?"
+
+"What is the matter?" cried Dagobert, in despair, as he approached the
+foreman.  "The matter is that they would rob your granddaughters, and
+that I have brought them from the depths of Siberia only to witness this
+shameful deed!"
+
+"Eh?" cried the old workman, trying to recognize the soldiers face, "you
+are then--"
+
+"Dagobert."
+
+"You--the generous, devoted friend of my son!" cried the marshal's
+father, pressing the hands of Dagobert in his own with strong emotion;
+"but did you not speak of Simon's daughter?"
+
+"Of his daughters; for he is more fortunate than he imagines," said
+Dagobert.  "The poor children are twins."
+
+"And where are they?" asked the old man.
+
+"In a convent."
+
+"In a convent?"
+
+"Yes; by the treachery of this man, who keeps them there in order to
+disinherit them."
+
+"What man?"
+
+"The Marquis d'Aigrigny."
+
+"My son's mortal enemy!" cried the old workman, as he threw a glance of
+aversion at Father d'Aigrigny, whose audacity did not fail him.
+
+"And that is not all," added Agricola.  "M. Hardy, my worthy and
+excellent master, has also lost his right to this immense inheritance."
+
+"What?" cried Marshal Simon's father; "but M. Hardy did not know that
+such important interests were concerned.  He set out hastily to join one
+of his friends who was in want of him."
+
+At each of these successive revelations, Samuel felt his trouble
+increase: but he could only sigh over it, for the will of the testator
+was couched, unhappily, in precise and positive terms.
+
+Father d'Aigrigny, impatient to end this scene, which caused him cruel
+embarrassment, in spite of his apparent calmness, said to the notary, in
+a grave and expressive voice:  "It is necessary, sir, that all this
+should have an end.  If calumny could reach me, I would answer
+victoriously by the facts that have just come to light.  Why attribute to
+odious conspiracies the absence of the heirs, in whose names this soldier
+and his son have so uncourteously urged their demands?  Why should such
+absence be less explicable than the young Indian's, or than M. Hardy's,
+who, as his confidential man has just told us, did not even know the
+importance of the interests that called him hither?  Is it not probable,
+that the daughters of Marshal Simon, and Mdlle. de Cardoville have been
+prevented from coming here to-day by some very natural reasons?  But,
+once again, this has lasted too long.  I think M. Notary will agree with
+me, that this discovery of new heirs does not at all affect the question,
+which I had the honor to propose to him just now; namely whether, as
+trustee for the poor, to whom Abbe Gabriel made a free gift of all he
+possessed, I remain notwithstanding his tardy and illegal opposition, the
+only possessor of this property, which I have promised, and which I now
+again promise, in presence of all here assembled, to employ for the
+Greater Glory of the Lord?  Please to answer me plainly, M. Notary; and
+thus terminate the scene which must needs be painful to us all."
+
+"Sir," replied the notary, in a solemn tone, "on my soul and conscience,
+and in the name of law and justice--as a faithful and impartial executor
+of the last will of M. Marius de Rennepont, I declare that, by virtue of
+the deed of gift of Abbe Gabriel de Rennepont, you, M. l'Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+are the only possessor of this property, which I place at your immediate
+disposal, that you may employ the same according to the intention of the
+donor."
+
+These words pronounced with conviction and gravity, destroyed the last
+vague hopes that the representatives of the heirs might till then have
+entertained.  Samuel became paler than usual, and pressed convulsively
+the hand of Bathsheba, who had drawn near to him.  Large tears rolled
+down the cheeks of the two old people.  Dagobert and Agricola were
+plunged into the deepest dejection.  Struck with the reasoning of the
+notary, who refused to give more credence and authority to their
+remonstrances than the magistrates had done before him, they saw
+themselves forced to abandon every hope.  But Gabriel suffered more than
+any one; he felt the most terrible remorse, in reflecting that, by his
+blindness, he had been the involuntary cause and instrument of this
+abominable theft.
+
+So, when the notary, after having examined and verified the amount of
+securities contained in the cedar box, said to Father d'Aigrigny: "Take
+possession, sir, of this casket--"  Gabriel exclaimed, with bitter
+disappointment and profound despair: "Alas! one would fancy, under these
+circumstances, that an inexorable fatality pursues all those who are
+worthy of interest, affection or respect.  Oh, my God!" added the young
+priest, clasping his hands with fervor, "Thy sovereign justice will never
+permit the triumph of such iniquity."
+
+It was as if heaven had listened to the prayer of the missionary.  Hardly
+had he spoken, when a strange event took place.
+
+Without waiting for the end of Gabriel's invocation, Rodin, profiting by
+the decision of the notary, had seized the casket in his arms, unable to
+repress a deep aspiration of joy and triumph.  At the very moment when
+Father d'Aigrigny and his socius thought themselves at last in safe
+possession of the treasure, the door of the apartment in which the clock
+had been heard striking was suddenly opened.
+
+A woman appeared upon the threshold.
+
+At sight of her, Gabriel uttered a loud cry, and remained as if
+thunderstruck.  Samuel and Bathsheba fell on their knees together, and
+raised their clasped hands.  The Jew and Jewess felt inexplicable hopes
+reviving within them.
+
+All the other actors in this scene appeared struck with stupor.  Rodin--
+Rodin himself--recoiled two steps, and replaced the casket on the table
+with a trembling hand.  Though the incident might appear natural enough--
+a woman appearing on the threshold of a door, which she had just thrown
+open--there was a pause of deep and solemn silence.  Every bosom seemed
+oppressed, and as if struggling for breath.  All experienced, at sight of
+this woman, surprise mingled with fear, and indefinable anxiety--for this
+woman was the living original of the portrait, which had been placed in
+the room a hundred and fifty years ago.  The same head-dress, the same
+flowing robe, the same countenance, so full of poignant and resigned
+grief!  She advanced slowly, and without appearing to perceive the deep
+impression she had caused.  She approached one of the pieces of
+furniture, inlaid with brass, touched a spring concealed in the moulding
+of gilded bronze, so that an upper drawer flew open, and taking from it a
+sealed parchment envelope, she walked up to the table, and placed this
+packet before the notary, who, hitherto silent and motionless, received
+it mechanically from her.
+
+Then, casting upon Gabriel, who seemed fascinated by her presence, a
+long, mild, melancholy look, this woman directed her steps towards the
+hall, the door of which had remained open.  As she passed near Samuel and
+Bathsheba, who were still kneeling, she stopped an instant, bowed her
+fair head towards them, and looked at them with tender solicitude.  Then,
+giving them her hands to kiss, she glided away as slowly as she had
+entered--throwing a last glance upon Gabriel.  The departure of this
+woman seemed to break the spell under which all present had remained for
+the last few minutes.  Gabriel was the first to speak, exclaiming, in an
+agitated voice.  "It is she--again--here--in this house!"
+
+"Who, brother?" said Agricola, uneasy at the pale and almost wild looks
+of the missionary; for the smith had not yet remarked the strange
+resemblance of the woman to the portrait, though he shared in the general
+feeling of amazement, without being able to explain it to himself.
+Dagobert and Faringhea were in a similar state of mind.
+
+"Who is this woman?" resumed Agricola, as he took the hand of Gabriel,
+which felt damp and icy cold.
+
+"Look!" said the young priest.  "Those portraits have been there for more
+than a century and a half."
+
+He pointed to the paintings before which he was now seated, and Agricola,
+Dagobert, and Faringhea raised their eyes to either side of the
+fireplace.  Three exclamations were now heard at once.
+
+"It is she--it is the same woman!" cried the smith, in amazement, "and
+her portrait has been here for a hundred and fifty years!"
+
+"What do I see?" cried Dagobert, as he gazed at the portrait of the man.
+"The friend and emissary of Marshal Simon.  Yes! it is the same face that
+I saw last year in Siberia.  Oh, yes! I recognize that wild and sorrowful
+air--those black eyebrows, which make only one!"
+
+"My eyes do not deceive me," muttered Faringhea to himself, shuddering
+with horror.  "It is the same man, with the black mark on his forehead,
+that we strangled and buried on the banks of the Ganges--the same man,
+that one of the sons of Bowanee told me, in the ruins of Tchandi, had
+been met by him afterwards at one of the gates of Bombay--the man of the
+fatal curse, who scatters death upon his passage--and his picture has
+existed for a hundred and fifty years!"
+
+And, like Dagobert and Agricola, the stranger could not withdraw his eyes
+from that strange portrait.
+
+"What a mysterious resemblance!" thought Father d'Aigrigny.  Then, as if
+struck with a sudden idea, he said to Gabriel: "But this woman is the
+same that saved your life in America?"
+
+"It is the same," answered Gabriel, with emotion; "and yet she told me
+she was going towards the North," added the young priest, speaking to
+himself.
+
+"But how came she in this house?" said Father d'Aigrigny, addressing
+Samuel.  "Answer me! did this woman come in with you, or before you?"
+
+"I came in first, and alone, when this door was first opened since a
+century and half," said Samuel, gravely.
+
+"Then how can you explain the presence of this woman here?" said Father
+d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I do not try to explain it," said the Jew.  "I see, I believe, and now I
+hope." added he, looking at Bathsheba with an indefinable expression.
+
+"But you ought to explain the presence of this woman!" said Father
+d'Aigrigny, with vague uneasiness.  "Who is she?  How came she hither?"
+
+"All I know is, sir, that my father has often told me; there are
+subterraneous communications between this house and distant parts of the
+quarter."
+
+"Oh! then nothing can be clearer," said Father d'Aigrigny; "it only
+remains to be known what this woman intends by coming hither.  As for her
+singular resemblance to this portrait, it is one of the freaks of
+nature."
+
+Rodin had shared in the general emotion, at the apparition of this
+mysterious woman.  But when he saw that she had delivered a sealed packet
+to the notary, the socius, instead of thinking of the strangeness of this
+unexpected vision, was only occupied with a violent desire to quit the
+house with the treasure which had just fallen to the Company.  He felt a
+vague anxiety at sight of the envelope with the black seal, which the
+protectress of Gabriel had delivered to the notary, and was still held
+mechanically in his hands.  The socius, therefore, judging this a very
+good opportunity to walk off with the casket, during the general silence
+and stupor which still continued, slightly touched Father d'Aigrigny's
+elbow, made him a sign of intelligence, and, tucking the cedar-wood chest
+under his arm, was hastening towards the door.
+
+"One moment, sir," said Samuel, rising, and standing in his path; "I
+request M. Notary to examine the envelope, that has just been delivered
+to him.  You may then go out."
+
+"But, sir," said Rodin, trying to force a passage, "the question is
+definitively decided in favor of Father d'Aigrigny.  Therefore, with your
+permission--"
+
+"I tell you, sir," answered the old man, in a loud voice, "that this
+casket shall not leave the house, until M. Notary has examined the
+envelope just delivered to him!"
+
+These words drew the attention of all,  Rodin was forced to retrace his
+steps.  Notwithstanding the firmness of his character, the Jew shuddered
+at the look of implacable hate which Rodin turned upon him at this
+moment.
+
+Yielding to the wish of Samuel, the notary examined the envelope with
+attention.  "Good Heaven!" he cried suddenly; "what do I see?--Ah! so
+much the better!"
+
+At this exclamation all eyes turned upon the notary.  "Oh! read, read,
+sir!" cried Samuel, clasping his hands together.  "My presentiments have
+not then deceived me!"
+
+"But, sir," said Father d'Aigrigny to the notary, for he began to share
+in the anxiety of Rodin, "what is this paper?"
+
+"A codicil," answered the notary; "a codicil, which reopens the whole
+question."
+
+"How, sir?" cried Father d'Aigrigny, in a fury, as he hastily drew nearer
+to the notary, "reopens the whole question!  By what right?"
+
+"It is impossible," added Rodin.  "We protest against it.
+
+"Gabriel! father! listen," cried Agricola, "all is not lost.  There is
+yet hope.  Do you hear, Gabriel?  There is yet hope."
+
+"What do you say?" exclaimed the young priest, rising, and hardly
+believing the words of his adopted brother.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the notary; "I will read to you the superscription of
+this envelope.  It changes, or rather, it adjourns, the whole of the
+testamentary provisions."
+
+"Gabriel!" cried Agricola, throwing himself on the neck of the
+missionary, "all is adjourned, nothing is lost!"
+
+"Listen, gentlemen," said the notary; and he read as follows:
+
+"'This is a Codicil, which for reasons herein stated, adjourns and
+prorogues to the 1st day of June, 1832, though without any other change,
+all the provisions contained in the testament made by me, at one o'clock
+this afternoon.  The house shall be reclosed, and the funds left in the
+hands of the same trustee, to be distributed to the rightful claimants on
+the 1st of June, 1832.
+
+"`Villetaneuse, this 13th of February, 1682, eleven o'clock at night.
+
+"'MARIUS DE RENNEPONT.'"
+
+
+"I protest against this codicil as a forgery!" cried Father d'Aigrigny
+livid with rage and despair.
+
+"The woman who delivered it to the notary is a suspicious character,"
+added Rodin.  "The codicil has been forged."
+
+"No, sir," said the notary, severely; "I have just compared the two
+signatures, and they are absolutely alike.  For the rest--what I said
+this morning, with regard to the absent heirs, is now applicable to you--
+the law is open; you may dispute the authenticity of this codicil.
+Meanwhile, everything will remain suspended--since the term for the
+adjustment of the inheritance is prolonged for three months and a half."
+
+When the notary had uttered these last words, Rodin's nails dripped
+blood; for the first time, his wan lips became red.
+
+"Oh, God! Thou hast heard and granted my prayer!" cried Gabriel, kneeling
+down with religious fervor, and turning his angelic face towards heaven.
+"Thy sovereign justice has not let iniquity triumph!"
+
+"What do you say, my brave boy?" cried Dagobert, who, in the first tumult
+of joy, had not exactly understood the meaning of the codicil.
+
+"All is put off, father!" exclaimed the smith; "the heirs will have three
+months and a half more to make their claim.  And now that these people
+are unmasked," added Agricola, pointing to Rodin and Father d'Aigrigny,
+"we have nothing more to fear from them.  We shall be on our guard; and
+the orphans, Mdlle. de Cardoville, my worthy master, M. Hardy, and this
+young Indian, will all recover their own."
+
+We must renounce the attempt to paint the delight, the transport of
+Gabriel and Agricola, of Dagobert, and Marshal Simon's father, of Samuel
+and Bathsheba.  Faringhea alone remained in gloomy silence, before the
+portrait of the man with the black-barred forehead.  As for the fury of
+Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, when they saw Samuel retake possession of
+the casket, we must also renounce any attempt to describe it.  On the
+notary's suggestion, who took with him the codicil, to have it opened
+according to the formalities of the law, Samuel agreed that it would be
+more prudent to deposit in the Bank of France the securities of immense
+value that were now known to be in his possession.
+
+While all the generous hearts, which had for a moment suffered so much,
+were overflowing with happiness, hope, and joy, Father d'Aigrigny and
+Rodin quitted the house with rage and death in their souls.  The reverend
+father got into his carriage, and said to his servants: "To Saint-Dizier
+House!"--Then, worn out and crushed, he fell back upon the seat, and hid
+his face in his hands, while he uttered a deep groan.  Rodin sat next to
+him, and looked with a mixture of anger and disdain at this so dejected
+and broken-spirited man.
+
+"The coward!" said he to himself.  "He despairs--and yet--"
+
+A quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in the Rue de Babylone,
+in the court-yard of Saint-Dizier House.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE FIRST LAST, AND THE LAST FIRST.
+
+The carriage had travelled rapidly to Saint-Dizier House.  During all the
+way, Rodin remained mute, contenting himself with observing Father
+d'Aigrigny, and listening to him, as he poured forth his grief and fury
+in a long monologue, interrupted by exclamations, lamentations, and
+bursts of rage, directed against the strokes of that inexorable destiny,
+which had ruined in a moment the best founded hopes.  When the carriage
+entered the courtyard, and stopped before the portico, the princess's
+face could be seen through one of the windows, half hidden by the folds
+of a curtain; in her burning anxiety, she came to see if it was really
+Father d'Aigrigny who arrived at the house.  Still more, in defiance of
+all ordinary rules, this great lady, generally so scrupulous as to
+appearances, hurried from her apartment, and descended several steps of
+the staircase, to meet Father d'Aigrigny, who was coming up with a
+dejected air.  At sight of the livid and agitated countenance of the
+reverend father, the princess stopped suddenly, and grew pale.  She
+suspected that all was lost.  A look rapidly exchanged with her old lover
+left her no doubt of the issue she so much feared.  Rodin humbly followed
+the reverend father, and both, preceded by the princess, entered the
+room.  The door once closed, the princess, addressing Father d'Aigrigny,
+exclaimed with unspeakable anguish: "What has happened?"
+
+Instead of answering this question, the reverend father, his eyes
+sparkling with rage, his lips white, his features contracted, looked
+fixedly at the princess, and said to her:  "Do you know the amount of
+this inheritance, that we estimated at forty millions?"
+
+"I understand," cried the princess; "we have been deceived.  The
+inheritance amounts to nothing, and all you have dare has been in vain."
+
+"Yes, it has indeed been in vain," answered the reverend father, grinding
+his teeth with rage; "it was no question of forty millions, but of two
+hundred and twelve millions.
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" repeated the princess in amazement, as
+she drew back a step.  "It is impossible!"
+
+"I tell you I saw the vouchers, which were examined by the notary."
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions?" resumed the princess, with deep
+dejection.  "It is an immense and sovereign power--and you have
+renounced--you have not struggled for it, by every possible means, and
+till the last moment?"
+
+"Madame, I have done all that I could!--notwithstanding the treachery of
+Gabriel, who this very morning declared that he renounced us, and
+separated from the Society."
+
+"Ungrateful!" said the princess, unaffectedly.
+
+"The deed of gift, which I had the precaution to have prepared by the
+notary, was in such good, legal form, that in spite of the objections of
+that accursed soldier and his son, the notary had put me in possession of
+the treasure."
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" repeated the princess clasping her
+hands.  "Verily it is like a dream!"
+
+"Yes," replied Father d'Aigrigny, bitterly, "for us, this possession is
+indeed a dream, for a codicil has been discovered, which puts off for
+three months and a half all the testamentary provisions.  Now that our
+very precautions have roused the suspicion of all these heirs--now that
+they know the enormous amount at stake--they will be upon their guard;
+and all is lost."
+
+"But who is the wretch that produced this codicil?"
+
+"A woman."
+
+"What woman?"
+
+"Some wandering creature, that Gabriel says he met in America, where she
+saved his life."
+
+"And how could this woman be there--how could she know the existence of
+this codicil?"
+
+"I think it was all arranged with a miserable Jew, the guardian of the
+house, whose family has had charge of the funds for three generations; he
+had no doubt some secret instructions, in case he suspected the detention
+of any of the heirs, for this Marius de Rennepont had foreseen that our
+Company would keep their eyes upon his race."
+
+"But can you not dispute the validity of this codicil?"
+
+"What, go to law in these times--litigate about a will--incur the
+certainty of a thousand clamors, with no security for success?--It is bad
+enough, that even this should get wind.  Alas! it is terrible.  So near
+the goal! after so much care and trouble.  An affair that had been
+followed up with so much perseverance during a century and a half!"
+
+"Two hundred and twelve millions!" said the princess.  "The Order would
+have had no need to look for establishments in foreign countries; with
+such resources, it would have been able to impose itself upon France."
+
+"Yes," resumed Father d'Aigrigny, with bitterness; "by means of
+education, we might have possessed ourselves of the rising generation.
+The power is altogether incalculable."  Then, stamping with his foot, he
+resumed: "I tell you, that it is enough to drive one mad with rage! an
+affair so wisely, ably, patiently conducted!"
+
+"Is there no hope?"
+
+"Only that Gabriel may not revoke his donation, in as far as concerns
+himself.  That alone would be a considerable sum--not less than thirty
+millions."
+
+"It is enormous--it is almost what you hoped," said the princess; "then
+why despair?"
+
+"Because it is evident that Gabriel will dispute this donation.  However
+legal it may be, he will find means to annul it, now that he is free,
+informed as to our designs, and surrounded by his adopted family.  I tell
+you, that all is lost.  There is no hope left.  I think it will be even
+prudent to write to Rome, to obtain permission to leave Paris for a
+while.  This town is odious to me!"
+
+"Oh, yes!  I see that no hope is left--since you, my friend, have decided
+almost to fly."
+
+Father d'Aigrigny was completely discouraged and broken down; this
+terrible blow had destroyed all life and energy within him.  He threw
+himself back in an arm-chair, quite overcome.  During the preceding
+dialogue, Rodin was standing humbly near the door, with his old hat in
+his hand.  Two or three times, at certain passages in the conversation
+between Father d'Aigrigny and the princess, the cadaverous face of the
+socius, whose wrath appeared to be concentrated, was slightly flushed,
+and his flappy eyelids were tinged with red, as if the blood mounted in
+consequence of an interior struggle; but, immediately after, his dull
+countenance resumed its pallid blue.
+
+"I must write instantly to Rome, to announce this defeat, which has
+become an event of the first importance, because it overthrows immense
+hopes," said Father d'Aigrigny, much depressed.
+
+The reverend father had remained seated; pointing to a table, he said to
+Rodin, with an abrupt and haughty air:
+
+"Write!"
+
+The socius placed his hat on the ground, answered with a respectful bow
+the command, and with stooping head and slanting walk, went to seat
+himself on a chair, that stood before a desk.  Then, taking pen and
+paper, he waited, silent and motionless, for the dictation of his
+superior.
+
+"With your permission, princess?" said Father d'Aigrigny to Madame de
+Saint-Dizier.  The latter answered by an impatient wave of the hand, as
+if she reproached him for the formal demand at such a time.  The reverend
+father bowed, and dictated these words in a hoarse and hollow voice: "All
+our hopes, which of late had become almost certainties, have been
+suddenly defeated.  The affair of the Rennepont inheritance, in spite of
+all the care and skill employed upon it, has completely and finally
+failed.  At the point to which matters had been brought, it is
+unfortunately worse than a failure; it is a most disastrous event for the
+Society, which was clearly entitled to this property, fraudulently
+withdrawn from a confiscation made in our favor.  My conscience at least
+bears witness, that, to the last moment, I did all that was possible to
+defend and secure our rights.  But I repeat, we must consider this
+important affair as lost absolutely and forever, and think no more about
+it."
+
+Thus dictating, Father d'Aigrigny's back was turned towards Rodin.  At a
+sudden movement made by the socius, in rising and throwing his pen upon
+the table, instead of continuing to write, the reverend father turned
+round, and, looking at Rodin with profound astonishment, said to him:
+"Well! what are you doing?"
+
+"It is time to end this--the man is mad!" said Rodin to himself, as he
+advanced slowly towards the fireplace.
+
+"What! you quit your place--you cease writing?" said the reverend father,
+in amazement.  Then, addressing the princess, who shared in his
+astonishment, he added, as he glanced contemptuously at the socius, "He
+is losing his senses."
+
+"Forgive him," replied Mme. de Saint-Dizier; "it is, no doubt, the
+emotion caused by the ruin of this affair."
+
+"Thank the princess, return to your place, and continue to write," said
+Father d'Aigrigny to Rodin, in a tone of disdainful compassion, as, with
+imperious finger, he pointed to the table.
+
+The socius, perfectly indifferent to this new order, approached the
+fireplace, drew himself up to his full height as he turned his arched
+back, planted himself firmly on his legs, stamped on the carpet with the
+heel of his clumsy, greasy shoes, crossed his hands beneath the flaps of
+his old, spotted coat, and, lifting his head, looked fixedly at Father
+d'Aigrigny.  The socius had not spoken a word, but his hideous
+countenance, now flushed, suddenly revealed such a sense of his
+superiority, and such sovereign contempt for Father d'Aigrigny, mingled
+with so calm and serene a daring, that the reverend father and the
+princess were quite confounded by it.  They felt themselves overawed by
+this little old man, so sordid and so ugly.  Father d'Aigrigny knew too
+well the customs of the Company, to believe his humble secretary capable
+of assuming so suddenly these airs of transcendent superiority without a
+motive, or rather, without a positive right.  Late, too late, the
+reverend father perceived, that this subordinate agent might be partly a
+spy, partly an experienced assistant, who, according to the constitutions
+of the Order, had the power and mission to depose and provisionally
+replace, in certain urgent cases, the incapable person over whom he was
+stationed as a guard.  The reverend father was not deceived.  From the
+general to the provincials, and to the rectors of the colleges, all the
+superior members of the Order have stationed near them, often without
+their knowledge, and in apparently the lowest capacities, men able to
+assume their functions at any given moment, and who, with this view,
+constantly keep up a direct correspondence with Rome.
+
+From the moment Rodin had assumed this position, the manners of Father
+d'Aigrigny, generally so haughty, underwent a change.  Though it cost him
+a good deal, he said with hesitation, mingled with deference: "You have,
+no doubt, the right to command me--who hitherto have commanded."  Rodin,
+without answering, drew from his well-rubbed and greasy pocket-book a
+slip of paper, stamped upon both sides, on which were written several
+lines in Latin.  When he had read it, Father d'Aigrigny pressed this
+paper respectfully, even religiously, to his lips: then returned it to
+Rodin, with a low bow.  When he again raised his head, he was purple with
+shame and vexation.  Notwithstanding his habits of passive obedience and
+immutable respect for the will of the Order, he felt a bitter and violent
+rage at seeing himself thus abruptly deposed from power.  That was not
+all.  Though, for a long time past, all relations in gallantry had ceased
+between him and Mme. de Saint-Dizier, the latter was not the less a
+woman; and for him to suffer this humiliation in presence of a woman was,
+undoubtedly, cruel, as, notwithstanding his entrance into the Order, he
+had not wholly laid aside the character of man of the world.  Moreover,
+the princess, instead of appearing hurt and offended by this sudden
+transformation of the superior into a subaltern, and of the subaltern
+into a superior, looked at Rodin with a sort of curiosity mingled with
+interest.  As a woman--as a woman, intensely ambitious, seeking to
+connect herself with every powerful influence--the princess loved this
+strange species of contrast.  She found it curious and interesting to see
+this man, almost in rags, mean in appearance, and ignobly ugly, and but
+lately the most humble of subordinates look down from the height of his
+superior intelligence upon the nobleman by birth, distinguished for the
+elegance of his manners, and just before so considerable a personage in
+the Society.  From that moment, as the more important personage of the
+two, Rodin completely took the place of Father d'Aigrigny in the
+princess's mind.  The first pang of humiliation over, the reverend
+father, though his pride bled inwardly, applied all his knowledge of the
+world to behave with redoubled courtesy towards Rodin, who had become his
+superior by this abrupt change of fortune.  But the ex-socius, incapable
+of appreciating, or rather of acknowledging, such delicate shades of
+manner, established himself at once, firmly, imperiously, brutally, in
+his new position, not from any reaction of offended pride, but from a
+consciousness of what he was really worth.  A long acquaintance with
+Father d'Aigrigny had revealed to him the inferiority of the latter.
+
+"You threw away your pen," said Father d'Aigrigny to Rodin with extreme
+deference, "while I was dictating a note for Rome.  Will you do me the
+favor to tell me how I have acted wrong?"
+
+"Directly," replied Rodin, in his sharp, cutting voice.  "For a long time
+this affair appeared to me above your strength; but I abstained from
+interfering.  And yet what mistakes! what poverty of invention; what
+coarseness in the means employed to bring it to bear!"
+
+"I can hardly understand your reproaches," answered Father d'Aigrigny,
+mildly, though a secret bitterness made its way through his apparent
+submission.  "Was not the success certain, had it not been for this
+codicil?  Did you not yourself assist in the measures that you now
+blame?"
+
+"You commanded, then, and it was my duty to obey.  Besides, you were just
+on the point of succeeding--not because of the means you had taken--but
+in spite of those means, with all their awkward and revolting brutality."
+
+"Sir--you are severe," said Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I am just.  One has to be prodigiously clever, truly, to shut up any one
+in a room, and then lock the door!  And yet, what else have you done?
+The daughters of General Simon?--imprisoned at Leipsic, shut up in a
+convent at Paris!  Adrienne de Cardoville?--placed in confinement.
+Sleepinbuff--put in prison.  Djalma?--quieted by a narcotic.  One only
+ingenious method, and a thousand times safer, because it acted morally,
+not materially, was employed to remove M. Hardy.  As for your other
+proceedings--they were all bad, uncertain, dangerous.  Why?  Because they
+were violent, and violence provokes violence.  Then it is no longer a
+struggle of keen, skillful, persevering men, seeing through the darkness
+in which they walk, but a match of fisticuffs in broad day.  Though we
+should be always in action, we should always shrink from view; and yet
+you could find no better plan than to draw universal attention to us by
+proceedings at once open and deplorably notorious.  To make them more
+secret, you call in the guard, the commissary of police, the jailers, for
+your accomplices.  It is pitiable, sir; nothing but the most brilliant
+success could cover such wretched folly; and this success has been
+wanting."
+
+"Sir," said Father d'Aigrigny, deeply hurt, for the Princess de Saint-
+Dizier, unable to conceal the sort of admiration caused in her by the
+plain, decisive words of Rodin, looked at her old lover, with an air that
+seemed to say, "He is right;"--"sir, you are more than severe in your
+judgment; and, notwithstanding the deference I owe to you, I must
+observe, that I am not accustomed--"
+
+"There are many other things to which you are not accustomed," said
+Rodin, harshly interrupting the reverend father; "but you will accustom
+yourself to them.  You have hitherto had a false idea of your own value.
+There is the old leaven of the soldier and the worlding fermenting within
+you, which deprives your reason of the coolness, lucidity, and
+penetration that it ought to possess.  You have been a fine military
+officer, brisk and gay, foremost in wars and festivals, with pleasures
+and women.  These things have half worn you out.  You will never be
+anything but a subaltern; you have been thoroughly tested.  You will
+always want that vigor and concentration of mind which governs men and
+events.  That vigor and concentration of mind I have--and do you know
+why?  It is because, solely devoted to the service of the Company, I have
+always been ugly, dirty, unloved, unloving--I have all my manhood about
+me!"
+
+In pronouncing these words, full of cynical pride, Rodin was truly
+fearful.  The princess de Saint-Dizier thought him almost handsome by his
+energy and audacity.
+
+Father d'Aigrigny, feeling himself overawed, invincibly and inexorably,
+by this diabolical being, made a last effort to resist and exclaimed,
+"Oh! sir, these boastings are no proofs of valor and power.  We must see
+you at work."
+
+"Yes," replied Rodin, coldly; "do you know at what work?"  Rodin was fond
+of this interrogative mode of expression.  "Why, at the work that you so
+basely abandon."
+
+"What!" cried the Princess de Saint-Dizier; for Father d'Aigrigny,
+stupefied at Rodin's audacity, was unable to utter a word.
+
+"I say," resumed Rodin, slowly, "that I undertake to bring to a good
+issue this affair of the Rennepont inheritance, which appears to you so
+desperate."
+
+"You?" cried Father d'Aigrigny.  "You?"
+
+"I."
+
+"But they have unmasked our maneuvers."
+
+"So much the better; we shall be obliged to invent others."
+
+"But they; will suspect us in everything."
+
+"So much the better; the success that is difficult is the most certain."
+
+"What! do you hope to make Gabriel consent not to revoke his donation,
+which is perhaps illegal?"
+
+"I mean to bring in to the coffers of the Company the whole of the two
+hundred and twelve millions, of which they wish to cheat us.  Is that
+clear?"
+
+"It is clear--but impossible."
+
+"And I tell you that it is, and must be possible.  Do you not understand,
+short-sighted as you are!" cried Rodin, animated to such a degree that
+his cadaverous face became slightly flushed; "do you not understand that
+it is no longer in our choice to hesitate?  Either these two hundred and
+twelve millions must be ours--and then the re-establishment of our
+sovereign influence in France is sure--for, in these venal times, with
+such a sum at command, you may bribe or overthrow a government, or light
+up the flame of civil war, and restore legitimacy, which is our natural
+ally, and, owing all to us, would give us all in return--"
+
+"That is clear," cried the princess, clasping her hands in admiration.
+
+"If, on the contrary," resumed Rodin, "these two hundred and twelve
+millions fall into the hands of the family of the Renneponts, it will be
+our ruin and our destruction.  We shall create a stock of bitter and
+implacable enemies.  Have you not heard the execrable designs of that
+Rennepont, with regard to the association he recommends, and which, by an
+accursed fatality, his race are just in a condition to realize?  Think of
+the forces that would rally round these millions.  There would be Marshal
+Simon, acting in the name of his daughters--that is, the man of the
+people become a duke, without being the vainer for it, which secures his
+influence with the mob, because military spirit and Bonapartism still
+represent, in the eyes of the French populace, the traditions of national
+honor and glory.  There would be Francis Hardy, the liberal, independent,
+enlightened citizen, the type of the great manufacturer, the friend of
+progress, the benefactor of his workmen.  There would be Gabriel--the
+good priest, as they say!--the apostle of the primitive gospel, the
+representative of the democracy of the church, of the poor country curate
+as opposed to the rich bishop, the tiller of the vine as opposed to him
+who sits in the shade of it; the propagator of all the ideas of
+fraternity, emancipation, progress--to use their own jargon--and that,
+not in the name of revolutionary and incendiary politics, but in the name
+of a religion of charity, love, and peace--to speak as they speak.
+There, too, would be Adrienne de Cardoville, the type of elegance, grace,
+and beauty, the priestess of the senses, which she deifies by refining
+and cultivating them.  I need not tell you of her wit and audacity; you
+know them but too well.  No one could be more dangerous to us than this
+creature, a patrician in blood, a plebeian in heart, a poet in
+imagination.  Then, too, there would be Prince Djalma, chivalrous, bold,
+ready for adventure, knowing nothing of civilized life, implacable in his
+hate as in his affection, a terrible instrument for whoever can make use
+of him.  In this detestable family, even such a wretch as Sleepinbuff,
+who in himself is of no value, raised and purified by the contact of
+these generous and far from narrow natures (as they call them), might
+represent the working class, and take a large share in the influence of
+that association.  Now do you not think that if all these people, already
+exasperated against us, because (as they say) we have wished to rob them,
+should follow the detestable counsels of this Rennepont--should unite
+their forces around this immense fortune, which would strengthen them a
+hundred-fold--do you not think that, if they declare a deadly war against
+us, they will be the most dangerous enemies that we have ever had?  I
+tell you that the Company has never been in such serious peril; yes, it
+is now a question of life and death.  We must no longer defend ourselves,
+but lead the attack, so as to annihilate this accursed race of Rennepont,
+and obtain possession of these millions."
+
+At this picture, drawn by Rodin with a feverish animation, which had only
+the more influence from its unexpectedness, the princess and Father
+d'Aigrigny looked at each other in confusion.
+
+"I confess," said the reverend father to Rodin, "I had not considered all
+the dangerous consequences of this association, recommended by M. de
+Rennepont.  I believe that the heir, from the characters we know them to
+be possessed of, would wish to realize this Utopia.  The peril is great
+and pressing; what is to be done?"
+
+"What, sir?  You have to act upon ignorant, heroic, enthusiastic natures
+like Djalma's--sensual and eccentric characters like Adrienne de
+Cardoville's--simple and ingenuous minds like Rose and Blanche Simon's--
+honest and frank dispositions like Francis Hardy's--angelic and pure
+souls like Gabriel's--brutal and stupid instincts like Jacques--and can
+you ask, "What is to be done?"
+
+"In truth, I do not understand you," said Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"I believe it.  Your past conduct shows as much," replied Rodin,
+contemptuously.  "You have had recourse to the lowest and most mechanical
+contrivances, instead of acting upon the noble and generous passions,
+which, once united, would constitute so formidable a bond; but which, now
+divided and isolated, are open to every surprise, every seduction, every
+attack!  Do you, at length understand me?  Not yet?" added Rodin,
+shrugging his shoulders.  "Answer me--do people die of despair?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May not the gratitude of successful love reach the last limits of insane
+generosity?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May there not be such horrible deceptions, that suicide is the only
+refuge from frightful realities?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May not the excess of sensuality lead to the grave by a slow and
+voluptuous agony?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are there not in life such terrible circumstances that the most worldly,
+the firmest, the most impious characters, throw themselves blindly,
+overwhelmed with despair, into the arms of religion, and abandon all
+earthly greatness for sackcloth, and prayers, and solitude?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are there not a thousand occasions in which the reaction of the passions
+works the most extraordinary changes, and brings about the most tragic
+catastrophes in the life of man and woman?"
+
+"No doubt."
+
+"Well, then! why ask me, `What is to be done?'  What would you say, for
+example, if before three months are over, the most dangerous members of
+this family of the Renneponts should come to implore, upon their knees,
+admission to that very Society which they now hold in horror, and from
+which Gabriel has just separated?"
+
+"Such a conversion is impossible," cried Father d'Aigrigny.
+
+"Impossible?  What were you, sir, fifteen years ago?" said Rodin.  "An
+impious and debauched man of the world.  And yet you came to us, and your
+wealth became ours.  What! we have conquered princes, kings, popes; we
+have absorbed and extinguished in our unity magnificent intelligences,
+which, from afar, shone with too dazzling a light; we have all but
+governed two worlds; we have perpetuated our Society, full of life, rich
+and formidable, even to this day, through all the hate, and all the
+persecutions that have assailed us; and yet we shall not be able to get
+the better of a single family, which threatens our Company, and has
+despoiled us of a large fortune?  What! we are not skillful enough to
+obtain this result without having recourse to awkward and dangerous
+violence?  You do not know, then, the immense field that is thrown open
+by the mutually destructive power of human passions, skillfully combined,
+opposed, restrained, excited?--particularly," added Rodin, with a strange
+smile, "when, thanks to a powerful ally, these passions are sure to be
+redoubled in ardor and energy."
+
+"What ally?" asked Father d'Aigrigny, who, as well as the Princess de
+Saint-Dizier, felt a sort of admiration mixed with terror.
+
+"Yes," resumed Rodin, without answering the reverend father; "this
+formidable ally, who comes to our assistance, may bring about the most
+astonishing transformations--make the coward brave, and the impious
+credulous, and the gentle ferocious--"
+
+"But this ally!" cried the Princess, oppressed with a vague sense of
+fear.  "This great and formidable ally--who is he?"
+
+"If he comes," resumed Rodin, still impassible, "the youngest and most
+vigorous, every moment in danger of death, will have no advantage over
+the sick man at his last gasp."
+
+"But who is this ally?" exclaimed Father d'Aigrigny, more and more
+alarmed, for as the picture became darker, Rodin's face become more
+cadaverous.
+
+"This ally, who can decimate a population, may carry away with him in the
+shroud that he drags at his heels, the whole of an accursed race; but
+even he must respect the life of that great intangible body, which does
+not perish with the death of its members--for the spirit of the Society
+of Jesus is immortal!"
+
+"And this ally?"
+
+"Oh, this ally," resumed Rodin, "who advances with slow steps, and whose
+terrible coming is announced by mournful presentiments--"
+
+"Is--"
+
+"The Cholera!"
+
+These words, pronounced by Rodin in an abrupt voice, made the Princess
+and Father d'Aigrigny grow pale and tremble.  Rodin's look was gloomy and
+chilling, like a spectre's.  For some moments, the silence of the tomb
+reigned in the saloon.  Rodin was the first to break it.  Still
+impassible, he pointed with imperious gesture to the table, where a few
+minutes before he had himself been humbly seated, and said in a sharp
+voice to Father d'Aigrigny, "Write!"
+
+The reverend father started at first with surprise; then, remembering
+that from a superior he had become an inferior, he rose, bowed lowly to
+Rodin, as he passed before him, seated himself at the table, took the
+pen, and said, "I am ready."
+
+Rodin dictated, and the reverend Father wrote as follows: "By the
+mismanagement of the Reverend Father d'Aigrigny, the affair of the
+inheritance of the Rennepont family has been seriously compromised.  The
+sum amounts to two hundred and twelve millions.  Notwithstanding the
+check we have received, we believe we may safely promise to prevent these
+Renneponts from injuring the Society, and to restore the two hundred and
+twelve millions to their legitimate possessors.  We only ask for the most
+complete and extensive powers."
+
+A quarter of an hour after this scene, Rodin left Saint Dizier House,
+brushing with his sleeve the old greasy hat, I which he had pulled off to
+return the salute of the porter by a very low bow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE STRANGER.
+
+The following scene took place on the morrow of the day in which Father
+d'Aigrigny had been so rudely degraded by Rodin to the subaltern position
+formerly occupied by the socius.
+
+It is well known that the Rue Clovis is one of the most solitary streets
+in the Montagne St. Genevieve district.  At the epoch of this narrative,
+the house No. 4, in this street, was composed of one principal building,
+through which ran a dark passage, leading to a little, gloomy court, at
+the end of which was a second building, in a singularly miserable and
+dilapidated condition.  On the ground-floor, in front of the house, was a
+half-subterraneous shop, in which was sold charcoal, fagots, vegetables,
+and milk.  Nine o'clock in the morning had just struck.  The mistress of
+the shop, one Mother Arsene, an old woman of a mild, sickly countenance,
+clad in a brown stuff dress, with a red bandanna round her head, was
+mounted on the top step of the stairs which led down to her door, and was
+employed in setting out her goods--that is, on one side of her door she
+placed a tin milk-can, and on the other some bunches of stale vegetables,
+flanked with yellowed cabbages.  At the bottom of the steps, in the
+shadowy depths of the cellar, one could see the light of the burning
+charcoal in a little stove.  This shop situated at the side of the
+passage, served as a porter's lodge, and the old woman acted as portress.
+On a sudden, a pretty little creature, coming from the house, entered
+lightly and merrily the shop.  This young girl was Rose-Pompon, the
+intimate friend of the Bacchanal Queen.--Rose-Pompon, a widow for the
+moment, whose bacchanalian cicisbeo was Ninny Moulin, the orthodox
+scapegrace, who, on occasion, after drinking his fill, could transform
+himself into Jacques Dumoulin, the religious writer, and pass gayly from
+dishevelled dances to ultramontane polemics, from Storm-blown Tulips to
+Catholic pamphlets.
+
+Rose-Pompon had just quitted her bed, as appeared by the negligence of
+her strange morning costume; no doubt, for want of any other head-dress,
+on her beautiful light hair, smooth and well-combed, was stuck jauntily a
+foraging-cap, borrowed from her masquerading costume.  Nothing could be
+more sprightly than that face, seventeen years old, rosy, fresh, dimpled,
+and brilliantly lighted up by a pair of gay, sparkling blue eyes.  Rose-
+Pompon was so closely enveloped from the neck to the feet in a red and
+green plaid cloak, rather faded, that one could guess the cause of her
+modest embarrassment.  Her naked feet, so white that one could not tell
+if she wore stockings or not, were slipped into little morocco shoes,
+with plated buckles.  It was easy to perceive that her cloak concealed
+some article which she held in her hand.
+
+"Good-day, Rose-Pompon," said Mother Arsene with a kindly air; "you are
+early this morning.  Had you no dance last night?"
+
+"Don't talk of it, Mother Arsene; I had no heart to dance.  Poor Cephyse-
+-the Bacchanal Queen--has done nothing but cry all night.  She cannot
+console herself, that her lover should be in prison."
+
+"Now, look here, my girl," said the old woman, "I must speak to you about
+your friend Cephyse.  You won't be angry?"
+
+"Am I ever angry?" said Rose-Pompon, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+"Don't you think that M. Philemon will scold me on his return?"
+
+"Scold you! what for?"
+
+"Because of his rooms, that you occupy."
+
+"Why, Mother Arsene, did not Philemon tell you, that, in his absence, I
+was to be as much mistress of his two rooms as I am of himself?"
+
+"I do not speak of you, but of your friend Cephyse, whom you have also
+brought to occupy M. Philemon's lodgings."
+
+"And where would she have gone without me, my good Mother Arsene?  Since
+her lover was arrested, she has not dared to return home, because she
+owes ever so many quarters.  Seeing her troubles.  I said to her: `Come,
+lodge at Philemon's.  When he returns, we must find another place for
+you.'"
+
+"Well, little lovey--if you only assure me that M. Philemon will not be
+angry--"
+
+"Angry! for what?  That we spoil his things?  A fine set of things he has
+to spoil!  I broke his last cup yesterday--and am forced to fetch the
+milk in this comic concern."
+
+So saying, laughing with all her might, Rose-Pompon drew her pretty
+little white arm from under her cloak, and presented to Mother Arsene one
+of those champagne glasses of colossal capacity, which hold about a
+bottle.
+
+"Oh, dear!" said the greengrocer in amazement; "it is like a glass
+trumpet."
+
+"It is Philemon's grand gala-glass, which they gave him when he took his
+degrees in boating," said Rose-Pompon, gravely.
+
+"And to think you must put your milk in it--I am really ashamed," said
+Mother Arsene.
+
+"So am I!  If I were to meet any one on the stairs, holding this glass in
+my hand like a Roman candlestick, I should burst out laughing, and break
+the last remnant of Philemon's bazaar, and he would give me his
+malediction."
+
+"There is no danger that you will meet any one.  The first-floor is gone
+out, and the second gets up very late."
+
+"Talking of lodgers," said Rose-Pompon, "is there not a room to let on
+the second-floor in the rear house?  It might do for Cephyse, when
+Philemon comes back."
+
+"Yes, there is a little closet in the roof--just over the two rooms of
+the mysterious old fellow," said Mother Arsene.
+
+"Oh, yes!  Father Charlemagne.  Have you found out anything more about
+him?"
+
+Dear me, no, my girl! only that he came this morning at break of day, and
+knocked at my shutters.  `Have you received a letter for me, my good
+lady?' said he--for he is always so polite, the dear man!--'No, sir,'
+said I.--`Well, then, pray don't disturb yourself, my good lady!' said
+he; `I will call again.' And so he went away."
+
+"Does he never sleep in the house?"
+
+"Never.  No doubt, he lodges somewhere else--but he passes some hours
+here, once every four or five days."
+
+"And always comes alone?"
+
+"Always."
+
+"Are you quite sure?  Does he never manage to slip in some little puss of
+a woman?  Take care, or Philemon will give you notice to quit," said
+Rose-Pompon, with an air of mock-modesty.
+
+"M. Charlemagne with a woman!  Oh, poor dear man!" said the greengrocer,
+raising her hands to heaven; "if you saw him, with his greasy hat, his
+old gray coat, his patched umbrella, and his simple face, he looks more
+like a saint than anything else."
+
+"But then, Mother Arsene, what does the saint do here, all alone for
+hours, in that hole at the bottom of the court, where one can hardly see
+at noon-day?"
+
+"That's what I ask myself, my dovey, what can he be doing?  It can't be
+that he comes to look at his furniture, for he has nothing but a flock-
+bed, a table, a stove, a chair, and an old trunk."
+
+"Somewhat in the style of Philemon's establishment," said Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Well, notwithstanding that, Rosey, he is as much afraid that any one
+should come into his room, as if we were all thieves, and his furniture
+was made of massy gold.  He has had a patent lock put on the door, at his
+own expense; he never leaves me his key; and he lights his fire himself,
+rather than let anybody into his room."
+
+"And you say he is old?"
+
+"Yes, fifty or sixty."
+
+"And ugly?"
+
+"Just fancy, little viper's eyes, looking as if they had been bored with
+a gimlet, in a face as pale as death--so pale, that the lips are white.
+That's for his appearance.  As for his character, the good old man's so
+polite!--he pulls off his hat so often, and makes you such low bows, that
+it is quite embarrassing."
+
+"But, to come back to the point," resumed Rose-Pompon, "what can he do
+all alone in those two rooms?  If Cephyse should take the closet, on
+Philemon's return, we may amuse ourselves by finding out something about
+it.  How much do they want for the little room?"
+
+"Why, it is in such bad condition, that I think the landlord would let it
+go for fifty or fifty-five francs a-year, for there is no room for a
+stove, and the only light comes through a small pane in the roof."
+
+"Poor Cephyse!" said Rose, sighing, and shaking her head sorrowfully.
+"After having amused herself so well, and flung away so much money with
+Jacques Rennepont, to live in such a place, and support herself by hard
+work!  She must have courage!"
+
+"Why, indeed, there is a great difference between that closet and the
+coach-and-four in which Cephyse came to fetch you the other day, with all
+the fine masks, that looked so gay--particularly the fat man in the
+silver paper helmet, with the plume and the top boots.  What a jolly
+fellow!"
+
+"Yes, Ninny Moulin.  There is no one like him to dance the forbidden
+fruit.  You should see him with Cephyse, the Bacchanal Queen.  Poor
+laughing, noisy thing!--the only noise she makes now is crying."
+
+"Oh! these young people--these young people!" said the greengrocer.
+
+"Easy, Mother Arsene; you were young once."
+
+"I hardly know.  I have always thought myself much the same as I am now."
+
+"And your lovers, Mother Arsene?"
+
+"Lovers!  Oh, yes! I was too ugly for that--and too well taken care of."
+
+"Your mother looked after you, then?"
+
+"No, my girl; but I was harnessed."
+
+"Harnessed!" cried Rose-Pompon, in amazement, interrupting the dealer.
+
+"Yes,--harnessed to a water-cart, along with my brother.  So, you see,
+when we had drawn like a pair of horses for eight or ten hours a day, I
+had no heart to think of nonsense."
+
+"Poor Mother Arsene, what a hard life," said Rose-Pompon with interest.
+
+"In the winter, when it froze, it was hard enough.  I and my brother were
+obliged to be rough-shod, for fear of slipping."
+
+"What a trade for a woman!  It breaks one's heart.  And they forbid
+people to harness dogs!" added Rose-Pompon, sententiously.[21]
+
+"Why, 'tis true," resumed Mother Arsene.  "Animals are sometimes better
+off than people.  But what would you have?  One must live, you know.  As
+you make your bed, you must lie.  It was hard enough, and I got a disease
+of the lungs by it--which was not my fault.  The strap, with which I was
+harnessed, pressed so hard against my chest, that I could scarcely
+breathe: so I left the trade, and took to a shop, which is just to tell
+you, that if I had had a pretty face and opportunity, I might have done
+like so many other young people, who begin with laughter and finish--"
+
+"With a laugh t'other side of the mouth--you would say; it is true,
+Mother Arsene.  But, you see, every one has not the courage to go into
+harness, in order to remain virtuous.  A body says to herself, you must
+have some amusement while you are young and pretty--you will not always
+be seventeen years old--and then--and then--the world will end, or you
+will get married."
+
+"But, perhaps, it would have been better to begin by that."
+
+"Yes, but one is too stupid; one does not know how to catch the men, or
+to frighten them.  One is simple, confiding, and they only laugh at us.
+Why, Mother Arsene, I am myself an example that would make you shudder;
+but 'tis quite enough to have had one's sorrows, without fretting one's
+self at the remembrance."
+
+"What, my beauty! you, so young and gay, have had sorrows?"
+
+"Ah, Mother Arsene!  I believe you.  At fifteen and a half I began to
+cry, and never left off till I was sixteen.  That was enough, I think."
+
+"They deceived you, mademoiselle?"
+
+"They did worse.  They treated me as they have treated many a poor girl,
+who had no more wish to go wrong than I had.  My story is not a three
+volume one.  My father and mother are peasants near Saint-Valery, but so
+poor--so poor, that having five children to provide for, they were
+obliged to send me, at eight years old, to my aunt, who was a charwoman
+here in Paris.  The good woman took me out of charity, and very kind it
+was of her, for I earned but little.  At eleven years of age she sent me
+to work in one of the factories of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.  I don't
+wish to speak, ill of the masters of these factories; but what do they
+care, if little boys and girls are mixed up pell-mell with young men and
+women of eighteen to twenty?  Now you see, there, as everywhere, some are
+no better than they should be; they are not particular in word or deed,
+and I ask you, what art example for the children, who hear and see more
+than you think for.  Then, what happens?  They get accustomed as they
+grow older, to hear and see things, that afterwards will not shock them
+at all."
+
+"What you say there is true, Rose-Pompon.  Poor children! who takes any
+trouble about them?--not their father or mother, for they are at their
+daily work."
+
+"Yes, yes, Mother Arsene, it is all very well; it is easy to cry down a
+young girl that has gone wrong; but if they knew all the ins and outs,
+they would perhaps pity rather than blame her.  To come back to myself--
+at fifteen years old I was tolerably pretty.  One day I had something to
+ask of the head clerk.  I went to him in his private room.  He told me he
+would grant what I wanted, and even take me under his patronage, if I
+would listen to him; and he began by trying to kiss me.  I resisted.
+Then he said to me:--'You refuse my offer?  You shall have no more work;
+I discharge you from the factory.'"
+
+"Oh, the wicked man!" said Mother Arsene.
+
+"I went home all in tears, and my poor aunt encouraged me not to yield,
+and she would try to place me elsewhere.  Yes--but it was impossible; the
+factories were all full.  Misfortunes never come single; my aunt fell
+ill, and there was not a sou in the house; I plucked up my courage, and
+returned to entreat the mercy of the clerk at the factory.  Nothing would
+do.  `So much the worse,' said he; `you are throwing away your luck.  If
+you had been more complying, I should perhaps have married you.'  What
+could I do, Mother Arsene?--misery was staring me in the face; I had no
+work; my aunt was ill; the clerk said he would marry me--I did like so
+many others."
+
+"And when, afterwards, you spoke to him about marriage?"
+
+"Of course he laughed at me, and in six months left me.  Then I wept all
+the tears in my body, till none remained--then I was very ill--and then--
+I console myself, as one may console one's self for anything.  After some
+changes, I met with Philemon.  It is upon him that I revenge myself for
+what others have done to me.  I am his tyrant," added Rose-Pompon, with a
+tragic air, as the cloud passed away which had darkened her pretty face
+during her recital to Mother Arsene.
+
+"It is true," said the latter thoughtfully.  "They deceive a poor girl--
+who is there to protect or defend her?  Oh! the evil we do does not
+always come from ourselves, and then--"
+
+"I spy Ninny Moulin!" cried Rose-Pompon, interrupting the greengrocer,
+and pointing to the other side of the street.  "How early abroad!  What
+can he want with me?" and Rose wrapped herself still more closely and
+modestly in her cloak.
+
+It was indeed Jacques Dumoulin, who advanced with his hat stuck on one
+side, with rubicund nose and sparkling eye, dressed in a loose coat,
+which displayed the rotundity of his abdomen.  His hands, one of which
+held a huge cane shouldered like a musket, were plunged into the vast
+pockets of his outer garment.
+
+Just as he reached the threshold of the door, no doubt with the intention
+of speaking to the portress, he perceived Rose-Pompon.  "What!" he
+exclaimed, "my pupil already stirring?  That is fortunate.  I came on
+purpose to bless her at the rise of morn!"
+
+So saying, Ninny Moulin advanced with open arms towards Rose-Pompon who
+drew back a step.
+
+"What, ungrateful child!" resumed the writer on divinity.  "Will you
+refuse me the morning's paternal kiss?"
+
+"I accept paternal kisses from none but Philemon.  I had a letter from
+him yesterday, with a jar of preserves, two geese, a bottle of home-made
+brandy, and an eel.  What ridiculous presents!  I kept the drink, and
+changed the rest for two darling live pigeons, which I have installed in
+Philemon's cabinet, and a very pretty dove-cote it makes me.  For the
+rest, my husband is coming back with seven hundred francs, which he got
+from his respectable family, under pretence of learning the bass viol,
+the cornet-a-piston, and the speaking trumpet, so as to make his way in
+society, and a slap-up marriage--to use your expression--my good child."
+
+"Well, my dear pupil, we will taste the family brandy, and enjoy
+ourselves in expectation of Philemon and his seven hundred francs."
+
+So saying, Ninny Moulin slapped the pockets of his waistcoat, which gave
+forth a metallic sound, and added: "I come to propose to you to embellish
+my life, to-day and to-morrow, and even the day after, if your heart is
+willing."
+
+"If the announcements are decent and fraternal, my heart does not say
+no."
+
+"Be satisfied; I will act by you as your grandfather, your great-
+grandfather, your family portrait.  We will have a ride, a dinner, the
+play, a fancy dress ball, and a supper afterwards.  Will that suit you?"
+
+"On condition that poor Cephyse is to go with us.  It will raise her
+spirits."
+
+"Well, Cephyse shall be of the party."
+
+"Have you come into a fortune, great apostle?"
+
+"Better than that, most rosy and pompous of all Rose-Pom, pons!  I am
+head editor of a religious journal; and as I must make some appearance in
+so respectable a concern, I ask every month for four weeks in advance,
+and three days of liberty.  On this condition, I consent to play the
+saint for twenty-seven days out of thirty, and to be always as grave and
+heavy as the paper itself."
+
+"A journal! that will be something droll, and dance forbidden steps all
+alone on the tables of the cafes."
+
+"Yes, it will be droll enough; but not for everybody.  They are rich
+sacristans, who pay the expenses.  They don't look to money, provided the
+journal bites, tears, burns, pounds, exterminates and destroys.  On my
+word of honor, I shall never have been in such a fury!" added Ninny
+Moulin, with a loud, hoarse laugh.  "I shall wash the wounds of my
+adversaries with venom of the finest vintage, and gall of the first
+quality."
+
+For his peroration, Ninny Moulin imitated the pop of uncorking a bottle
+of champagne--which made Rose-Pompon laugh heartily.
+
+"And what," resumed she, "will be the name of your journal of
+sacristans?"
+
+"It will be called `Neighborly Love.'"
+
+"Come! that is a very pretty name."
+
+"Wait a little! there is a second title."
+
+"Let us hear it."
+
+"`Neighborly Love; or, the Exterminator of the Incredulous, the
+Indifferent, the Lukewarm, and Others,' with this motto from the great
+Bossuet: `Those who are not for us are against us.'"
+
+"That is what Philemon says in the battles at the Chaumiere, when he
+shakes his cane."
+
+"Which proves, that the genius of the Eagle of Meaux is universal.  I
+only reproach him for having been jealous of Moliere."
+
+"Bah! actor's jealousy," said Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Naughty girl!" cried Ninny Moulin, threatening her with his finger.
+
+"But if you are going to exterminate Madame de la Sainte-Colombo, who is
+somewhat lukewarm--how about your marriage?"
+
+"My journal will advance it, on the contrary.  Only think! editor-In-
+chief is a superb position; the sacristans will praise, and push, and
+support, and bless me; I shall get La-Sainte-Colombe--and then, what a
+life I'll lead!"
+
+At this moment, a postman entered the shop, and delivered a letter to the
+greengrocer, saying: "For M. Charlemagne, post-paid!"
+
+"My!" said Rose-Pompon; "it is for the little mysterious old man, who has
+such extraordinary ways.  Does it come from far?"
+
+"I believe you; it comes from Italy, from Rome," said Ninny Moulin,
+looking in his turn at the letter, which the greengrocer held in her
+hand.  "Who is the astonishing little old man of whom you speak?"
+
+"Just imagine to yourself, my great apostle," said Rose-Pompon, "a little
+old man, who has two rooms at the bottom of that court.  He never sleeps
+there, but comes from time to time, and shuts himself up for hours,
+without ever allowing any one to enter his lodging, and without any one
+knowing what he does there."
+
+"He is a conspirator," said Ninny Moulin, laughing, "or else a comer."
+
+"Poor dear man," said Mother Arsene, "what has he done with his false
+money?  He pays me always in sous for the bit of bread and the radish I
+furnish him for his breakfast."
+
+"And what is the name of this mysterious chap?" asked Dumoulin.
+
+"M. Charlemagne," said the greengrocer.  "But look, surely one speaks of
+the devil, one is sure to see his horns."
+
+"Where's the horns?"
+
+"There, by the side of the house--that little old man, who walks with his
+neck awry, and his umbrella under his arm."
+
+"M. Rodin!" ejaculated Ninny Moulin, retreating hastily, and descending
+three steps into the shop, in order not to be seen.  Then he added.  "You
+say, that this gentleman calls himself--"
+
+"M. Charlemagne--do you know him?" asked the greengrocer.
+
+"What the devil does he do here, under a false name?" said Jacques
+Dumoulin to himself.
+
+"You know him?" said Rose-Pompon, with impatience.  "You are quite
+confused."
+
+"And this gentleman has two rooms in this house, and comes here
+mysteriously," said Jacques Dumoulin, more and more surprised.
+
+"Yes," resumed Rose-Pompon; "you can see his windows from Philemon's
+dove-cote."
+
+"Quick! quick! let me go into the passage, that I may not meet him," said
+Dumoulin.
+
+And, without having been perceived by Rodin, he glided from the shop into
+the passage, and thence mounted to the stairs, which led to the apartment
+occupied by Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Good-morning, M. Charlemagne," said Mother Arsene to Rodin, who made his
+appearance on the threshold.  "You come twice in a day; that is right,
+for your visits are extremely rare."
+
+"You are too polite, my good lady," said Rodin, with a very courteous
+bow; and he entered the shop of the greengrocer.
+
+[21] There are, really, ordinances, full of a touching interest for the
+canine race, which forbid the harnessing of dogs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE DEN.
+
+Rodin's countenance, when he entered Mother Arsene's shop, was expressive
+of the most simple candor.  He leaned his hands on the knob of his
+umbrella, and said: "I much regret, my good lady, that I roused you so
+early this morning."
+
+"You do not come often enough, my dear sir, for me to find fault with
+you."
+
+"How can I help it, my good lady?  I live in the country, and only come
+hither from time to time to settle my little affairs."
+
+"Talking of that sir, the letter you expected yesterday has arrived this
+morning.  It is large, and comes from far.  Here it is," said the
+greengrocer, drawing it from her pocket; "it cost nothing for postage."
+
+"Thank you, my dear lady," said Rodin, taking the letter with apparent
+indifference, and putting it into the side-pocket of his great-coat,
+which he carefully buttoned over.
+
+"Are you going up to your rooms, sir?"
+
+"Yes, my good, lady."
+
+"Then I will get ready your little provisions," said Mother Arsene; "as
+usual, I suppose, my dear sir?"
+
+"Just as usual."
+
+"It shall be ready in the twinkling of an eye, sir."
+
+So saying, the greengrocer took down an old basket; after throwing into
+it three or four pieces of turf, a little bundle of wood, and some
+charcoal, she covered all this fuel with a cabbage leaf; then, going to
+the further end of the shop, she took from a chest a large round loaf,
+cut off a slice, and selecting a magnificent radish with the eye of a
+connoisseur, divided it in two, made a hole in it, which she filled with
+gray salt joined the two pieces together again, and placed it carefully
+by the side of the bread, on the cabbage leaf which separated the
+eatables from the combustibles.  Finally, taking some embers from the
+stove, she put them into a little earthen pot, containing ashes, which
+she placed also in the basket.
+
+Then, reascending to her top step, Mother Arsene said to Rodin: "Here is
+your basket, sir."
+
+"A thousand thanks, my good lady," answered Rodin, and plunging his hand
+into the pocket of his trousers, he drew forth eight sous, which he
+counted out only one by one to the greengrocer, and said to her, as he
+carried off his store: "Presently, when I come down again, I will return
+your basket as usual."
+
+"Quite at your service, my dear sir, quite at your service," said Mother
+Arsene.
+
+Rodin tucked his umbrella under his left arm, took up the greengrocer's
+basket with his right hand, entered the dark passage, crossed the little
+court and mounted with light step to the second story of a dilapidated
+building; there, drawing a key from his pocket, he opened a door, which
+he locked carefully after him.  The first of the two rooms which he
+occupied was completely unfurnished, as for the second, it is impossible
+to imagine a more gloomy and miserable den.  Papering so much worn, torn
+and faded, that no one could recognize its primitive color, bedecked the
+walls.  A wretched flock-bed, covered with a moth-fretted blanket; a
+stool, and a little table of worm-eaten wood; an earthenware stove, as
+cracked as old china; a trunk with a padlock, placed under the bed--such
+was the furniture of this desolate hole.  A narrow window, with dirty
+panes, hardly gave any light to this room, which was almost deprived of
+air by the height of the building in front; two old cotton pocket-
+handkerchiefs, fastened together with pins, and made to slide upon a
+string stretched across the window, served for curtains.  The plaster of
+the roof, coming through the broken and disjointed tiles, showed the
+extreme neglect of the inhabitant of this abode.  After locking his door,
+Rodin threw his hat and umbrella on the bed, placed his basket on the
+ground, set the radish and bread on the table, and kneeling down before
+his stove, stuffed it with fuel, and lighted it by blowing with vigorous
+lungs on the embers contained in his earthen pot.
+
+When, to use the consecrated expression, the stove began to draw, Rodin
+spread out the handkerchiefs, which served him for curtains; then,
+thinking himself quite safe from every eye, he took from the side-pocket
+of his great-coat the letter that Mother Arsene had given him.  In doing
+so, he brought out several papers and different articles; one of these
+papers, folded into a thick and rumpled packet, fell upon the table, and
+flew open.  It contained a silver cross of the Legion of Honor, black
+with time.  The red ribbon of this cross had almost entirely lost its
+original color.  At sight of this cross, which he replaced in his pocket
+with the medal of which Faringhea had despoiled Djalma, Rodin shrugged
+his shoulders with a contemptuous and sardonic air; then, producing his
+large silver watch, he laid it on the table by the side of the letter
+from Rome.  He looked at this letter with a singular mixture of suspicion
+and hope, of fear, and impatient curiosity.  After a moment's reflection,
+he prepared to unseal the envelope; but suddenly he threw it down again
+upon the table, as if, by a strange caprice, he had wished to prolong for
+a few minutes that agony of uncertainty, as poignant and irritating as
+the emotion of the gambler.
+
+Looking at his watch, Rodin resolved not to open the letter, until the
+hand should mark half-past nine, of which it still wanted seven minutes.
+In one of those whims of puerile fatalism, from which great minds have
+not been exempt, Rodin said to himself: "I burn with impatience to open
+this letter.  If I do not open it till half-past nine, the news will he
+favorable."  To employ these minutes, Rodin took several turns up and
+down the room, and stood in admiring contemplation before two old prints,
+stained with damp and age, and fastened to the wall by rusty nails.  The
+first of these works of art--the only ornaments with which Rodin had
+decorated this hole--was one of those coarse pictures, illuminated with
+red, yellow, green, and blue, such as are sold at fairs; an Italian
+inscription announced that this print had been manufactured at Rome.  It
+represented a woman covered with rags, bearing a wallet, and having a
+little child upon her knees; a horrible hag of a fortune-teller held in
+her hands the hand of the little child, and seemed to read there his
+future fate, for these words in large blue letters issued from her mouth:
+"Sara Papa" (he shall be Pope).
+
+The second of these works of art, which appeared to inspire Rodin with
+deep meditations, was an excellent etching, whose careful finish and
+bold, correct drawing, contrasted singularly with the coarse coloring of
+the other picture.  This rare and splendid engraving, which had cost
+Rodin six louis (an enormous expense for him), represented a young boy
+dressed in rags.  The ugliness of his features was compensated by the
+intellectual expression of his strongly marked countenance.  Seated on a
+stone, surrounded by a herd of swine, that he seemed employed in keeping,
+he was seen in front, with his elbow resting on his knee, and his chin in
+the palm of his hand.  The pensive and reflective attitude of this young
+man, dressed as a beggar, the power expressed in his large forehead, the
+acuteness of his penetrating glance, and the firm lines of the mouth,
+seemed to reveal indomitable resolution, combined with superior
+intelligence and ready craft.  Beneath this figure, the emblems of the
+papacy encircled a medallion, in the centre of which was the head of an
+old man, the lines of which, strongly marked, recalled in a striking
+manner, notwithstanding their look of advanced age, the features of the
+young swineherd.  This engraving was entitled THE YOUTH of SIXTUS V.; the
+color print was entitled The Prediction.[22]
+
+In contemplating these prints more and more nearly, with ardent and
+inquiring eye, as though he had asked for hopes or inspirations from
+them, Rodin had come so close that, still standing, with his right arm
+bent behind his head, he rested, as it were, against the wall, whilst,
+hiding his left hand in the pocket of his black trousers, he thus held
+back one of the flaps of his olive great-coat.  For some minutes, he
+remained in this meditative attitude.
+
+Rodin, as we have said, came seldom to this lodging; according to the
+rules of his Order, he had till now lived with Father d'Aigrigny, whom he
+was specially charged to watch.  No member of the Society, particularly
+in the subaltern position which Rodin had hitherto held, could either
+shut himself in, or possess an article of furniture made to lock.  By
+this means nothing interferes with the mutual spy-system, incessantly
+carried on, which forms one of the most powerful resources of the Company
+of Jesus.  It was on account of certain combinations, purely personal to
+himself, though connected on some points with the interests of the Order,
+that Rodin, unknown to all, had taken these rooms in the Rue Clovis.  And
+it was from the depths of this obscure den that the socius corresponded
+directly with the most eminent and influential personages of the sacred
+college.  On one occasion, when Rodin wrote to Rome, that Father
+d'Aigrigny, having received orders to quit France without seeing his
+dying mother, had hesitated to set out, the socius had added, in form of
+postscriptum, at the bottom of the letter denouncing to the General of
+the Order the hesitation of Father d'Aigrigny:
+
+"Tell the Prince Cardinal that he may rely upon me, but I hope for his
+active aid in return."
+
+This familiar manner of corresponding with the most powerful dignitary of
+the Order, the almost patronizing tone of the recommendation that Rodin
+addressed to the Prince Cardinal, proved that the socius, notwithstanding
+his apparently subaltern position, was looked upon, at that epoch, as a
+very important personage, by many of the Princes of the Church, who wrote
+to him at Paris under a false name, making use of a cipher and other
+customary precautions.  After some moments passed in contemplation,
+before the portrait of Sixtus V., Rodin returned slowly to the table, on
+which lay the letter, which, by a sort of superstitious delay, he had
+deferred opening, notwithstanding his extreme curiosity.  As it still
+wanted some minutes of half-past nine, Rodin, in order not to lose time,
+set about making preparations for his frugal breakfast.  He placed on the
+table, by the side of an inkstand, furnished with pens, the slice of
+bread and the radish; then seating himself on his stool, with the stove,
+as it were, between his legs, he drew a horn-handled knife from his
+pocket, and cutting alternately a morsel of bread and a morsel of radish,
+with a sharp, well-worn blade, he began his temperate repast with a
+vigorous appetite, keeping his eye fixed on the hand of his watch.  When
+it reached the momentous hour, he unsealed the envelope with a trembling
+hand.
+
+It contained two letters.  The first appeared to give him little
+satisfaction; for, after some minutes, he shrugged his shoulders, struck
+the table impatiently with the handle of his knife, disdainfully pushed
+aside the letter with the back of his dirty hand, and perused the second
+epistle, holding his bread in one hand, and with the other mechanically
+dipping a slice of radish into the gray salt spilt on a corner of the
+table.  Suddenly, Rodin's hand remained motionless.  As he progressed in
+his reading, he appeared more and more interested, surprised, and struck.
+Rising abruptly, he ran to the window, as if to assure himself, by a
+second examination of the cipher, that he was not deceived.  The news
+announced to him in the letter seemed to be unexpected.  No doubt, Rodin
+found that he had deciphered correctly, for, letting fall his arms, not
+in dejection, but with the stupor of a satisfaction as unforeseen as
+extraordinary, he remained for some time with his head down, and his eyes
+fixed--the only mark of joy that he gave being manifested by a loud,
+frequent, and prolonged respiration.  Men who are as audacious in their
+ambition, as they are patient and obstinate in their mining and
+countermining, are surprised at their own success, when this latter
+precedes and surpasses their wise and prudent expectations.  Rodin was
+now in this case.  Thanks to prodigies of craft, address, and
+dissimulation, thanks to mighty promises of corruption, thanks to the
+singular mixture of admiration, fear, and confidence, with which his
+genius inspired many influential persons, Rodin now learned from members
+of the pontifical government, that, in case of a possible and probable
+occurrence, he might, within a given time, aspire, with a good chance of
+success, to a position which has too often excited the fear, the hate, or
+the envy of many sovereigns, and which has in turn, been occupied by
+great, good men, by abominable scoundrels, and by persons risen from the
+lowest grades of society.  But for Rodin to attain this end with
+certainty, it was absolutely necessary for him to succeed in that
+project, which he had undertaken to accomplish without violence, and only
+by the play and the rebound of passions skillfully managed.  The project
+was: To secure for the Society of Jesus the fortune of the Rennepont
+family.
+
+This possession would thus have a double and immense result; for Rodin,
+acting in accordance with his personal views, intended to make of his
+Order (whose chief was at his discretion) a stepping-stone and a means of
+intimidation.  When his first impression of surprise had passed away--an
+impression that was only a sort of modesty of ambition and self-
+diffidence, not uncommon with men of really superior powers--Rodin looked
+more coldly and logically on the matter, and almost reproached himself
+for his surprise.  But soon after, by a singular contradiction, yielding
+to one of those puerile and absurd ideas, by which men are often carried
+away when they think themselves alone and unobserved, Rodin rose
+abruptly, took the letter which had caused him such glad surprise, and
+went to display it, as it were, before the eyes of the young swineherd in
+the picture: then, shaking his head proudly and triumphantly, casting his
+reptile-glance on the portrait, he muttered between his teeth, as he
+placed his dirty finger on the pontifical emblem:  "Eh, brother? and I
+also--perhaps!"
+
+After this ridiculous interpolation, Rodin returned to his seat, and, as
+if the happy news he had just received had increased his appetite, he
+placed the letter before him, to read it once more, whilst he exercised
+his teeth, with a sort of joyous fury, on his hard bread and radish,
+chanting an old Litany.
+
+There was something strange, great, and, above all, frightful, in the
+contrast afforded by this immense ambition, already almost justified by
+events, and contained, as it were, in so miserable an abode.  Father
+d'Aigrigny (who, if not a very superior man, had at least some real
+value, was a person of high birth, very haughty, and placed in the best
+society) would never have ventured to aspire to what Rodin thus looked to
+from the first.  The only aim of Father d'Aigrigny, and even this he
+thought presumptuous, was to be one day elected General of his Order--
+that Order which embraced the world.  The difference of the ambitious
+aptitudes of these two personages is conceivable.  When a man of eminent
+abilities, of a healthy and vivacious nature, concentrates all the
+strength of his mind and body upon a single point, remaining, like Rodin,
+obstinately chaste and frugal, and renouncing every gratification of the
+heart and the senses--the man, who revolts against the sacred designs of
+his Creator, does so almost always in favor of some monstrous and
+devouring passion--some infernal divinity, which, by a sacrilegious pact,
+asks of him, in return for the bestowal of formidable power, the
+destruction of every noble sentiment, and of all those ineffable
+attractions and tender instincts with which the Maker, in His eternal
+wisdom and inexhaustible munificence, has so paternally endowed His
+creatures.
+
+During the scene that we have just described, Rodin had not perceived
+that the curtain of a window on the third story of the building opposite
+had been partially drawn aside, and had half-revealed the sprightly face
+of Rose-Pompon, and the Silenus-like countenance of Ninny Moulin.  It
+ensued that Rodin, notwithstanding his barricade of cotton handkerchiefs,
+had not been completely sheltered from the indiscreet and curious
+examination of the two dancers of the Storm-blown Tulip.
+
+[22] According to the tradition, it was predicted to the mother of Sixtus
+V., that he would be pope; and, in his youth, he is said to have kept
+swine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED VISIT.
+
+Though Rodin had experienced much surprise on reading the second letter
+from Rome, he did not choose that his answer should betray any such
+amazement.  Having finished his frugal breakfast, he took a sheet of
+paper, and rapidly wrote in cipher the following note, in the short,
+abrupt style that was natural to him when not obliged to restrain himself:
+
+"The information does not surprise me.  I had foreseen it all.
+Indecision and cowardice always bear such fruit.  This is not enough.
+Heretical Russia murders Catholic Poland.  Rome blesses the murderers,
+and curses the victims.[23]
+
+"Let it pass.
+
+"In return, Russia guarantees to Rome, by Austria, the bloody suppression
+of the patriots of Romagna.
+
+"That, too, is well.
+
+"The cut-throat band of good Cardinal Albani is not sufficient for the
+massacre of the impious liberals.  They are weary of the task.
+
+"Not so well.  They must go on."
+
+When Rodin had written these last words, his attention was suddenly
+attracted by the clear and sonorous voice of Rose-Pompon, who, knowing
+her Beranger by heart, had opened Philemon's window, and, seated on the
+sill, sang with much grace and prettiness this verse of the immortal
+song-writer:
+
+     "How wrong you are!  Is't you dare say
+	That heaven ever scowls on earth?
+	The earth that laughs up to its blue,
+	The earth that owes it joy and birth?
+	Oh, may the wine from vines it warms,
+	May holy love thence fluttering down,
+	Lend my philosophy their charms,
+	To drive away care's direful frown!
+	So, firm let's stand,
+	Full glass in hand,
+	And all evoke
+	The God of honest folk!"
+
+This song, in its divine gentleness, contrasted so strangely with the
+cold cruelty of the few lines written by Rodin, that he started and bit
+his lips with rage, as he recognized the words of the great poet, truly
+Christian, who had dealt such rude blows to the false Church.  Rodin
+waited for some moments with angry impatience, thinking the voice would
+continue; but Rose-Pompon was silent, or only continued to hum, and soon
+changed to another air, that of the Good Pope, which she entoned, but
+without words.  Rodin, not venturing to look out of his window to see who
+was this troublesome warbler, shrugged his shoulders, resumed his pen,
+and continued:
+
+"To it again.  We must exasperate the independent spirits in all
+countries--excite philosophic rage all over Europe make liberalism foam
+at the mouth--raise all that is wild and noisy against Rome.  To effect
+this, we must proclaim in the face of the world these three propositions.
+1. It is abominable to assert that a man may be saved in any faith
+whatever, provided his morals be pure.  2. It is odious and absurd to
+grant liberty of conscience to the people.  3.  The liberty of the press
+cannot be held in too much horror.[24]
+
+"We must bring the Pap-fed man to declare these propositions in every
+respect orthodox--show him their good effect upon despotic governments--
+upon true Catholics, the muzzlers of the people.  He will fall into the
+snare.  The propositions once published, the storm will burst forth.  A
+general rising against Rome--a wide schism--the sacred college divided
+into three parties.  One approves--the other blames--the third trembles.
+The Sick Man, still more frightened than he is now at having allowed the
+destruction of Poland, will shrink from the clamors, reproaches, threats,
+and violent ruptures that he has occasioned.
+
+"That is well--and goes far.
+
+"Then, set the Pope to shaking the conscience of the Sick Man, to disturb
+his mind, and terrify his soul.
+
+"To sum up.  Make everything bitter to him--divide his council--isolate
+him--frighten him--redouble the ferocious ardor of good Albini--revive
+the appetite of the Sanfedists[25]--give them a gulf of liberals--let
+there be pillage, rape, massacre, as at Cesena--a downright river of
+Carbonaro blood--the Sick Man will have a surfeit of it.  So many
+butcheries in his name--he will shrink, be sure he will shrink--every day
+will have its remorse, every night its terror, every minute its anguish;
+and the abdication he already threatens will come at last--perhaps too
+soon.  That is now the only danger; you must provide against it.
+
+"In case of an abdication, the grand penitentiary has understood me.
+Instead of confiding to a general the direction of our Order, the best
+militia of the Holy See, I should command it myself.  Thenceforward this
+militia would give me no uneasiness.  For instance: the Janissaries and
+the Praetorian Guards were always fatal to authority--why?--because they
+were able to organize themselves as defenders of the government,
+independently of the government; hence their power of intimidation.
+
+"Clement XIV. was a fool.  To brand and abolish our Company was an absurd
+fault.  To protect and make it harmless, by declaring himself the General
+of the Order, is what he should have done.  The Company, then at his
+mercy, would have consented to anything.  He would have absorbed us, made
+us vassals of the Holy See, and would no longer have had to fear our
+services.  Clement XIV. died of the cholic.  Let him heed who hears.  In
+a similar case, I should not die the same death."
+
+Just then, the clear and liquid voice of Rose-Pompon was again heard.
+Rodin bounded with rage upon his seat; but soon, as he listened to the
+following verse, new to him (for, unlike Philemon's widow, he had not his
+Beranger at his fingers' ends), the Jesuit, accessible to certain odd,
+superstitious notions, was confused and almost frightened at so singular
+a coincidence.  It is Beranger's Good Pope who speaks--
+
+     "What are monarchs? sheepish sots!
+	Or they're robbers, puffed with pride,
+	Wearing badges of crime blots,
+	Till their certain graves gape wide.
+	If they'll pour out coin for me,
+	I'll absolve them--skin and bone!
+	If they haggle--they shall see,
+	My nieces dancing on their throne!
+	So laugh away!
+	Leap, my fay!
+	Only watch one hurt the thunder
+	First of all by Zeus under,
+	I'm the Pope, the whole world's wonder!"
+
+Rodin, half-risen from his chair, with outstretched neck and attentive
+eye, was still listening, when Rose-Pompon, flitting like a bee from
+flower to flower of her repertoire, had already begun the delightful air
+of Colibri.  Hearing no more, the Jesuit reseated himself, in a sort of
+stupor; but, after some minutes' reflection, his countenance again
+brightened up, and he seemed to see a lucky omen in this singular
+incident.  He resumed his pen, and the first words he wrote partook, as
+it were, of this strange confidence in fate.
+
+"I have never had more hope of success than at this moment.  Another
+reason to neglect nothing.  Every presentiment demands redoubled zeal.  A
+new thought occurred to me yesterday.
+
+"We shall act here in concert.  I have founded an ultra-Catholic paper
+called Neighborly Love.  From its ultramontane, tyrannical, liberticidal
+fury, it will be thought the organ of Rome.  I will confirm these
+reports.  They will cause new terrors.
+
+"That will be well.
+
+"I shall raise the question of the liberty of instruction.  The raw
+liberals will support us.  Like fools, they admit us to equal rights;
+when our privileges, our influence of the confessional, our obedience to
+Rome, all place us beyond the circle of equal rights, by the advantages
+which we enjoy.  Double fools! they think us disarmed, because they have
+disarmed themselves towards us.
+
+"A burning question--irritating clamors--new cause of disgust for the
+Weak Man.  Every little makes a mickle.
+
+"That also is very well.
+
+"To sum up all in two words.  The end is abdication--the means, vexation,
+incessant torture.  The Rennepont inheritance wilt pay for the election.
+The price agreed, the merchandise will be sold."
+
+Rodin here paused abruptly, thinking he had heard some noise at that door
+of his, which opened on the staircase; therefore he listened with
+suspended breath; but all remaining silent, he thought he must have been
+deceived, and took up his pen:
+
+"I will take care of the Rennepont business--the hinge on which will turn
+our temporal operations.  We must begin from the foundation--substitute
+the play of interests, and the springs of passion, for the stupid club-
+law of Father d'Aigrigny.  He nearly compromised everything--and yet he
+has good parts, knows the world, has powers of seduction, quick insight--
+but plays ever in a single key, and is not great enough to make himself
+little.  In his stead, I shall know how to make use of him.  There is
+good stuff in the man.  I availed myself in time of the full powers given
+by the R. F. G.; I may inform Father d'Aigrigny, in case of need, of the
+secret engagements taken by the General towards myself.  Until now, I
+have let him invent for this inheritance the destination that you know
+of.  A good thought, but unseasonable.  The same end, by other means.
+
+"The information was false.  There are over two hundred millions.  Should
+the eventuality occur, what was doubtful must become certain.  An immense
+latitude is left us.  The Rennepont business is now doubly mine, and
+within three months, the two hundred millions will be ours, by the free
+will of the heirs themselves.  It must be so; for this failing, the
+temporal part would escape me, and my chances be diminished by one half.
+I have asked for full powers; time presses, and I act as if I had them.
+One piece of information is indispensable for the success of my projects.
+I expect it from you, and I must have it; do you understand me?  The
+powerful influence of your brother at the Court of Vienna will serve you
+in this.  I wish to have the most precise details as to the present
+position of the Duke de Reichstadt--the Napoleon II. of the Imperialists.
+Is it possible, by means of your brother, to open a secret correspondence
+with the prince, unknown to his attendants?
+
+"Look to this promptly.  It is urgent.  This note will he sent off to-
+day.  I shall complete it to-morrow.  It will reach you, as usual, by the
+hands of the petty shopkeeper."
+
+At the moment when Rodin was sealing this letter within a double
+envelope, he thought that he again heard a noise at the door.  He
+listened.  After some silence, several knocks were distinctly audible.
+Rodin started.  It was the first time any one had knocked at his door,
+since nearly a twelve-month that he occupied this room.  Hastily placing
+the letter in his great-coat pocket, the Jesuit opened the old trunk
+under his bed, took from it a packet of papers wrapped in a tattered
+cotton handkerchief, added to them the two letters in cipher he had just
+received, and carefully relocked the trunk.  The knocking continued
+without, and seemed to show more and more impatience.  Rodin took the
+greengrocer's basket in his hand, tucked his umbrella under his arm, and
+went with some uneasiness to ascertain who was this unexpected visitor.
+He opened the door, and found himself face to face with Rose-Pompon, the
+troublesome singer, and who now, with a light and pretty courtesy, said
+to him in the most guileless manner in the world, "M. Rodin, if you
+please?"
+
+[23] On page 110 of Lamennais' Affaires de Rome, will be seen the
+following admirable scathing of Rome by the most truly evangelical spirit
+of our age: "So long as the issue of the conflict between Poland and her
+oppressors remained in the balances, the papal official organ contained
+not one word to offend the so long victorious nation; but hardly had she
+gone down under the Czar's atrocious vengeance, and the long torture of a
+whole land doomed to rack, and exile, and servitude began, than this same
+journal found no language black enough to stain those whom fortune had
+fled.  Yet it is wrong to charge this unworthy insult to papal power; it
+only cringes to the law which Russia lays down to it, when it says:
+
+"'If you want to keep your own bones unbroken, bide where you are, beside
+the scaffold, and, as the victims pass, hoot at them!'"
+
+[24] See Pope Gregory XVI.'s Encyclical Letter to the Bishops in France,
+1832.
+
+[25] Hardly had the Sixteenth Gregory ascended the pontifical throne,
+than news came of the rising in Bologna.  His first idea was to call the
+Austrians, and incite the Sanfedist volunteer bands of fanatics.
+Cardinal Albini defeated the liberals at Cesena, where his followers
+pillaged churches, sacked the town, and ill-treated women.  At Forli,
+cold-blooded murders were committed.  In 1832 the Sanfedists (Holy
+Faithites) openly paraded their medals, bearing the heads of the Duke of
+Modem and the Pope; letters issued by the apostolic confederation;
+privileges and indulgences.  They took the following oath: "I. A. B.,
+vow to rear the throne and altar over the bones of infamous freedom-
+shriekers, and exterminate these latter without pity for children's cries
+and women's tears."  The disorders perpetrated by these marauders went
+beyond all bounds; the Romish Court regularized anarchy and organized the
+Sanfedists into volunteer corps, to which fresh privileges were granted.
+[Revue deux Mondes, Nov.  15th, 1844.--"La Revolution en Italie."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+FRIENDLY SERVICES.
+
+Notwithstanding his surprise and uneasiness, Rodin did not frown.  He
+began by locking his door after him, as he noticed the young girl's
+inquisitive glance.  Then he said to her good-naturedly, "Who do you
+want, my dear?"
+
+"M. Rodin," repeated Rose-Pompon, stoutly, opening her bright blue eyes
+to their full extent, and looking Rodin full in the face.
+
+"It's not here," said he, moving towards the stairs.  "I do not know him.
+Inquire above or below."
+
+"No, you don't! giving yourself airs at your age!" said Rose-Pompon,
+shrugging her shoulders.  "As if we did not know that you are M. Rodin."
+
+"Charlemagne," said the socius, bowing; "Charlemagne, to serve you--if I
+am able."
+
+"You are not able," answered Rose-Pompon, majestically; then she added
+with a mocking air, "So, we have our little pussy-cat hiding-places; we
+change our name; we are afraid Mamma Rodin will find us out."
+
+"Come, my dear child," said the socius, with a paternal smile; "you have
+come to the right quarter.  I am an old man, but I love youth--happy,
+joyous youth!  Amuse yourself, pray, at my expense.  Only let me pass,
+for I am in a hurry."  And Rodin again advanced towards the stairs.
+
+"M. Rodin," said Rose-Pompon, in a solemn voice, "I have very important
+things to say to you, and advice to ask about a love affair."
+
+"Why, little madcap that you are! have you nobody to tease in your own
+house, that you must come here?"
+
+"I lodge in this house, M. Rodin," answered Rose-Pompon, laying a
+malicious stress on the name of her victim.
+
+"You?  Oh, dear, only to think I did not know I had such a pretty
+neighbor."
+
+"Yes, I have lodged here six months, M. Rodin."
+
+"Really! where?"
+
+"On the third story, front, M. Rodin."
+
+"It was you, then, that sang so well just now?"
+
+"Rather."
+
+"You gave me great pleasure, I must say."
+
+"You are very polite, M. Rodin."
+
+"You lodge, I suppose, with your respectable family?"
+
+"I believe you, M. Rodin," said Rose-Pompon, casting down her eyes with a
+timid air.  "I lodge with Grandpapa Philemon, and Grandmamma Bacchanal--
+who is a queen and no mistake."
+
+Rodin had hitherto been seriously uneasy, not knowing in what manner Rose
+had discovered his real name.  But on hearing her mention the Bacchanal
+queen, with the information that she lodged in the house, he found
+something to compensate for the disagreeable incident of Rose-Pompon's
+appearance.  It was, indeed, important to Rodin to find out the Bacchanal
+Queen, the mistress of Sleepinbuff, and the sister of Mother Bunch, who
+had been noted as dangerous since her interview with the superior of the
+convent, and the part she had taken in the projected escape of Mdlle. de
+Cardoville.  Moreover, Rodin hoped--thanks to what he had just heard--to
+bring Rose-Pompon to confess to him the name of the person from whom she
+had learned that "Charlemagne" masked "Rodin."
+
+Hardly had the young girl pronounced the name of the Bacchanal queen,
+than Rodin clasped his hands, and appeared as much surprised as
+interested.
+
+"Oh, my dear child," he exclaimed, "I conjure you not to jest on this
+subject.  Are you speaking of a young girl who bears that nickname, the
+sister of a deformed needlewoman."
+
+"Yes, sir, the Bacchanal Queen is her nickname," said Rose-Pompon,
+astonished in her turn; "she is really Cephyse Soliveau, and she is my
+friend."
+
+"Oh! she is your friend?" said Rodin, reflecting.
+
+"Yes, sir, my bosom friend."
+
+"So you love her?"
+
+"Like a sister.  Poor girl!  I do what I can for her, and that's not
+much.  But how comes it that a respectable man of your age should know
+the Bacchanal Queen?--Ah! that shows you have a false name!"
+
+"My dear child, I am no longer inclined to laugh," said Rodin, with so
+sorrowful an air, that Rose-Pompon, reproaching herself with her
+pleasantry, said to him: "But how comes it that you know Cephyse?"
+
+"Alas! I do not know her--but a young fellow, that I like excessively--"
+
+"Jacques Rennepont?"
+
+"Otherwise called Sleepinbuff.  He is now in prison for debt," sighed
+Rodin.  "I saw him yesterday."
+
+"You saw him yesterday?--how strange!" said Rose-Pompon, clapping her
+hands.  "Quick! quick!--come over to Philemon's, to give Cephyse news of
+her lover.  She is so uneasy about him."
+
+"My dear child, I should like to give her good news of that worthy
+fellow, whom I like in spite of his follies, for who has not been guilty
+of follies?" added Rodin, with indulgent good-nature.
+
+"To be sure," said Rose-Pompon, twisting about as if she still wore the
+costume of a debardeur.
+
+"I will say more," added Rodin: "I love him because of his follies; for,
+talk as we may, my dear child, there is always something good at bottom,
+a good heart, or something, in those who spend generously their money for
+other people."
+
+"Well, come! you are a very good sort of a man," said Rose-Pompon,
+enchanted with Rodin's philosophy.  "But why will you not come and see
+Cephyse, and talk to her of Jacques?"
+
+"Of what use would it be to tell her what she knows already--that Jacques
+is in prison?  What I should like, would be to get the worthy fellow out
+of his scrape."
+
+"Oh, sir! only do that, only get Jacques out of prison," cried Rose-
+Pompon, warmly, "and we will both give you a kiss--me and Cephyse!"
+
+"It would be throwing kisses away, dear little madcap!" said Rodin,
+smiling.  "But be satisfied, I want no reward to induce me to do good
+when I can."
+
+"Then you hope to get Jacques out of prison?"
+
+Rodin shook his head, and answered with a grieved and disappointed air.
+"I did hope it.  Certainly, I did hope it; but now all is changed."
+
+"How's that?" asked Rose-Pompon, with surprise.
+
+"That foolish joke of calling me M. Rodin may appear very amusing to you,
+my dear child.  I understand it, you being only an echo.  Some one has
+said to you: `Go and tell M. Charlemagne that he is one M. Rodin.  That
+will be very funny.'"
+
+"Certainly, I should never myself have thought of calling you M. Rodin.
+One does not invent such names," answered Rose-Pompon.
+
+"Well! that person with his foolish jokes, has done, without knowing it,
+a great injury to Jacques Rennepont."
+
+"What! because I called you Rodin instead of Charlemagne?" cried Rose-
+Pompon, much regretting the pleasantry which she had carried on at the
+instigation of Ninny Moulin.  "But really, sir," she added, "what can
+this joke have to do with the service that you were, about to render
+Jacques?"
+
+"I am not at liberty to tell you, my child.  In truth, I am very sorry
+for poor Jacques.  Believe me, I am; but do let me pass.
+
+"Listen to me, sir, I beg," said Rose-Pompon; "if I told you the name of
+the person who told me to call you Rodin, would you interest yourself
+again for Jacques?"
+
+"I do not wish to know any one's secrets, my dear child.  In all this,
+you have been the echo of persons who are, perhaps, very dangerous; and,
+notwithstanding the interest I feel for Jacques Rennepont, I do not wish,
+you understand, to make myself enemies.  Heaven forbid!"
+
+Rose-Pompon did not at all comprehend Rodin's fears, and upon this he had
+counted; for after a second's reflection, the young girl resumed: "Well,
+sir--this is too deep for me; I do not understand it.  All I know is,
+that I am truly sorry if I have injured a good young man by a mere joke.
+I will tell you exactly how it happened.  My frankness may be of some
+use."
+
+"Frankness will often clear up the most obscure matters," said Rodin,
+sententiously.
+
+"After all," said Rose-Pompon, "it's Ninny's fault.  Why does he tell me
+nonsense, that might injure poor Cephyse's lover?  You see, sir, it
+happened in this way.  Ninny Moulin who is fond of a joke, saw you just
+now in the street.  The portress told him that your name was Charlemagne.
+He said to me: 'No; his name is Rodin.  We must play him a trick.  Go to
+his room, Rose-Pompon, knock at the door, and call him M. Rodin.  You
+will see what a rum face he will make.' I promised Ninny Moulin not to
+name him; but I do it, rather than run the risk of injuring Jacques."
+
+At Ninny Moulin's name Rodin had not been able to repress a movement of
+surprise.  This pamphleteer, whom he had employed to edit the "Neighborly
+Love," was not personally formidable; but, being fond of talking in his
+drink, he might become troublesome, particularly if Rodin, as was
+probable, had often to visit this house, to execute his project upon
+Sleepinbuff, through the medium of the Bacchanal Queen.  The socius
+resolved, therefore, to provide against this inconvenience.
+
+"So, my dear child," said he to Rose-Pompon, "it is a M. Desmoulins that
+persuaded you to play off this silly joke?"
+
+"Not Desmoulins, but Dumoulin," corrected Rose.  "He writes in the
+pewholders' papers, and defends the saints for money; for, if Ninny
+Moulin is a saint, his patrons are Saint Drinkard and Saint Flashette, as
+he himself declares."
+
+"This gentleman appears to be very gay."
+
+"Oh! a very good fellow."
+
+"But stop," resumed Rodin, appearing to recollect himself; "ain't he a
+man about thirty-six or forty, fat, with a ruddy complexion?"
+
+"Ruddy as a glass of red wine," said Rose-Pompon, "and with a pimpled
+nose like a mulberry."
+
+"That's the man--M. Dumoulin.  Oh! in that case, I am quite satisfied, my
+dear child.  The jest no longer makes me uneasy; for M. Dumoulin is a
+very worthy man--only perhaps a little too fond of his joke."
+
+"Then, sir, you will try to be useful to Jacques?  The stupid pleasantry
+of Ninny Moulin will not prevent you?"
+
+"I hope not."
+
+"But I must not tell Ninny Moulin that you know it was he who sent me to
+call you M. Rodin--eh, sir?"
+
+"Why not?  In every case, my dear child, it is always better to speak
+frankly the truth."
+
+"But, sir, Ninny Moulin so strongly recommended me not to name him to
+you--"
+
+"If you have named him, it is from a very good motive; why not avow it?
+However, my dear child, this concerns you, not me.  Do as you think
+best."
+
+"And may I tell Cephyse of your good intentions towards Jacques?"
+
+"The truth, my dear child, always the truth.  One need never hesitate to
+say what is."
+
+"Poor Cephyse! how happy she will be!" cried Rose-Pompon, cheerfully;
+"and the news will come just in time."
+
+"Only you must not exaggerate; I do not promise positively to get this
+good fellow out of prison; I say, that I will do what I can.  But what I
+promise positively is--for, since the imprisonment of poor Jacques, your
+friend must be very much straitened--"
+
+"Alas, sir!"
+
+"What I promise positively is some little assistance which your friend
+will receive to-day, to enable her to live honestly; and if she behaves
+well--hereafter--why, hereafter, we shall see."
+
+"Oh, sir! you do not know how welcome will be your assistance to poor
+Cephyse!  One might fancy you were her actual good angel.  Faith! you may
+call yourself Rodin, or Charlemagne; all I know is, that you are a nice,
+sweet--"
+
+"Come, come, do not exaggerate," said Rodin; "say a good sort of old
+fellow; nothing more, my dear child.  But see how things fall out,
+sometimes!  Who could have told me, when I heard you knock at my door--
+which, I must say, vexed me a great deal--that it was a pretty little
+neighbor of mine, who under the pretext of playing off a joke, was to put
+me in the way of doing a good action?  Go and comfort your friend; this
+evening she will receive some assistance; and let us have hope and
+confidence.  Thanks be, there are still some good people in the world!"
+
+"Oh, sir! you prove it yourself."
+
+"Not at all!  The happiness of the old is to see the young happy."
+
+This was said by Rodin with so much apparent kindness, that Rose-Pompon
+felt the tears well up to her eyes, and answered with much emotion: "Sir,
+Cephyse and me are only poor girls; there are many more virtuous in the
+world; but I venture to say, we have good hearts.  Now, if ever you
+should be ill, only send for us; there are no Sisters of Charity that
+will take better care of you.  It is all that we can offer you, without
+reckoning Philemon, who shall go through fire and water for you, I give
+you my word for it--and Cephyse, I am sure, will answer for Jacques also,
+that he will be yours in life and death."
+
+"You see, my dear child, that I was right in saying--a fitful head and a
+good heart.  Adieu, till we meet again."
+
+Thereupon Rodin, taking up the basket, which he had placed on the ground
+by the side of his umbrella, prepared to descend the stairs.
+
+"First of all, you must give me this basket; it will be in your way going
+down," said Rose-Pompon, taking the basket from the hands of Rodin,
+notwithstanding his resistance.  Then she added: "Lean upon my arm.  The
+stairs are so dark.  You might slip."
+
+"I will accept your offer, my dear child, for I am not very courageous."
+Leaning paternally on the right arm of Rose-Pompon, who held the basket
+in her left hand, Rodin descended the stairs, and crossed the court-yard.
+
+"Up there, on the third story, do you see that big face close to the
+window-frame?" said Rose-Pompon suddenly to Rodin, stopping in the centre
+of the little court.  "That is my Ninny Moulin.  Do you know him?  Is he
+the same as yours?"
+
+"The same as mine," said Rodin, raising his head, and waving his hand
+very affectionately to Jacques Dumoulin, who, stupefied thereat, retired
+abruptly from the window.
+
+"The poor fellow!  I am sure he is afraid of me since his foolish joke,"
+said Rodin, smiling.  "He is very wrong."
+
+And he accompanied these last words with a sinister nipping of the lips,
+not perceived by Rose-Pompon.
+
+"And now, my dear child," said he, as they both entered the passage, "I
+no longer need you assistance; return to your friend, and tell her the
+good news you have heard."
+
+"Yes, sir, you are right.  I burn with impatience to tell her what a good
+man you are."  And Rose-Pompon sprung towards the stairs.
+
+"Stop, stop! how about my basket that the little madcap carries off with
+her?" said Rodin.
+
+"Oh true!  I beg your pardon, sir.  Poor Cephyse! how pleased she will
+be.  Adieu, sir!"  And Rose-Pompon's pretty figure disappeared in the
+darkness of the staircase, which she mounted with an alert and impatient
+step.
+
+Rodin issued from the entry.  "Here is your basket, my good lady, said
+he, stopping at the threshold of Mother Arsene's shop.  "I give you my
+humble thanks for your kindness."
+
+"For nothing, my dear sir, for nothing.  It is all at your service.
+Well, was the radish good?"
+
+"Succulent, my dear madame, and excellent."
+
+"Oh! I am glad of it.  Shall we soon see you again?"
+
+"I hope so.  But could you tell me where is the nearest post-office?"
+
+"Turn to the left, the third house, at the grocer's."
+
+"A thousand thanks."
+
+"I wager it's a love letter for your sweetheart," said Mother Arsene,
+enlivened probably by Rose Pompon's and Ninny Moulin's proximity.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! the good lady!" said Rodin, with a titter.  Then, suddenly
+resuming his serious aspect, he made a low bow to the greengrocer,
+adding: "Your most obedient humble servant!" and walked out into the
+street.
+
+We now usher the reader into Dr. Baleinier's asylum, in which Mdlle. de
+Cardoville was confined.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE ADVICE.
+
+Adrienne de Cardoville had been still more strictly confined in Dr.
+Baleinier's house, since the double nocturnal attempt of Agricola and
+Dagobert, in which the soldier, though severely wounded, had succeeded,
+thanks to the intrepid devotion of his son, seconded by the heroic Spoil-
+sport, in gaining the little garden gate of the convent, and escaping by
+way of the boulevard, along with the young smith.  Four o'clock had just
+struck.  Adrienne, since the previous day, had been removed to a chamber
+on the second story of the asylum.  The grated window, with closed
+shutters, only admitted a faint light to this apartment.  The young lady,
+since her interview with Mother Bunch, expected to be delivered any day
+by the intervention of her friends.  But she felt painful uneasiness on
+the subject of Agricola and Dagobert, being absolutely ignorant of the
+issue of the struggle in which her intended liberators had been engaged
+with the people of the asylum and convent.  She had in vain questioned
+her keepers on the subject; they had remained perfectly mute.  These new
+incidents had augmented the bitter resentment of Adrienne against the
+Princess de Saint Dizier, Father d'Aigrigny, and their creatures.  The
+slight paleness of Mdlle. de Cardoville's charming face, and her fine
+eyes a little drooping, betrayed her recent sufferings; seated before a
+little table, with her forehead resting upon one of her hands, half
+veiled by the long curls of her golden hair, she was turning over the
+leaves of a book.  Suddenly, the door opened, and M. Baleinier entered.
+The doctor, a Jesuit, in lay attire, a docile and passive instrument of
+the will of his Order, was only half in the confidence of Father
+d'Aigrigny and the Princess de Saint-Dizier.  He was ignorant of the
+object of the imprisonment of Mdlle. de Cardoville; he was ignorant also
+of the sudden change which had taken place in the relative position of
+Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, after the reading of the testament of Marius
+de Rennepont.  The doctor had, only the day before, received orders from
+Father d'Aigrigny (now acting under the directions of Rodin) to confine
+Mdlle. de Cardoville still more strictly, to act towards her with
+redoubled severity, and to endeavor to force her, it will be seen by what
+expedients, to renounce the judicial proceedings, which she promised
+herself to take hereafter against her persecutors.  At sight of the
+doctor, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not hide the aversion and disdain with
+which this man inspired her.  M. Baleinier, on the contrary, always
+smiling, always courteous, approached Adrienne with perfect ease and
+confidence, stopped a few steps from her, as if to study her features
+more attentively, and then added like a man who is satisfied with the
+observations he had made: "Come! the unfortunate events of the night
+before last have had a less injurious influence than I feared.  There is
+some improvement; the complexion is less flushed, the look calmer, the
+eyes still somewhat too bright, but no longer shining with such unnatural
+fire.  You are getting on so well!  Now the cure must be prolonged--for
+this unfortunate night affair threw you into a state of excitement, that
+was only the more dangerous from your not being conscious of it.
+Happily, with care, your recovery will not, I hope, be very much
+delayed."  Accustomed though she was to the audacity of this tool of the
+Congregation, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not forbear saying to him, with
+a smile of bitter disdain: "What impudence, sir, there is in your
+probity!  What effrontery in your zeal to earn your hire!  Never for a
+moment do you lay aside your mask; craft and falsehood are ever on your
+lips.  Really, if this shameful comedy causes you as much fatigue as it
+does me disgust and contempt, they can never pay you enough."
+
+"Alas!" said the doctor, in a sorrowful tone; "always this unfortunate
+delusion, that you are not in want of our care!--that I am playing a
+part, when I talk to you of the sad state in which you were when we were
+obliged to bring you hither by stratagem.  Still, with the exception of
+this little sign of rebellious insanity, your condition has marvellously
+improved.  You are on the high-road to a complete cure.  By-and-by, your
+excellent heart will render me the justice that is due to me; and, one
+day, I shall be judged as I deserve."
+
+"I, believe it, sir; the day approaches, in which you will be judged as
+you deserve," said Adrienne, laying great stress upon the two words.
+
+"Always that other fixed idea," said the doctor with a sort of
+commiseration.  "Come, be reasonable.  Do not think of this
+childishness."
+
+"What! renounce my intention to demand at the hands of justice reparation
+for myself, and disgrace for you and your accomplices?  Never, sir--
+never!"
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders; "once at liberty, thank
+heaven, you will have many other things to think of, my fair enemy."
+
+"You forget piously the evil that you do; but I, sir, have a better
+memory."
+
+"Let us talk seriously.  Have you really the intention of applying to the
+courts?" inquired Dr. Baleinier, in a grave tone.
+
+"Yes, sir, and you know that what I intend, I firmly carry out."
+
+"Well! I can only conjure you not to follow out this idea," replied the
+doctor, in a still more solemn tone; "I ask it as a favor, in the name of
+your own interest."
+
+"I think, sir, that you are a little too ready to confound your interest
+with mine."
+
+"Now come," said Dr. Baleinier, with a feigned impatience, as if quite
+certain of convincing Mdlle. de Cardoville on the instant; "would you
+have the melancholy courage to plunge into despair two persons full of
+goodness and generosity?"
+
+"Only two?  The jest would be complete, if you were to reckon three: you,
+sir, and my aunt, and Abbe d'Aigrigny; for these are no doubt the
+generous persons in whose name you implore my pity."
+
+"No, madame; I speak neither of myself, nor of your aunt, nor of Abbe
+d'Aigrigny."
+
+"Of whom, then, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise.
+
+"Of two poor fellows, who, no doubt sent by those whom you call your
+friends, got into the neighboring convent the other night, and thence
+into this garden.  The guns which you heard go off were fired at them."
+
+"Alas! I thought so.  They refused to tell me if either of them was
+wounded," said Adrienne, with painful emotion.
+
+"One of them received a wound, but not very serious, since he was able to
+fly and escape pursuit."
+
+"Thank God!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, clasping her hands with fervor.
+
+"It is quite natural that you should rejoice at their escape, but by what
+strange contradiction do you now wish to put the officers of justice on
+their track?  A singular manner, truly, of rewarding their devotion!"
+
+"What do you say, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"For if they should be arrested," resumed Dr. Baleinier, without
+answering her, "as they have been guilty of housebreaking and attempted
+burglary, they would be sent to the galleys."
+
+"Heavens! and for my sake!"
+
+"Yes; it would be for you, and what is worse, by you, that they would be
+condemned."
+
+"By me, sir?"
+
+"Certainly; that is, if you follow up your vengeance against your aunt
+and Abbe d'Aigrigny--I do not speak of myself, for I am quite safe; in a
+word, if you persist in laying your complaint before the magistrates,
+that you have been unjustly confined in this house."
+
+"I do not understand you, sir.  Explain yourself," said Adrienne, with
+growing uneasiness.
+
+"Child that you are!" cried the Jesuit of the short robe, with an air of
+conviction; "do you think that if the law once takes cognizance of this
+affair, you can stop short its action where and when you please?  When
+you leave this house, you lodge a complaint against me and against your
+family; well, what happens?  The law interferes, inquires, calls
+witnesses, enters into the most minute investigations.  Then, what
+follows?  Why, that this nocturnal escalade, which the superior of the
+convent has some interest in hushing up, for fear of scandal--that this
+nocturnal attempt, I say, which I also would keep quiet, is necessarily
+divulged, and as it involves a serious crime, to which a heavy penalty is
+attached, the law will ferret into it, and find out these unfortunate
+men, and if, as is probable, they are detained in Paris by their duties
+or occupations, or even by a false security, arising from the honorable
+motives which they know to have actuated them, they will be arrested.
+And who will be the cause of this arrest?  You, by your deposition
+against us."
+
+"Oh, sir! that would be horrible; but it is impossible."
+
+"It is very possible, on the contrary," returned M. Baleinier: "so that,
+while I and the superior of the convent, who alone are really entitled to
+complain, only wish to keep quiet this unpleasant affair, it is you--you,
+for whom these unfortunate men have risked the galleys--that will deliver
+them up to justice."
+
+Though Mdlle. de Cardoville was not completely duped by the lay Jesuit,
+she guessed that the merciful intentions which he expressed with regard
+to Dagobert and his son, would be absolutely subordinate to the course
+she might take in pressing or abandoning the legitimate vengeance which
+she meant to claim of authority.  Indeed, Rodin, whose instructions the
+doctor was following without knowing it, was too cunning to have it said
+to Mdlle. de Cardoville: "If you attempt any proceedings, we denounce
+Dagobert and his son;" but he attained the same end, by inspiring
+Adrienne with fears on the subject of her two liberators, so as to
+prevent her taking any hostile measures.  Without knowing the exact law
+on the subject, Mdlle. de Cardoville had too much good sense not to
+understand that Dagobert and Agricola might be very seriously involved in
+consequence of their nocturnal adventure, and might even find themselves
+in a terrible position.  And yet, when she thought of all she had
+suffered in that house, and of all the just resentment she entertained in
+the bottom of her heart, Adrienne felt unwilling to renounce the stern
+pleasure of exposing such odious machinations to the light of day.  Dr.
+Baleinier watched with sullen attention her whom he considered his dupe,
+for he thought he could divine the cause of the silence and hesitation of
+Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"But, sir," resumed the latter, unable to conceal her anxiety, "if I were
+disposed, for whatever reason, to make no complaint, and to forget the
+wrongs I have suffered, when should I leave this place?"
+
+"I cannot tell; for I do not know when you will be radically cured," said
+the doctor, benignantly.  "You are in a very good way, but--"
+
+"Still this insolent and stupid acting!" broke forth Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, interrupting the doctor with indignation.  "I ask, and if it
+must be, I entreat you to tell me how long I am to be shut up in this
+dreadful house, for I shall leave it some day, I suppose?"
+
+"I hope so, certainly," said the Jesuit of the short robe, with unction;
+"but when, I am unable to say.  Moreover, I must tell you frankly, that
+every precaution is taken against such attempts as those of the other
+night; and the most vigorous watch will be maintained, to prevent your
+communicating with any one.  And all this in your own interest, that your
+poor head may not again be dangerously excited."
+
+"So, sir," said Adrienne, almost terrified, "compared with what awaits
+me, the last few days have been days of liberty."
+
+"Your interest before everything," answered the doctor, in a fervent
+tone.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville, feeling the impotence of her indignation and
+despair, heaved a deep sigh, and hid her face in her hands.
+
+At this moment, quick footsteps were heard in the passage, and one of the
+nurses entered, after having knocked at the door.
+
+"Sir," said she to the doctor, with a frightened air, "there are two
+gentlemen below, who wish to see you instantly, and the lady also."
+
+Adrienne raised her head hastily; her eyes were bathed in tears.
+
+"What are the names of these persons?" said M. Baleinier, much
+astonished.
+
+"One of them said to me," answered the nurse: "`Go and inform Dr.
+Baleinier that I am a magistrate, and that I come on a duty regarding
+Mdlle. de Cardoville.'"
+
+"A magistrate!" exclaimed the Jesuit of the short robe, growing purple in
+the face, and unable to hide his surprise and uneasiness.
+
+"Heaven be praised!" cried Adrienne, rising with vivacity, her
+countenance beaming through her tears with hope and joy; "my friends have
+been informed in time, and the hour of justice is arrived!"
+
+"Ask these persons to walk up," said Dr. Baleinier, after a moment's
+reflection.  Then, with a still more agitated expression of countenance,
+he approached Adrienne with a harsh, and almost menacing air, which
+contrasted with the habitual placidity of his hypocritical smile, and
+said to her in a low voice: "Take care, madame! do not rejoice too soon."
+
+"I no longer fear you," answered Mdlle. de Cardoville, with a bright,
+flashing eye.  "M. de Montbron is no doubt returned to Paris, and has
+been informed in time.  He accompanies the magistrate, and comes to
+deliver me.  I pity you, sir--both you and yours," added Adrienne, with
+an accent of bitter irony.
+
+"Madame," cried M. Baleinier, no longer able to dissemble his growing
+alarm, "I repeat to you, take care!  Remember what I have told you.  Your
+accusations would necessarily involve the discovery of what took place
+the other night.  Beware! the fate of the soldier and his son is in your
+hands.  Recollect they are in danger of the convict's chains."
+
+"Oh! I am not your dupe, sir.  You are holding out a covert menace.  Have
+at least the courage to say to me, that, if I complain to the
+magistrates, you will denounce the soldier and his son."
+
+"I repeat, that, if you make any complaint, those two people are lost,"
+answered the doctor, ambiguously.
+
+Startled by what was really dangerous in the doctor's threats, Adrienne
+asked: "Sir, if this magistrate questions me, do you think I will tell
+him a falsehood?"
+
+"You will answer what is true," said M. Baleinier, hastily, in the hope
+of still attaining his end.  "You will answer that you were in so excited
+a state of mind a few days ago, that it was thought advisable, for your
+own sake, to bring you hither, without your knowing it.  But you are now
+so much better, that you acknowledge the utility of the measures taken
+with regard to you.  I will confirm these words for, after all, it is the
+truth."
+
+"Never!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, with indignation, "never will I be
+the accomplice of so infamous a falsehood; never will I be base enough to
+justify the indignities that I have suffered!"
+
+"Here is the magistrate," said M. Baleinier, as he caught the sound of
+approaching footsteps.  "Beware!"
+
+The door opened, and, to the indescribable amazement of the doctor, Rodin
+appeared on the threshold, accompanied by a man dressed in black, with a
+dignified and severe countenance.  In the interest of his projects, and
+from motives of craft and prudence that will hereafter be known, Rodin
+had not informed Father d'Aigrigny, and consequently the doctor, of the
+unexpected visit he intended to pay to the asylum, accompanied by a
+magistrate.  On the contrary, he had only the day before given orders to
+M. Baleinier to confine Mdlle. de Cardoville still more strictly.
+Therefore, imagine the stupor of the doctor when he saw the judicial
+officer, whose unexpected presence and imposing aspect were otherwise
+sufficiently alarming, enter the room, accompanied by Rodin, Abbe
+d'Aigrigny's humble and obscure secretary.  From the door, Rodin, who was
+very shabbily dressed, as usual, pointed out Mdlle. de Cardoville to the
+magistrate, by a gesture at once respectful and compassionate.  Then,
+while the latter, who had not been able to repress a movement of
+admiration at sight of the rare beauty of Adrienne, seemed to examine her
+with as much surprise as interest, the Jesuit modestly receded several
+steps.
+
+Dr. Baleinier in his extreme astonishment, hoping to be understood by
+Rodin, made suddenly several private signals, as if to interrogate him on
+the cause of the magistrate's visit.  But this was only productive of
+fresh amazement to M. Baleinier; for Rodin did not appear to recognize
+him, or to understand his expressive pantomime, and looked at him with
+affected bewilderment.  At length, as the doctor, growing impatient,
+redoubled his mute questionings, Rodin advanced with a stride, stretched
+forward his crooked neck, and said, in a loud voice: "What is your
+pleasure, doctor?"
+
+These words, which completely disconcerted Baleinier, broke the silence
+which had reigned for some seconds, and the magistrate turned round.
+Rodin added, with imperturbable coolness: "Since our arrival, the doctor
+has been making all sorts of mysterious signs to me.  I suppose he has
+something private to communicate, but, as I have no secrets, I must beg
+him to speak out loud."
+
+This reply, so embarrassing for M.  Baleinier, uttered in a tone of
+aggression, and with an air of icy coldness, plunged the doctor into such
+new and deep amazement, that he remained for some moments without
+answering.  No doubt the magistrate was struck with this incident, and
+with the silence which followed it, for he cast a look of great severity
+on the doctor.  Mdlle. de Cardoville, who had expected to have seen M. de
+Montbron, was also singularly surprised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE ACCUSER.
+
+Baleinier, disconcerted for a moment by the unexpected presence of a
+magistrate, and by Rodin's inexplicable attitude, soon recovered his
+presence of mind, and addressing his colleague of the longer robe, said
+to him: "If I make signs to you, sir, it was that, while I wished to
+respect the silence which this gentleman"--glancing at the magistrate--
+"has preserved since his entrance, I desired to express my surprise at
+the unexpected honor of this visit."
+
+"It is to the lady that I will explain the reason for my silence, and beg
+her to excuse it," replied the magistrate, as he made a half-bow to
+Adrienne, whom he thus continued to address: "I have just received so
+serious a declaration with regard to you, madame, that I could not
+forbear looking at you for a moment in silence, to see if I could read in
+your countenance or in your attitude, the truth or falsehood of the
+accusation that has been placed in my hands; and I have every reason to
+believe that it is but too well founded."
+
+"May I at length be informed, sir," said Dr. Baleinier, in a polite but
+firm tone, "to whom I have the honor of speaking?"
+
+"Sir, I am juge d'instruction, and I have come to inform myself as to a
+fact which has been pointed out to me--"
+
+"Will you do me the honor to explain yourself, sir?" said the doctor,
+bowing.
+
+"Sir," resumed the magistrate, M. de Gernande, a man of about fifty years
+of age, full of firmness and straightforwardness, and knowing how to
+unite the austere duties of his position with benevolent politeness, "you
+are accused of having committed--a very great error, not to use a harsher
+expression.  As for the nature of that error, I prefer believing, sir,
+that you (a first rate man of science) may have been deceived in the
+calculation of a medical case, rather than suspect you of having
+forgotten all that is sacred in the exercise of a profession that is
+almost a priesthood."
+
+"When you specify the facts, sir," answered the Jesuit of the short robe,
+with a degree of haughtiness, "it will be easy for me to prove that my
+reputation as a man of science is no less free from reproach, than my
+conscience as a man of honor."
+
+"Madame," said M. de Gernande, addressing Adrienne, "is it true that you
+were conveyed to this house by stratagem?"
+
+"Sir," cried M. Baleinier, "permit me to observe, that the manner in
+which you open this question is an insult to me."
+
+"Sir, it is to the lady that I have the honor of addressing myself,"
+replied M. de Gernande, sternly; "and I am the sole judge of the
+propriety of my questions."
+
+Adrienne was about to answer affirmatively to the magistrate, when an
+expressive took from Dr. Baleinier reminded her that she would perhaps
+expose Dagobert and his son to cruel dangers.  It was no base and vulgar
+feeling of vengeance by which Adrienne was animated, but a legitimate
+indignation, inspired by odious hypocrisy.  She would have thought it
+cowardly not to unmask the criminals; but wishing to avoid compromising
+others, she said to the magistrate, with an accent full of mildness and
+dignity: "Permit me, sir, in my turn, rather to ask you a question."
+
+"Speak, madame."
+
+"Will the answer I make be considered a formal accusation?"
+
+"I have come hither, madame, to ascertain the truth, and no consideration
+should induce you to dissemble it."
+
+"So be it, sir," resumed Adrienne; "but suppose, having just causes of
+complaint, I lay them before you, in order to be allowed to leave this
+house, shall I afterwards be at liberty not to press the accusations I
+have made?"
+
+"You may abandon proceedings, madame, but the law will take up your case
+in the name of society, if its rights have been inured in your person."
+
+"Shall I then not be allowed to pardon?  Should I not be sufficiently
+avenged by a contemptuous forgetfulness of the wrongs I have suffered?"
+
+"Personally, madame, you may forgive and forget; but I have the honor to
+repeat to you, that society cannot show the same indulgence, if it should
+turn out that you have been the victim of a criminal machination--and I
+have every reason to fear it is so.  The manner in which you express
+yourself, the generosity of your sentiments, the calmness and dignity of
+your attitude, convince me that I have been well informed."
+
+"I hope, sir," said Dr. Baleinier, recovering his coolness, "that you
+will at least communicate the declaration that has been made to you."
+
+"It has been declared to me, sir," said the magistrate, in a stern voice,
+"that Mdlle. de Cardoville was brought here by stratagem."
+
+"By stratagem?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"It is true.  The lady was brought here by stratagem," answered the
+Jesuit of the short robe, after a moment's silence.
+
+"You confess it, then?" said M. de Gernande.
+
+"Certainly I do, sir.  I admit that I had recourse to means which we are
+unfortunately too often obliged to employ, when persons who most need our
+assistance are unconscious of their own sad state."
+
+"But, sir," replied the magistrate, "it has also been declared to me,
+that Mdlle. de Cardoville never required such aid."
+
+"That, sir, is a question of medical jurisprudence, which has to be
+examined and discussed," said M. Baleinier, recovering his assurance.
+
+"It will, indeed, sir, be seriously discussed; for you are accused of
+confining Mdlle. De Cardoville, while in the full possession of all her
+faculties."
+
+"And may I ask you for what purpose?" said M. de Baleinier, with a slight
+shrug of the shoulders, and in a tone of irony.  "What interest had I to
+commit such a crime, even admitting that my reputation did not place me
+above so odious and absurd a charge?"
+
+"You are said to have acted, sir, in furtherance of a family plot,
+devised against Mdlle. de Cardoville for a pecuniary motive."
+
+"And who has dared, sir, to make so calumnious a charge?" cried Dr.
+Baleinier, with indignant warmth.  "Who has had the audacity to accuse a
+respectable, and I dare to say, respected man, of having been the
+accomplice in such infamy?"
+
+"I," said Rodin, coldly.
+
+"You!" cried Dr. Baleinier, falling back two steps, as if thunderstruck.
+
+"Yes, I accuse you," repeated Rodin, in a clear sharp voice.
+
+"Yes, it was this gentleman who came to me this morning, with ample
+proofs, to demand my interference in favor of Mdlle. de Cardoville," said
+the magistrate, drawing back a little, to give Adrienne the opportunity
+of seeing her defender.
+
+Throughout this scene, Rodin's name had not hitherto been mentioned.
+Mdlle. de Cardoville had often heard speak of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's
+secretary in no very favorable terms; but, never having seen him, she did
+not know that her liberator was this very Jesuit.  She therefore looked
+towards him, with a glance in which were mingled curiosity, interest,
+surprise and gratitude.  Rodin's cadaverous countenance, his repulsive
+ugliness, his sordid dress, would a few days before have occasioned
+Adrienne a perhaps invincible feeling of disgust.  But the young lady,
+remembering how the sempstress, poor, feeble, deformed, and dressed
+almost in rags was endowed notwithstanding her wretched exterior, with
+one of the noblest and most admirable hearts, recalled this recollection
+in favor of the Jesuit.  She forgot that he was ugly and sordid, only to
+remember that he was old, that he seemed poor, and that he had come to
+her assistance.  Dr. Baleinier, notwithstanding his craft,
+notwithstanding his audacious hypocrisy, in spite even of his presence of
+mind, could not conceal how much he was disturbed by Rodin's
+denunciation.  His head became troubled as he remembered how, on the
+first day of Adrienne's confinement in this house, the implacable appeal
+of Rodin, through the hole in the door, had prevented him (Baleinier)
+from yielding to emotions of pity, inspired by the despair of this
+unfortunate young girl, driven almost to doubt of her own reason.  And
+yet it was this very Rodin, so cruel, so inexorable, the devoted agent of
+Father d'Aigrigny, who denounced him (Baleinier), and brought a
+magistrate to set Adrienne at liberty--when, only the day before, Father
+d'Aigrigny had ordered an increase of severity towards her!
+
+The lay Jesuit felt persuaded that Rodin was betraying Father d'Aigrigny
+in the most shameful manner, and that Mdlle. de Cardoville's friends had
+bribed and bought over this scoundrelly secretary.  Exasperated by what
+he considered a monstrous piece of treachery, the doctor exclaimed, in a
+voice broken with rage: "And it is you, sir, that have the impudence to
+accuse me--you, who only a few days ago--"
+
+Then, reflecting that the retort upon Rodin would be self-accusation, he
+appeared to give way to an excess of emotion, and resumed with
+bitterness: "Ah, sir, you are the last person that I should have thought
+capable of this odious denunciation.  It is shameful!"
+
+"And who had a better right than I to denounce this infamy?" answered
+Rodin, in a rude, overbearing tone.  "Was I not in a position to learn--
+unfortunately, too late--the nature of the conspiracy of which Mdlle. de
+Cardoville and others have been the victims?  Then, what was my duty as
+an honest man?  Why, to inform the magistrate, to prove what I set forth,
+and to accompany him hither.  That is what I have done."
+
+"So, sir," said the doctor, addressing the magistrate, "it is not only
+myself that this man accuses, but he dares also--"
+
+"I accuse the Abbe d'Aigrigny," resumed Rodin, in a still louder and more
+imperative tone, interrupting the doctor, "I accuse the Princess de
+Saint-Dizier, I accuse you, sir--of having, from a vile motive of self-
+interest, confined Mdlle. de Cardoville in this house, and the two
+daughters of Marshal Simon in the neighboring convent.  Is that clear?"
+
+"Alas! it is only too true," said Adrienne, hastily.  "I have seen those
+poor children all in tears, making signs of distress to me."
+
+The accusation of Rodin, with regard to the orphans, was a new and
+fearful blow for Dr. Baleinier.  He felt perfectly convinced that the
+traitor had passed clear over to the enemy's camp.  Wishing therefore to
+put an end to this embarrassing scene, he tried to put a good face on the
+matter, in spite of his emotion, and said to the magistrate:
+
+"I might confine myself, sir, to silence--disdaining to answer such
+accusations, till a judicial decision had given them some kind of
+authority.  But, strong in a good conscience I address myself to Mdlle.
+de Cardoville, and I beg her to say if this very morning I did not inform
+her, that her health would soon be sufficiently restored to allow her to
+leave this house.  I conjure her, in the name of her well-known love of
+truth to state if such was not my language, when I was alone with her--"
+
+"Come, sir!" said Rodin, interrupting Baleinier with an insolent air;
+"suppose that, from pure generosity, this dear young lady were to admit
+as much--what will it prove in your favor?--why, nothing at all."
+
+"What, sir," cried the doctor, "do you presume--"
+
+"I presume to unmask you, without asking your leave.  What have you just
+told us?  Why, that being alone with Mdlle. de Cardoville, you talked to
+her as if she were really mad.  How very conclusive!"
+
+"But, sir--" cried the doctor.
+
+"But, sir," resumed Rodin, without allowing him to continue, "it is
+evident that, foreseeing the possibility of what has occurred to-day,
+and, to provide yourself with a hole to creep out at, you have pretended
+to believe your own execrable falsehood, in presence of this poor young
+lady, that you might afterwards call in aid the evidence of your own
+assumed conviction.  Come, sir! such stories will not go down with people
+of common sense or common humanity."
+
+"Come now, sir!" exclaimed Baleinier, angrily.
+
+"Well, sir," resumed Rodin, in a still louder voice, which completely
+drowned that of the doctor; "is it true, or is it not, that you have
+recourse to the mean evasion of ascribing this odious imprisonment to a
+scientific error?  I affirm that you do so, and that you think yourself
+safe, because you can now say: `Thanks to my care, the young lady has
+recovered her reason.  What more would you have?'"
+
+"Yes, I do say that, sir, and I maintain it."
+
+"You maintain a falsehood; for it is proven that the lady never lost her
+reason for a moment."
+
+"But I, sir, maintain that she did lose it."
+
+"And I, sir, will prove the contrary," said Rodin.
+
+"You?  How will you do that?" cried the doctor.
+
+"That I shall take care not to tell you at present, as you may well
+suppose," answered Rodin, with an ironical smile, adding with
+indignation: "But, really, sir, you ought to die for shame, to dare to
+raise such a question in presence of the lady.  You should at least have
+spared her this discussion."
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"Oh, fie, sir!  I say, fie!  It is odious to maintain this argument
+before her--odious if you speak truth, doubly odious if you lie," said
+Rodin, with disgust.
+
+"This violence is inconceivable!" cried the Jesuit of the short robe,
+exasperated; "and I think the magistrate shows great partiality in
+allowing such gross calumnies to be heaped upon me!"
+
+"Sir," answered M. de Gernande, severely, "I am entitled not only to
+hear, but to provoke any contradictory discussion that may enlighten me
+in the execution of my duty; it results from all this, that, even in your
+opinion, sir, Mdlle. de Cardoville's health is sufficiently good to allow
+her to return home immediately."
+
+"At least, I do not see any very serious inconvenience likely to arise
+from it, sir," said the doctor: "only I maintain that the cure is not so
+complete as it might have been, and, on this subject, I decline all
+responsibility for the future."
+
+"You can do so, safely," said Rodin; "it is not likely that the young
+lady will ever again have recourse to your honest assistance."
+
+"It is useless, therefore, to employ my official authority, to demand the
+immediate liberation of Mdlle. de Cardoville," said the magistrate.
+
+"She is free," said Baleinier, "perfectly free."
+
+"As for the question whether you have imprisoned her on the plea of a
+suppositious madness, the law will inquire into it, sir, and you will be
+heard."
+
+"I am quite easy, sir," answered M. Baleinier, trying to look so; "my
+conscience reproaches me with nothing."
+
+"I hope it may turn out well, sir," said M. de Gernande.  "However bad
+appearances may be, more especially when persons of your station in
+society are concerned, we should always wish to be convinced of their
+innocence."  Then, turning to Adrienne, he added: "I understand, madame,
+how painful this scene must be to all your feelings of delicacy and
+generosity; hereafter, it will depend upon yourself, either to proceed
+for damages against M. Baleinier, or to let the law take its course.  One
+word more.  The bold and upright man"--here the magistrate pointed to
+Rodin--"who has taken up your cause in so frank and disinterested a
+manner, expressed a belief that you would, perhaps, take charge for the
+present of Marshal Simon's daughters, whose liberation I am about to
+demand from the convent where they also are confined by stratagem."
+
+"The fact is, sir," replied Adrienne, "that, as soon as I learned the
+arrival of Marshal Simon's daughters in Paris, my intention was to offer
+them apartments in my house.  These young ladies are my near relations.
+It is at once a duty and a pleasure for me to treat them as sisters.  I
+shall, therefore, be doubly grateful to you, sir, if you will trust them
+to my care."
+
+"I think that I cannot serve them better," answered M. de Gernande.
+Then, addressing Baleinier, he added, "Will you consent, sir, to my
+bringing these two ladies hither?  I will go and fetch them, while Mdlle.
+de Cardoville prepares for her departure.  They will then be able to
+leave this house with their relation."
+
+"I entreat the lady to make use of this house as her own, until she
+leaves it," replied M. Baleinier.  "My carriage shall be at her orders to
+take her home."
+
+"Madame," said the magistrate, approaching Adrienne, "without prejudging
+the question, which must soon be decided by, a court of law, I may at
+least regret that I was not called in sooner.  Your situation must have
+been a very cruel one."
+
+"There will at least remain to me, sir, from this mournful time," said
+Adrienne, with graceful dignity, "one precious and touching remembrance--
+that of the interest which you have shown me.  I hope that you will one
+day permit me to thank you, at my own home, not for the justice you have
+done me, but for the benevolent and paternal manner in which you have
+done it.  And moreover, sir," added Mdlle. de Cardoville, with a sweet
+smile, "I should like to prove to you, that what they call my cure is
+complete."
+
+M. de Gernande bowed respectfully in reply.  During the abort dialogue of
+the magistrate with Adrienne, their backs were both turned to Baleinier
+and Rodin.  The latter, profiting by this moment's opportunity, hastily
+slipped into the doctor's hand a note just written with a pencil in the
+bottom of his hat.  Baleinier looked at Rodin in stupefied amazement.
+But the latter made a peculiar sign, by raising his thumb to his
+forehead, and drawing it twice across his brow.  Then he remained
+impassible.  This had passed so rapidly, that when M. de Gernande turned
+round, Rodin was at a distance of several steps from Dr. Baleinier, and
+looking at Mdlle. de Cardoville with respectful interest.
+
+"Permit me to accompany you, sir," said the doctor, preceding the
+magistrate, whom Mdlle. de Cardoville saluted with much affability.  Then
+both went out, and Rodin remained alone with the young lady.
+
+After conducting M. de Gernande to the outer door of the house, M.
+Baleinier made haste to read the pencil-note written by Rodin; it ran as
+follows: "The magistrate is going to the convent, by way of the street.
+Run round by the garden, and tell the Superior to obey the order I have
+given with regard to the two young girls.  It is of the utmost
+importance."
+
+The peculiar sign which Rodin had made, and the tenor of this note,
+proved to Dr. Baleinier, who was passing from surprise to amazement, that
+the secretary, far from betraying the reverend father, was still acting
+for the Greater Glory of the Lord.  However, whilst he obeyed the orders,
+M. Baleinier sought in vain to penetrate the motives of Rodin's
+inexplicable conduct, who had himself informed the authorities of an
+affair that was to have been hushed up, and that might have the most
+disastrous consequences for Father d'Aigrigny, Madame de Saint-Dizier,
+and Baleinier himself.  But let us return to Rodin, left alone with
+Mdlle, de Cardoville.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+FATHER D'AIGRIGNY'S SECRETARY.
+
+Hardly had the magistrate and Dr. Baleinier disappeared, than Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, whose countenance was beaming with joy, exclaimed, as she
+looked at Rodin with a mixture of respect and gratitude, "At length,
+thanks to you, sir, I am free--free!  Oh, I had never before felt how
+much happiness, expansion, delight, there is in that adorable word--
+liberty!"
+
+Her bosom rose and fell, her rosy nostrils dilated, her vermilion lips
+were half open, as if she again inhaled with rapture pure and vivifying
+air.
+
+"I have been only a few days in this horrible place," she resumed, "but I
+have suffered enough from my captivity to make me resolve never to let a
+year pass without restoring to liberty some poor prisoners for debt.
+This vow no doubt appears to belong a little to the Middle Ages," added
+she, with a smile; "but I would fain borrow from that noble epoch
+something more than its old windows and furniture.  So, doubly thanks,
+sir!--for I take you as a partner in that project of deliverance, which
+has just (you see) unfolded itself in the midst of the happiness I owe to
+you, and by which you seem so much affected.  Oh! let my joy speak my
+gratitude, and pay you for your generous aid!" exclaimed the young girl
+with enthusiasm.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville had truly remarked a complete transfiguration in the
+countenance of Rodin.  This man, lately so harsh, severe, inflexible,
+with regard to Dr. Baleinier, appeared now under the influence of the
+mildest and most tender sentiments.  His little, half-veiled eyes were
+fixed upon Adrienne with an expression of ineffable interest.  Then, as
+if he wished to tear himself from these impressions, he said, speaking to
+himself, "Come, come, no weakness.  Time is too precious; my mission is
+not fulfilled.  My dear young lady," added he, addressing himself to
+Adrienne, "believe what I say--we will talk hereafter of gratitude--but
+we have now to talk of the present so important for you and your family.
+Do you know what is taking place?"
+
+Adrienne looked at the Jesuit with surprise, and said, "What is taking
+place, sir?"
+
+"Do you know the real motive of your imprisonment in this house?  Do you
+know what influenced the Princess de Saint-Dizier and Abbe d'Aigrigny?"
+
+At the sound of those detested names, Mdlle. de Cardoville's face, now so
+full of happiness, became suddenly sad, and she answered with bitterness,
+"It is hatred, sir, that no doubt animated Madame de Saint-Dizier against
+me."
+
+"Yes, hatred; and, moreover, the desire to rob you with impunity of an
+immense fortune."
+
+"Me, sir! how?"
+
+"You must be ignorant, my dear young lady, of the interest you had to be
+in the Rue Saint-Francois on the 13th February, for an inheritance?"
+
+"I was ignorant, sir, of the date and details: but I knew by some family
+papers, and thanks to an extraordinary circumstance, that one of our
+ancestors--"
+
+"Had left an enormous sum to be divided between his descendants; is it
+not so?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"But what unfortunately you did not know, my dear young lady, was that
+the heirs were all bound to be present at a certain hour on the 13th
+February.  This day and hour once past, the absent would forfeit their
+claim.  Do you now understand why you have been imprisoned here, my dear
+young lady?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I understand it," cried Mdlle. de Cardoville; "cupidity was
+added to the hatred which my aunt felt for me.  All is explained.
+Marshal Simon's daughters, having the same right as I had have, like me,
+been imprisoned."
+
+"And yet," cried Rodin, "you and they were not the only victims."
+
+"Who, then, are the others, sir?"
+
+"A young East Indian."
+
+"Prince Djalma?" said Adrienne, hastily.
+
+"For the same reason he has been nearly poisoned with a narcotic."
+
+"Great God!" cried the young girl, clasping her hands in horror.  "It is
+fearful.  That young prince, who was said to have so noble and generous a
+character!  But I had sent to Cardoville Castle--"
+
+"A confidential person, to fetch the prince to Paris--I know it, my dear
+young lady; but, by means of a trick, your friend was got out of the way,
+and the young Oriental delivered to his enemies."
+
+"And where is he now?"
+
+"I have only vague information on the subject.  I know that he is in
+Paris, and do not despair of finding him.  I shall pursue my researches
+with an almost paternal ardor, for we cannot too much love the rare
+qualities of that poor king's son.  What a heart, my dear young lady!
+what a heart!  Oh, it is a heart of gold, pure and bright as the gold of
+his country!"
+
+"We must find the prince, sir," said Adrienne with emotion; "let me
+entreat you to neglect nothing for that end.  He is my relation--alone
+here--without support--without assistance."
+
+"Certainly," replied Rodin, with commiseration.  "Poor boy!--for he is
+almost a boy--eighteen or nineteen years of age--thrown into the heart of
+Paris, of this hell--with his fresh, ardent, half-savage passions--with
+his simplicity and confidence--to what perils may he not be exposed?"
+
+"Well, we must first find him, sir," said Adrienne, hastily; "and then we
+will save him from these dangers.  Before I was confined here, I learned
+his arrival in France, and sent a confidential person to offer him the
+services of an unknown friend.  I now see that this mad idea, with which
+I have been so much reproached, was a very sensible one.  I am more
+convinced of it than ever.  The prince belongs to my family, and I owe
+him a generous hospitality.  I had destined for him the lodge I occupied
+at my aunt's."
+
+"And you, my dear young lady?"
+
+"To-day, I shall remove to a house, which I had prepared some time ago,
+with the determination of quitting Madame de Saint-Dizier, and living
+alone as I pleased.  Then, sir, as you seem bent upon being the good
+genius of our family, be as generous with regard to Prince Djalma, as you
+have been to me and Marshal Simon's daughters.  I entreat you to discover
+the hiding-place of this poor king's son, as you call him; keep my secret
+for me, and conduct him to the house offered by the unknown friend.  Let
+him not disquiet himself about anything; all his wants shall be provided
+for; he shall live--like a prince."
+
+"Yes; he will indeed live like a prince, thanks to your royal
+munificence.  But never was such kind interest better deserved.  It is
+enough to see (as I have seen) his fine, melancholy countenance--"
+
+"You have seen him, then, sir?" said Adrienne, interrupting Rodin.
+
+"Yes, my dear young lady; I was with him for about two hours.  It was
+quite enough to judge of him.  His charming features are the mirror of
+his soul."
+
+"And where did you see him, sir?"
+
+"At your old Chateau de Cardoville, my dear young lady, near which he had
+been shipwrecked in a storm, and whither I had gone to--" Rodin hesitated
+for a moment, and then, as if yielding to the frankness of his
+disposition, added: "Whither I had gone to commit a bad action--a
+shameful, miserable action, I must confess!"
+
+"You, sir?--at Cardoville House--to commit a bad action?" cried Adrienne,
+much surprised.
+
+"Alas! yes, my dear young lady," answered Rodin with simplicity.  "In one
+word, I had orders from Abbe d'Aigrigny, to place your former bailiff in
+the alternative either of losing his situation or lending himself to a
+mean action--something, in fact, that resembled spying and calumny; but
+the honest, worthy man refused."
+
+"Why, who are you, sir?" said Mdlle. de Cardoville, more and more
+astonished.
+
+"I am Rodin, lately secretary of the Abbe d'Aigrigny--a person of very
+little importance, as you see."
+
+It is impossible to describe the accent, at once humble and ingenuous, of
+the Jesuit, as he pronounced these words, which he accompanied with a
+respectful bow.  On this revelation, Mdlle. de Cardoville drew back
+abruptly.  We have said that Adrienne had sometimes heard talk of Rodin,
+the humble secretary of the Abbe d'Aigrigny, as a sort of obedient and
+passive machine.  That was not all; the bailiff of Cardoville Manor,
+writing to Adrienne on the subject of Prince Djalma, had complained of
+the perfidious and dishonest propositions of Rodin.  She felt, therefore,
+a vague suspicion, when she heard that her liberator was the man who had
+played so odious a part.  Yet this unfavorable feeling was balanced by
+the sense of what she owed to Rodin, and by his frank denunciation of
+Abbe d'Aigrigny before the magistrate.  And then the Jesuit, by his own
+confession, had anticipated, as it were, the reproaches that might have
+been addressed to him.  Still, it was with a kind of cold reserve that
+Mdlle. de Cardoville resumed this dialogue, which she had commenced with
+as much frankness as warmth and sympathy.
+
+Rodin perceived the impression he had made.  He expected it.  He was not
+the least disconcerted when Mdlle. de Cardoville said to him, as she
+fixed upon him a piercing glance, "Ah! you are M. Rodin--secretary to the
+Abbe d'Aigrigny?"
+
+"Say ex-secretary, if you please, my dear young lady," answered the
+Jesuit; "for you see clearly that I can never again enter the house of
+the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  I have made of him an implacable enemy, and I am
+now without employment--but no matter--nay, so much the better--since, at
+this price, the wicked are unmasked, and honest people rescued."
+
+These words, spoken with much simplicity, and dignity, revived a feeling
+of pity in Adrienne's heart.  She thought within herself that, after all,
+the poor old man spoke the truth.  Abbe d'Aigrigny's hate, after this
+exposure, would be inexorable, and Rodin had braved it for the sake of a
+generous action.
+
+Still Mdlle. de Cardoville answered coldly, "Since you knew, sir, that
+the propositions you were charged to make to the bailiff of Cardoville
+were shameful and perfidious, how could you undertake the mission?"
+
+"How?" replied Rodin, with a sort of painful impatience; "why, because I
+was completely under Abbe d'Aigrigny's charm, one of the most
+prodigiously clever men I have ever known, and, as I only discovered the
+day before yesterday, one of the most prodigiously dangerous men there is
+in the world.  He had conquered my scruples, by persuading me that the
+End justifies the Means.  I must confess that the end he seemed to
+propose to himself was great and beautiful; but the day before yesterday
+I was cruelly undeceived.  I was awakened, as it were, by a thunder-peal.
+Oh, my dear young lady!" added Rodin, with a sort of embarrassment and
+confusion, "let us talk no more of my fatal journey to Cardoville.
+Though I was only an ignorant and blind instrument, I feel as ashamed and
+grieved at it as if I had acted for myself.  It weighs upon me, it
+oppresses me.  I entreat you, let us speak rather of yourself, and of
+what interests you--for the soul expands with generous thoughts, even as
+the breast is dilated in pure and healthful air."
+
+Rodin had confessed his fault so spontaneously, he explained it so
+naturally, he appeared to regret it so sincerely, that Adrienne, whose
+suspicions had no other grounds, felt her distrust a good deal
+diminished.
+
+"So," she resumed, still looking attentively at Rodin, "it was at
+Cardoville that you saw Prince Djalma?"
+
+"Yes, madame; and my affection for him dates from that interview.
+Therefore I will accomplish my task.  Be satisfied, my dear young lady;
+like you, like Marshal Simon's daughters, the prince shall avoid being
+the victim of this detestable plot, which unhappily does not stop there."
+
+"And who besides, then, is threatened?"
+
+"M. Hardy, a man full of honor and probity, who is also your relation,
+and interested in this inheritance, but kept away from Paris by infamous
+treachery.  And another heir, an unfortunate artisan, who falling into a
+trap cleverly baited, has been thrown into a prison for debt."
+
+"But, sir," said Adrienne, suddenly, "for whose advantage was this
+abominable plot, which really alarms me, first devised?"
+
+"For the advantage of Abbe d'Aigrigny," answered Rodin.
+
+"How, and by what right!  Was he also an heir?"
+
+"It would take too long to explain it to you, my dear young lady.  You
+will know all one day.  Only be convinced that your family has no more
+bitter enemy that Abbe d'Aigrigny."
+
+"Sir," said Adrienne, giving way to one last suspicion, "I will speak
+frankly to you.  How can I have deserved the interest that you seem to
+take in me, and that you even extend to all the members of my family?"
+
+"My dear young lady," answered Rodin, with a smile, "were I to tell you
+the cause, you would only laugh at, or misapprehend me."
+
+"Speak, I beg of you, sir.  Do not mistrust me or yourself."
+
+"Well, then, I became interested in you--devoted to you--because your
+heart is generous, your mind lofty, your character independent and proud.
+Once attached to you, those of your race, who are indeed themselves
+worthy of interest, were no longer indifferent to me.  To serve them was
+to serve you also."
+
+"But, sir--admitting that you suppose me worthy of the too flattering
+praises you bestow upon me--how could you judge of my heart, my mind, my
+character?"
+
+"I will tell you, my dear young lady; but first I must make another
+confession, that fills me with shame.  If you were not even so
+wonderfully endowed, what you have suffered in this house should suffice
+to command the interest of every honest man--don't you think so?"
+
+"I do think it should, sir."
+
+"I might thus explain the interest I feel in you.  But no--I confess it--
+that would not have sufficed with me.  Had you been only Mdlle. de
+Cardoville--a rich, noble, beautiful young lady--I should doubtless have
+pitied your misfortune; but I should have said to myself, 'This poor
+young lady is certainly much to be pitied; but what can I, poor man, do
+in it?  My only resource is my post of secretary to the Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+and he would be the first that must be attacked.  He is all-powerful, and
+I am nothing.  To engage in a struggle with him would be to ruin myself,
+without the hope of saving this unfortunate person.' But when I learnt
+what you were, my dear young lady, I revolted, in spite of my
+inferiority.  `No,' I said, `a thousand times, no!  So fine an intellect,
+so great a heart, shall not be the victims of an abominable plot.  I may
+perish in the struggle, but I will at least make the attempt.'"
+
+No words can paint the mixture of delicacy, energy, and sensibility with
+which Rodin uttered these sentiments.  As it often happens with people
+singularly repulsive and ill-favored, if they can once bring you to
+forget their ugliness, their very deformity becomes a source of interest
+and commiseration, and you say to yourself, "What a pity that such a
+mind, such a soul, should inhabit so poor a body!"--and you are touched
+and softened by the contrast.
+
+It was thus that Mdlle. de Cardoville began to look upon Rodin.  He had
+shown himself as simple and affectionate towards her as he had been
+brutal and insolent to Dr. Baleinier.  One thing only excited the lively
+curiosity of Mdlle. de Cardoville--she wished to know how Rodin had
+conceived the devotion and admiration which she seemed to inspire.
+
+"Forgive my indiscreet and obstinate curiosity, sir, but I wish to know--"
+
+"How you were morally revealed to me--is it not so?  Oh, my dear young
+lady! nothing is more simple.  I will explain it to you in two words.
+The Abbe d'Aigrigny saw in me nothing but a writing-machine, an obtuse,
+mute, blind instrument--"
+
+"I thought M. d'Aigrigny had more penetration."
+
+"And you are right, my dear young lady; he is a man of unparalleled
+sagacity; but I deceived him by affecting more than simplicity.  Do not,
+therefore, think me false.  No; I am proud in my manner--and my pride
+consists in never appearing above my position, however subaltern it may
+be!  Do you know why?  It is that, however haughty may be my superiors, I
+can say to myself, `They do not know my value.  It is the inferiority of
+my condition, not me, that they humiliate.' By this I gain doubly--my
+self-love is spared, and I hate no one."
+
+"Yes, I understand that sort of pride," said Adrienne, more and more
+struck with Rodin's original turn of mind.
+
+"But let us return to what concerns you, my dear young lady.  On the eve
+of the 13th of February, the Abbe d'Aigrigny delivered to me a paper in
+shorthand, and said to me, `Transcribe this examination; you may add that
+it is to support the decision of a family council, which has declared, in
+accordance with the report of Dr. Baleinier, the state of mind of Mdlle.
+de Cardoville to be sufficiently alarming to render it necessary to
+confine her in a lunatic asylum.'"
+
+"Yes," said Adrienne, with bitterness; "it related to a long interview,
+which I had with the Princess de Saint-Dizier, my aunt, and which was
+taken down without my knowledge."
+
+Behold me, then, poring over my shorthand report, and beginning to
+transcribe it.  At the end of the first ten lines, I was struck with
+stupor.  I knew not if I were awake or dreaming.  `What! mad?'  They must
+be themselves insane who dare assert so monstrous a proposition!--More
+and more interested, I continued my reading--I finished it--Oh! then,
+what shall I say?  What I felt, my dear young lady, it is impossible to
+express.  It was sympathy, delight, enthusiasm!"
+
+"Sir," said Adrienne.
+
+"Yes, my dear young lady, enthusiasm!  Let not the words shock your
+modesty.  Know that these ideas, so new, so independent, so courageous
+which you expressed to your aunt with so much brilliancy, are, without
+your being aware of it, common to you and another person, for whom you
+will one day feel the most tender and religious respect."
+
+"Of whom do you speak, sir?" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, more and more
+interested.
+
+After a moment's apparent hesitation, Rodin resumed, "No, no--it is
+useless now to inform you of it.  All I can tell you, my dear young lady,
+is that, when I had finished my reading, I ran to Abbe d'Aigrigny's, to
+convince him of the error into which he had fallen with regard to you.
+It was impossible then to find him; but yesterday morning I told him
+plainly what I thought.  He only appeared surprised to find that I could
+think at all.  He received my communications with contemptuous silence.
+I thought him deceived; I continued my remonstrances, but quite in vain.
+He ordered me to follow him to the house, where the testament of your
+ancestor was to be opened.  I was so blind with regard to the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, that it required the successive arrivals of the soldier, of
+his son, and of Marshal Simon's father, to open my eyes thoroughly.
+Their indignation unveiled to me the extent of a conspiracy, plotted long
+ago, and carried on with terrible ability.  Then, I understood why you
+were confined here as a lunatic; why the daughters of Marshal Simon were
+imprisoned in a convent.  Then a thousand recollections returned to my
+mind; fragments of letters and statements, which had been given me to
+copy or decipher, and of which I had never been able to find the
+explanation, put me on the track of this odious machination.  To express
+then and there the sudden horror I felt at these crimes, would have been
+to ruin all.  I did not make this mistake.  I opposed cunning to cunning;
+I appeared even more eager than Abbe d'Aigrigny.  Had this immense
+inheritance been destined for me alone, I could not have shown myself
+more grasping and merciless.  Thanks to this stratagem, Abbe d'Aigrigny
+had no suspicion.  A providential accident having rescued the inheritance
+from his hands, he left the house in a state of profound consternation.
+For my part, I felt indescribable joy; for I had now the means of saving
+and avenging you, my dear young lady.  As usual, I went yesterday evening
+to my place of business.  During the absence of the abbe, it was easy for
+me to peruse the correspondence relative to the inheritance.  In this way
+I was able to unite all the threads of this immense plot.  Oh! then, my
+dear young lady, I remained, struck with horror, in presence of the
+discoveries that I made, and that I never should have made under any
+other circumstances."
+
+"What discoveries, sir?"
+
+"There are some secrets which are terrible to those who possess them.  Do
+not ask me to explain, my dear young lady; but, in this examination, the
+league formed against you and your relations, from motives of insatiable
+cupidity, appeared to me in all its dark audacity.  Thereupon, the lively
+and deep interest which I already felt for you, my dear young lady, was
+augmented greatly, and extended itself to the other innocent victims of
+this infernal conspiracy.  In spite of my weakness, I determined to risk
+all, to unmask the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  I collected the necessary proofs, to
+give my declaration before the magistrate the needful authority; and,
+this morning, I left the abbe's house without revealing to him my
+projects.  He might have employed some violent method to detain me; yet
+it would have been cowardly to attack him without warning.  Once out of
+his house, I wrote to him, that I had in my hands proof enough of his
+crimes, to attack him openly in the face of day.  I would accuse, and he
+must defend himself.  I went directly to a magistrate, and you know the
+rest."
+
+At this juncture, the door opened, and one of the nurses appeared, and
+said to Rodin: "Sir, the messenger that you and the magistrate sent to
+the Rue Brise-Miche has just come back."
+
+"Has he left the letter?"
+
+"Yes, sir; and it was taken upstairs directly."
+
+"Very well.  Leave us!"  The nurse went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+SYMPATHY.
+
+If it had been possible for Mdlle. de Cardoville to harbor any suspicion
+of the sincerity of Rodin's devotion, it must have given way before this
+reasoning, unfortunately so simple and undeniable.  How could she suppose
+the faintest complicity between the Abbe d'Aigrigny and his secretary,
+when it was the latter who completely unveiled the machinations of his
+master, and exposed them to the tribunals? when in this, Rodin went even
+further than Mdlle. de Cardoville would herself have gone?  Of what
+secret design could she suspect the Jesuit?  At worst, of a desire to
+earn by his services the profitable patronage of the young lady.
+
+And then, had he not just now protested against this supposition, by
+declaring his devotion, not to Mdlle. de Cardoville--not to the fair,
+rich, noble lady--but to the high-souled and generous girl?  Finally, as
+Rodin had said himself, could any but a miserable wretch fail to be
+interested in Adrienne's fate?  A strange mixture of curiosity, surprise,
+and interest, was joined with Mdlle. de Cardoville's feelings of
+gratitude towards Rodin.  Yet, as she recognized the superior mind under
+that humble exterior, she was suddenly struck with a grave suspicion.
+"Sir," said she to Rodin, "I always confess to the persons I esteem the
+doubts they may have inspired, so that they may justify themselves, and
+excuse me, if I am wrong."
+
+Rodin looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise, as if mentally
+calculating the suspicions than she might entertain, and replied, after a
+moment's silence: "You are perhaps thinking of my journey to Cardoville,
+of my base proposals to your good and worthy bailiff?  Oh! if you--"
+
+"No, no, sir," said Adrienne, interrupting him; "you made that confession
+spontaneously, and I quite understand, that, blinded with regard to M.
+d'Aigrigny, you passively executed instructions repugnant to your
+delicacy.  But how comes it, that, with your incontestable merits, you
+have so long; occupied so mean a position in his service?"
+
+"It is true," said Rodin, with a smile; "that must impress you
+unfavorably, my dear young lady; for a man of any capacity, who remains
+long in an inferior condition, has evidently some radical vice, some bad
+or base passion--"
+
+"It is generally true, sir."
+
+"And personally true--with regard to myself."
+
+"What, sir! do you make this avowal?"
+
+"Alas!  I confess that I have a bad passion, to which, for forty years, I
+have sacrificed all chances of attaining to a better position."
+
+"And this passion, sir?"
+
+"Since I must make the unpleasant avowal, this passion is indolence--yes,
+indolence--the horror of all activity of mind, of all moral
+responsibility, of taking the lead in anything.  With the twelve hundred
+francs that Abbe d'Aigrigny gave me, I was the happiest man in the world;
+I trusted to the nobleness of his views; his thoughts became mine, his
+wishes mine.  My work once finished, I returned to my poor little
+chamber, I lighted my fire, I dined on vegetables--then, taking up some
+book of philosophy, little known, and dreaming over it, I gave free
+course to my imagination, which, restrained all the day long, carried me
+through numberless theories to a delicious Utopia.  Then, from the
+eminences of my intelligence, lifted up Lord knows whither, by the
+audacity of my thoughts, I seemed to look down upon my master, and upon
+the great men of the earth.  This fever lasted for three or four hours,
+after which I had a good sleep; and, the next morning, I went lightly to
+my work, secure of my daily bread, without cares for the future, living
+content with little, waiting with impatience for the delights of my
+solitary evening, and saying to myself as I went on writing like a stupid
+machine: `And yet--and yet--if I chose!'--"
+
+"Doubtless, you could, like others, surer than others, have reached a
+higher position," said Adrienne, greatly struck with Rodin's practical
+philosophy.
+
+"Yes, I think I could have done so; but for what purpose?--You see, my
+dear young lady, what often renders people of some merit puzzles to the
+vulgar, is that they are frequently content to say: 'If I chose!'"
+
+"But, sir, without attaching much importance to the luxuries of life,
+there is a certain degree of comfort, which age renders almost
+indispensable, and which you seem to have utterly renounced."
+
+"Undeceive yourself, if you please, my dear young lady," said Rodin, with
+a playful smile.  "I am a true Sybarite; I require absolutely warm
+clothes, a good stove, a soft mattress, a good piece of bread, a fresh
+radish, flavored with good cheap salt, and some good, clear water; and,
+notwithstanding this complication of wants, my twelve hundred francs have
+always more than sufficed, for I have been able to make some little
+savings."
+
+"But now that you are without employment, how will you manage to live,
+sir?" said Adrienne, more and more interested by the singularities of
+this man, and wishing to put his disinterestedness to the proof.
+
+"I have laid by a little, which will serve me till I have unravelled the
+last thread of Father d'Aigrigny's dark designs.  I owe myself this
+reparation, for having been his dupe; three or four days, I hope, will
+complete the work.  After that, I have the certainty of meeting with a
+situation, in my native province, under a collector of taxes: some time
+ago, the offer was made me by a friend; but then I would not leave Father
+d'Aigrigny, notwithstanding the advantages proposed.  Fancy, my dear
+young lady--eight hundred francs, with board and lodging!  As I am a
+little of the roughest, I should have preferred lodging apart; but, as
+they give me so much, I must submit to this little inconvenience."
+
+Nothing could exceed Rodin's ingenuity, in making these little household
+confidences (so abominably false) to Mdlle. de Cardoville, who felt her
+last suspicions give way.
+
+"What, sir?" said she to the Jesuit, with interest; "in three or four
+days, you mean to quit Paris?"
+
+"I hope to do so, my dear young lady; and that," added he, in a
+mysterious tone, "and that for many reasons.  But what would be very
+precious to me," he resumed, in a serious voice, as he looked at Adrienne
+with emotion, "would be to carry with me the conviction, that you did me
+the justice to believe, that, on merely reading your interview with the
+Princess de Saint-Dizier, I recognized at once qualities quite unexampled
+in our day, in a young person of your age and condition."
+
+"Ah, sir!" said Adrienne, with a smile, "do not think yourself obliged to
+return so soon the sincere praises that I bestowed on your superiority of
+mind.  I should be better pleased with ingratitude."
+
+"Oh, no!  I do not flatter you, my dear young lady.  Why should I?  We
+may probably never meet again.  I do not flatter you; I understand you--
+that's all--and what will seem strange to you, is, that your appearance
+complete, the idea which I had already formed of you, my dear young lady,
+in reading your interview with your aunt: and some parts of your
+character, hitherto obscure to me, are now fully displayed."
+
+"Really, sir, you astonish me more and more."
+
+"I can't help it!  I merely describe my impressions.  I can now explain
+perfectly, for example, your passionate love of the beautiful, your eager
+worship of the refinements of the senses, your ardent aspirations for a
+better state of things, your courageous contempt of many degrading and
+servile customs, to which woman is condemned; yes, now I understand the
+noble pride with which you contemplate the mob of vain, self-sufficient,
+ridiculous men, who look upon woman as a creature destined for their
+service, according to the laws made after their own not very handsome
+image.  In the eyes of these hedge-tyrants, woman, a kind of inferior
+being to whom a council of cardinals deigned to grant a soul by a
+majority of two voices, ought to think herself supremely happy in being
+the servant of these petty pachas, old at thirty, worn-out, used up,
+weary with excesses, wishing only for repose, and seeking, as they say,
+to make an end of it, which they set about by marrying some poor girl,
+who is on her side desirous to make a beginning."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville would certainly have smiled at these satirical
+remarks, if she had not been greatly struck by hearing Rodin express in
+such appropriate terms her own ideas, though it was the first time in her
+life that she saw this dangerous man.  Adrienne forgot, or rather, she
+was not aware, that she had to deal with a Jesuit of rare intelligence,
+uniting the information and the mysterious resources of the police-spy
+with the profound sagacity of the confessor; one of those diabolic
+priests, who, by the help of a few hints, avowals, letters, reconstruct a
+character, as Cuvier could reconstruct a body from zoological fragments.
+Far from interrupting Rodin, Adrienne listened to him with growing
+curiosity.  Sure of the effect he produced, he continued, in a tone of
+indignation: "And your aunt and the Abbe d'Aigrigny treated you as mad,
+because you revolted against the yoke of such tyrants! because, hating
+the shameful vices of slavery, you chose to be independent with the
+suitable qualities of independence, free with the proud virtues of
+liberty!"
+
+"But, sir," said Adrienne, more and more surprised, "how can my thoughts
+be so familiar to you?"
+
+"First, I know you perfectly, thanks to your interview with the Princess
+de Saint-Dizier: and next, if it should happen that we both pursue the
+same end, though by different means," resumed Rodin, artfully, as he
+looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with an air of intelligence, "why should
+not our convictions be the same?"
+
+"I do not understand you, sir.  Of what end do you speak?"
+
+"The end pursued incessantly by all lofty, generous, independent spirits-
+-some acting, like you, my dear young lady, from passion, from instinct,
+without perhaps explaining to themselves the high mission they are called
+on to ful, fil.  Thus, for example, when you take pleasure in the most
+refined delights, when you surround yourself with all that charms the
+senses, do you think that you only yield to the attractions of the
+beautiful, to the desire of exquisite enjoyments?  No! ah, no! for then
+you would be incomplete, odiously selfish, a dry egotist, with a fine
+taste--nothing more--and at your age, it would be hideous, my dear young
+lady, it would be hideous!"
+
+"And do you really think thus severely of me?" said Adrienne, with
+uneasiness, so much influence had this man irresistibly attained over
+her.
+
+"Certainly, I should think thus of you, if you loved luxury for luxury's
+sake; but, no--quite another sentiment animates you," resumed the Jesuit.
+"Let us reason a little.  Feeling a passionate desire for all these
+enjoyments, you know their value and their need more than any one--is it
+not so?"
+
+"It is so," replied Adrienne, deeply interested.
+
+"Your gratitude and favor are then necessarily acquired by those who,
+poor, laborious, and unknown, have procured for you these marvels of
+luxury, which you could not do without?"
+
+"This feeling of gratitude is so strong in me, sir," replied Adrienne,
+more and more pleased to find herself so well understood, "that I once
+had inscribed on a masterpiece of goldsmith's work, instead of the name
+of the seller, that of the poor unknown artist who designed it, and who
+has since risen to his true place."
+
+"There you see, I was not deceived," went on Rodin; "the taste for
+enjoyment renders you grateful to those who procure it for you; and that
+is not all; here am I, an example, neither better nor worse than my
+neighbors, but accustomed to privations, which cause me no suffering--so
+that the privations of others necessarily touch me less nearly than they
+do you, my dear young lady; for your habits of comfort must needs render
+you more compassionate towards misfortune.  You would yourself suffer too
+much from poverty, not to pity and succor those who are its victims."
+
+"Really, sir," said Adrienne, who began to feel herself under the fatal
+charm of Rodin, "the more I listen to you, the more I am convinced that
+you would defend a thousand times better than I could those ideas for
+which I was so harshly reproached by Madame de Saint-Dizier and Abbe
+d'Aigrigny.  Oh! speak, speak, sir!  I cannot tell you with what
+happiness, with what pride I listen."
+
+Attentive and moved, her eyes fixed on the Jesuit with as much interest
+as sympathy and curiosity, Adrienne, by a graceful toss of the head that
+was habitual to her, threw hack her long, golden curls, the better to
+contemplate Rodin, who thus resumed: "You are astonished, my dear young
+lady, that you were not understood by your aunt or by Abbe d'Aigrigny!
+What point of contact had you with these hypocritical, jealous, crafty
+minds, such as I can judge them to be now?  Do you wish a new proof of
+their hateful blindness?  Among what they called your monstrous follies,
+which was the worst, the most damnable?  Why, your resolution to live
+alone and in your own way, to dispose freely of the present and the
+future.  They declared this to be odious, detestable, immoral.  And yet--
+was this resolution dictated by a mad love of liberty? no!--by a
+disordered aversion to all restraint?  no!--by the desire of singularity?
+--no!--for then I, too, should have blamed you severely."
+
+"Other reasons have indeed guided me, sir, I assure you," said Adrienne
+eagerly, for she had become very eager for the esteem with which her
+character might inspire Rodin.
+
+"Oh! I know it well; your motives could only be excellent ones," replied
+the Jesuit.  "Why then did you take this resolution, so much called in
+question?  Was it to brave established etiquette? no! for you respected
+them until the hate of Mme. de Saint-Dizier forced you to withdraw
+yourself from her unbearable guardianship.  Was it to live alone, to
+escape the eyes of the world? no! you would be a hundred times more open
+to observation in this than any other condition.  Was it to make a bad
+use of your liberty? no, ah, no! those who design evil seek for darkness
+and solitude; while you place yourself right before the jealous anal
+envious eyes of the vulgar crowd.  Why then do you take this
+determination, so courageous and rare, unexampled in a young person of
+your age?  Shall I tell you, my dear young lady?  It is, that you wish to
+prove, by your example, that a woman of pure heart and honest mind, with
+a firm character and independence of soul, may nobly and proudly throw
+off the humiliating guardianship that custom has imposed upon her.  Yes,
+instead of accepting the fate of a revolted slave, a life only destined
+to hypocrisy or vice, you wish to live freely in presence of all the
+world, independent, honorable, and respected.  You wish to have, like
+man, the exercise of your own free will, the entire responsibility of all
+your actions, so as to establish the fact, that a woman left completely
+to herself, may equal man in reason, wisdom, uprightness, and surpass him
+indelicacy and dignity.  That is your design, my dear young lady.  It is
+noble and great.  Will your example be imitated?  I hope it may; but
+whether it be so or not, your generous attempt, believe me, will place
+you in a high and worthy position."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville's eyes shone with a proud and gentle brightness, her
+cheeks were slightly colored, her bosom heaved, she raised her charming
+head with a movement of involuntary pride; at length completely under the
+charm of that diabolical man she exclaimed: "But, sir, who are you that
+can thus know and analyze my most secret thoughts, and read my soul more
+clearly than myself, so as to give new life and action to those ideas of
+independence which have long stirred within me?  Who are you, that can
+thus elevate me in my own eyes, for now I am conscious of accomplishing a
+mission, honorable to myself, and perhaps useful to my sisters immersed
+in slavery?  Once again, sir, who are you?"
+
+"Who am I, madame?" answered Rodin, with a smile of the greatest good-
+nature; "I have already told you that I am a poor old man, who for the
+last forty years, having served in the day time as a writing machine to
+record the ideas of others, went home every evening to work out ideas of
+his own--a good kind of man who, from his garret, watches and even takes
+some little share in the movement of generous spirits, advancing towards
+an end that is nearer than is commonly thought.  And thus, my dear young
+lady, as I told you just now, you and I are both tending towards the same
+objects, though you may do the same without reflection, and merely in
+obedience to your rare and divine instincts.  So continue so to live,
+fair, free, and happy!--it is your mission--more providential than you
+may think it.  Yes; continue to surround yourself with all the marvels of
+luxury and art; refine your senses, purify your tastes, by the exquisite
+choice of your enjoyments; by genius, grace, and purity raise yourself
+above the stupid and ill-favored mob of men, that will instantly surround
+you, when they behold you alone and free; they will consider you an easy
+prey, destined to please their cupidity, their egotism, their folly.
+
+"Laugh at them, and mock these idiotic and sordid pretensions.  Be the
+queen of your own world, and make yourself respected as a queen.  Love--
+shine--enjoy--it is your part upon earth.  All the flowers, with which
+you are whelmed in profusion, will one day bear fruit.  You think that
+you have lived only for pleasure; in reality, you will have lived for the
+noblest aims that could tempt a great and lofty soul.  And so--some years
+hence--we may meet again, perhaps; you, fairer and more followed than
+ever; I, older and more obscure.  But, no matter--a secret voice, I am
+sure, says to you at this moment, that between us two, however different,
+there exists an invisible bond, a mysterious communion, which nothing
+hereafter will ever be able to destroy!"
+
+He uttered these final words in a tone of such profound emotion, that
+Adrienne started.  Rodin had approached without her perceiving it, and
+without, as it were, walking at all, for he dragged his steps along the
+floor, with a sort of serpent motion; and he had spoken with so much
+warmth and enthusiasm, that his pale face had become slightly tinged, and
+his repulsive ugliness had almost disappeared before the brilliancy of
+his small sharp eyes, now wide open, and fixed full upon Adrienne.  The
+latter leaned forward, with half-open lips and deep-drawn breath, nor
+could she take her eyes from the Jesuit's; he had ceased to speak, and
+yet she was still listening.  The feelings of the fair young lady, in
+presence of this little old man, dirty, ugly, and poor, were
+inexplicable.  That comparison so common, and yet so true, of the
+frightful fascination of the bird by the serpent, might give some idea of
+the singular impression made upon her.  Rodin's tactics were skillful and
+sure.  Until now, Mdlle. de Cardoville had never analyzed her tastes or
+instincts.  She had followed them, because they were inoffensive and
+charming.  How happy and proud she then was sure to be to hear a man of
+superior mind not only praise these tendencies, for which she had been
+heretofore so severely blamed, but congratulate her upon them, as upon
+something great, noble, and divine!  If Rodin had only addressed himself
+to Adrienne's self-conceit, he would have failed in his perfidious
+designs, for she had not the least spark of vanity.  But he addressed
+himself to all that was enthusiastic and generous in her heart; that
+which he appeared to encourage and admire in her was really worthy of
+encouragement and admiration.  How could she fail to be the dupe of such
+language, concealing though it did such dark and fatal projects?
+
+Struck with the Jesuit's rare intelligence, feeling her curiosity greatly
+excited by some mysterious words that he had purposely uttered, hardly
+explaining to herself the strange influence which this pernicious
+counsellor already exercised over her, and animated by respectful
+compassion for a man of his age and talents placed in so precarious a
+position, Adrienne said to him, with all her natural cordiality, "A man
+of your merit and character, sir, ought not to be at the mercy of the
+caprice of circumstances.  Some of your words have opened a new horizon
+before me; I feel that, on many points, your counsels may be of the
+greatest use to me.  Moreover, in coming to fetch me from this house, and
+in devoting yourself to the service of other persons of my family, you
+have shown me marks of interest which I cannot forget without
+ingratitude.  You have lost a humble but secure situation.  Permit me--"
+
+"Not a word more, my dear young lady," said Rodin, interrupting Mdlle. de
+Cardoville, with an air of chagrin. "I feel for you the deepest sympathy;
+I am honored by having ideas in common with you; I believe firmly that
+some day you will have to ask advice of the poor old philosopher; and,
+precisely because of all that, I must and ought to maintain towards you
+the most complete independence."
+
+"But, sir, it is I that would be the obliged party, if you deigned to
+accept what I offer."
+
+"Oh, my dear young lady," said Rodin, with a smile: "I know that your
+generosity would always know how to make gratitude light and easy; but,
+once more, I cannot accept anything from you.  One day, perhaps, you will
+know why."
+
+"One day?"
+
+"It is impossible for me to tell you more.  And then, supposing I were
+under an obligation to you, how could I tell you all that was good and
+beautiful in your actions?  Hereafter, if you are somewhat indebted to me
+for my advice, so much the better; I shall be the more ready to blame
+you, if I find anything to blame."
+
+"In this way, sir, you would forbid me to be grateful to you."
+
+"No, no," said Rodin, with apparent emotion.  "Oh, believe me! there will
+come a solemn moment, in which you may repay all, in a manner worthy of
+yourself and me."
+
+This conversation was here interrupted by the nurse, who said to Adrienne
+as she entered: "Madame, there is a little humpback workwoman downstairs,
+who wishes to speak to you.  As, according to the doctor's new orders,
+you are to do as you like, I have come to ask, if I am to bring her up to
+you.  She is so badly dressed, that I did not venture."
+
+"Bring her up, by all means," said Adrienne, hastily, for she had
+recognized Mother Bunch by the nurse's description.  "Bring her up
+directly."
+
+"The doctor has also left word, that his carriage is to be at your
+orders, madame; are the horses to be put to?"
+
+Yes, in a quarter of an hour," answered Adrienne to the nurse, who went
+out; then, addressing Rodin, she continued: "I do not think the
+magistrate can now be long, before he returns with Marshal Simon's
+daughters?"
+
+"I think not, my dear young lady; but who is this deformed workwoman?"
+asked Rodin, with an air of indifference.
+
+"The adopted sister of a gallant fellow, who risked all in endeavoring to
+rescue me from this house.  And, sir," said Adrienne, with emotion, "this
+young workwoman is a rare and excellent creature.  Never was a nobler
+mind, a more generous heart, concealed beneath an exterior less--"
+
+But reflecting, that Rodin seemed to unite in his own person the same
+moral and physical contrasts as the sewing-girl, Adrienne stopped short,
+and then added, with inimitable grace, as she looked at the Jesuit, who
+was somewhat astonished at the sudden pause: "No; this noble girl is not
+the only person who proves how loftiness of soul, and superiority of
+mind, can make us indifferent to the vain advantages which belong only to
+the accidents of birth or fortune."  At the moment of Adrienne speaking
+these last words, Mother Bunch entered the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+SUSPICIONS.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville sprang hastily to meet the visitor, and said to her,
+in a voice of emotion, as she extended her arms towards her: "Come--come
+--there is no grating to separate us now!"
+
+On this allusion, which reminded her how her poor, laborious hand had
+been respectfully kissed by the fair and rich patrician, the young
+workwoman felt a sentiment of gratitude, which was at once ineffable and
+proud.  But, as she hesitated to respond to the cordial reception,
+Adrienne embraced her with touching affection.  When Mother Bunch found
+herself clasped in the fair arms of Mdlle. de Cardoville, when she felt
+the fresh and rosy lips of the young lady fraternally pressed to her own
+pale and sickly cheek, she burst into tears without being able to utter a
+word.  Rodin, retired in a corner of the chamber, locked on this scene
+with secret uneasiness.  Informed of the refusal, so full of dignity,
+which Mother Bunch had opposed to the perfidious temptations of the
+superior of St. Mary's Convent, and knowing the deep devotion of this
+generous creature for Agricola--a devotion which for some days she had so
+bravely extended to Mdlle. de Cardoville--the Jesuit did not like to see
+the latter thus laboring to increase that affection.  He thought, wisely,
+that one should never despise friend or enemy, however small they may
+appear.  Now, devotion to Mdlle. de Cardoville constituted an enemy in
+his eyes; and we know, moreover, that Rodin combined in his character
+rare firmness, with a certain degree of superstitious weakness, and he
+now felt uneasy at the singular impression of fear which Mother Bunch
+inspired in him.  He determined to recollect this presentiment.
+
+Delicate natures sometimes display in the smallest things the most
+charming instincts of grace and goodness.  Thus, when the sewing-girl was
+shedding abundant and sweet tears of gratitude, Adrienne took a richly
+embroidered handkerchief, and dried the pale and melancholy face.  This
+action, so simple and spontaneous, spared the work-girl one humiliation;
+for, alas! humiliation and suffering are the two gulfs, along the edge of
+which misfortune continually passes.  Therefore, the least kindness is in
+general a double benefit to the unfortunate.  Perhaps the reader may
+smile in disdain at the puerile circumstance we mention.  But poor Mother
+Bunch, not venturing to take from her pocket her old ragged handkerchief,
+would long have remained blinded by her tears, if Mdlle. de Cardoville
+had not come to her aid.
+
+"Oh! you are so good--so nobly charitable, lady!" was all that the
+sempstress could say, in a tone of deep emotion; for she was still more
+touched by the attention of the young lady, than she would perhaps have
+been by a service rendered.
+
+"Look there, sir," said Adrienne to Rodin, who drew near hastily.  "Yes,"
+added the young patrician, proudly, "I have indeed discovered a treasure.
+Look at her, sir; and love her as I love her, honor as I honor.  She has
+one of those hearts for which we are seeking."
+
+"And which, thank heaven, we are still able to find, my dear young lady!"
+said Rodin, as he bowed to the needle-woman.
+
+The latter raised her eyes slowly, and locked at the Jesuit.  At sight of
+that cadaverous countenance, which was smiling benignantly upon her, the
+young girl started.  It was strange! she had never seen this man, and yet
+she felt instantly the same fear and repulsion that he had felt with
+regard to her.  Generally timid and confused, the work-girl could not
+withdraw her eyes from Rodin's; her heart beat violently, as at the
+coming of some great danger, and, as the excellent creature feared only
+for those she loved, she approached Adrienne involuntarily, keeping her
+eyes fixed on Rodin.  The Jesuit was too good a physiognomist not to
+perceive the formidable impression he had made, and he felt an increase
+of his instinctive aversion for the sempstress.  Instead of casting down
+his eyes, he appeared to examine her with such sustained attention, that
+Mdlle. de Cardoville was astonished at it.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear girl," said Rodin, as if recalling his
+recollections, and addressing himself to Mother Bunch, "I beg your
+pardon--but I think--if I am not deceived--did you not go a few days
+since to St. Mary's Convent, hard by?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"No doubt, it was you.  Where then was my head?" cried Rodin.  "It was
+you--I should have guessed it sooner."
+
+"Of what do you speak, sir?" asked Adrienne.
+
+"Oh! you are right, my dear young lady," said Rodin, pointing to the
+hunchback.  "She has indeed a noble heart, such as we seek.  If you knew
+with what dignity, with what courage this poor girl, who was out of work
+and, for her, to want work is to want everything--if you knew, I say,
+with what dignity she rejected the shameful wages that the superior of
+the convent was unprincipled enough to offer, on condition of her acting
+as a spy in a family where it was proposed to place her."
+
+"Oh, that is infamous!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, with disgust.  "Such
+a proposal to this poor girl--to her!"
+
+"Madame," said Mother Bunch, bitterly, "I had no work, I was poor, they
+did not know me--and they thought they might propose anything to the
+likes of me."
+
+"And I tell you," said Rodin, "that it was a double baseness on the part
+of the superior, to offer such temptation to misery, and it was doubly
+noble in you to refuse."
+
+"Sir," said the sewing-girl, with modest embarrassment.
+
+"Oh! I am not to be intimidated," resumed Rod in.  "Praise or blame, I
+speak out roughly what I think.  Ask this dear young lady," he added,
+with a glance at Adrienne.  "I tell you plainly, that I think as well of
+you as she does herself."
+
+"Believe me, dear," said Adrienne, "there are some sorts of praise which
+honor, recompense, and encourage; and M. Rodin's is of the number.  I
+know it,--yes, I know it."
+
+"Nay, my dear young lady, you must not ascribe to me all the honor of
+this judgment."
+
+"How so, sir?"
+
+"Is not this dear girl the adopted sister of Agricola Baudoin, the
+gallant workman, the energetic and popular poet?  Is not the affection of
+such a man the best of guarantees, and does it not enable us to judge, as
+it were, by the label?" added Rodin, with a smile.
+
+"You are right, sir," said Adrienne; "for, before knowing this dear girl,
+I began to feel deeply interested in her, from the day that her adopted
+brother spoke to me about her.  He expressed himself with so much warmth,
+so much enthusiasm, that I at once conceived an esteem for the person
+capable of inspiring so noble an attachment."
+
+These words of Adrienne, joined to another circumstance, had such an
+effect upon their hearer, that her pale face became crimson.  The
+unfortunate hunchback loved Agricola, with love as passionate as it was
+secret and painful: the most indirect allusion to this fatal sentiment
+occasioned her the most cruel embarrassment.  Now, the moment Mdlle. de
+Cardoville spoke of Agricola's attachment for Mother Bunch, the latter
+had encountered Rodin's observing and penetrating look fixed upon her.
+Alone with Adrienne, the sempstress would have felt only a momentary
+confusion on hearing the name of the smith; but unfortunately she fancied
+that the Jesuit, who already filled her with involuntary fear, had seen
+into her heart, and read the secrets of that fatal love, of which she was
+the victim.  Thence the deep blushes of the poor girl, and the
+embarrassment so painfully visible, that Adrienne was struck with it.
+
+A subtle and prompt mind, like Rodin's on perceiving the smallest effect,
+immediately seeks the cause.  Proceeding by comparison, the Jesuit saw on
+one side a deformed, but intelligent young girl, capable of passionate
+devotion; on the other, a young workman, handsome, bold, frank, and full
+of talent.  "Brought up together, sympathizing with each other on many
+points, there must be some fraternal affection between them," said he to
+himself; "but fraternal affection does not blush, and the hunchback
+blushed and grew troubled beneath my look; does she, then, Love
+Agricola?"
+
+Once on the scent of this discovery, Rodin wished to pursue the
+investigation.  Remarking the surprise and visible uneasiness that Mother
+Bunch had caused in Adrienne, he said to the latter, with a smile,
+looking significantly at the needlewoman: "You see, my dear young lady,
+how she blushes.  The good girl is troubled by what we said of the
+attachment of this gallant workman."
+
+The needlewoman hung down her head, overcome with confusion.  After the
+pause of a second, during which Rodin preserved silence, so as to give
+time for his cruel remark to pierce the heart of the victim, the savage
+resumed: "Look at the dear girl! how embarrassed she appears!"
+
+Again, after another silence, perceiving that Mother Bunch from crimson
+had become deadly pale, and was trembling in all her limbs, the Jesuit
+feared he had gone too far, whilst Adrienne said to her friend, with
+anxiety: "Why, dear child, are you so agitated?"
+
+"Oh! it is clear enough," resumed Rodin, with an air of perfect
+simplicity; for having discovered what he wished to know, he now chose to
+appear unconscious.  "It is quite clear and plain.  This good girl has
+the modesty of a kind and tender sister for a brother.  When you praise
+him, she fancies that she is herself praised."
+
+"And she is as modest as she is excellent," added Adrienne, taking bath
+of the girl's hands, "the least praise, either of her adopted brother or
+of herself, troubles her in this way.  But it is mere childishness, and I
+must scold her for it."
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville spoke sincerely, for the explanation given by Rodin
+appeared to her very plausible.  Like all other persons who, dreading
+every moment the discovery of some painful secret have their courage as
+easily restored as shaken, Mother Bunch persuaded herself (and she needed
+to do so, to escape dying of shame), that the last words of Rodin were
+sincere, and that he had no idea of the love she felt for Agricola.  So
+her agony diminished, and she found words to reply to Mdlle. de
+Cardoville.
+
+"Excuse me, madame," she said timidly, "I am so little accustomed to such
+kindness as that with which you overwhelm me, that I make a sorry return
+for all your goodness."
+
+"Kindness, my poor girl?" said Adrienne.  "I have done nothing for you
+yet.  But, thank heaven! from this day I shall be able to keep my
+promise, and reward your devotion to me, your courageous resignation,
+your sacred love of labor, and the dignity of which you have given so
+many proofs, under the most cruel privations.  In a word, from this day,
+if you do not object to it, we will part no more."
+
+"Madame, you are too kind," said Mother Bunch, in a trembling voice;
+"but I--"
+
+"Oh! be satisfied," said Adrienne, anticipating her meaning.  "If you
+accept my offer, I shall know how to reconcile with my desire (not a
+little selfish) of having you near me, the independence of your
+character, your habits of labor, your taste for retirement, and your
+anxiety to devote yourself to those who deserve commiseration; it is, I
+confess, by affording you the means of satisfying these generous
+tendencies, that I hope to seduce and keep you by me."
+
+"But what have I done?" asked the other, simply, "to merit any gratitude
+from you?  Did you not begin, on the contrary, by acting so generously to
+my adopted brother?"
+
+"Oh! I do not speak of gratitude," said Adrienne; "we are quits.  I speak
+of friendship and sincere affection, which I now offer you."
+
+"Friendship to me, madame?"
+
+"Come, come," said Adrienne, with a charming smile, "do not be proud
+because your position gives you the advantage.  I have set my heart on
+having you for a friend, and you will see that it shall be so.  But now
+that I think of it (a little late, you will say), what good wind brings
+you hither?"
+
+"This morning M. Dagobert received a letter, in which he was requested to
+come to this place, to learn some news that would be of the greatest
+interest to him.  Thinking it concerned Marshal Simon's daughters, he
+said to me: `Mother Bunch, you have taken so much interest in those dear
+children, that you must come with me: you shall witness my joy on finding
+them, and that will be your reward.'"
+
+Adrienne glanced at Rodin.  The latter made an affirmative movement of
+the head, and answered: "Yes, yes, my dear young lady: it was I who wrote
+to the brave soldier, but without signing the letter, or giving any
+explanation.  You shall know why."
+
+"Then, my dear girl, why did you come alone?" said Adrienne.
+
+"Alas, madame! on arriving here, it was your kind reception that made me
+forget my fears."
+
+"What fears?" asked Rodin.
+
+"Knowing that you lived here, madame, I supposed the letter was from you;
+I told M. Dagobert so, and he thought the same.  When we arrived, his
+impatience was so great, that he asked at the door if the orphans were in
+this house, and he gave their description.  They told him no.  Then, in
+spite of my supplications, he insisted on going to the convent to inquire
+about them."
+
+"What imprudence!" cried Adrienne.
+
+"After what took place the other night, when he broke in," added Rodin,
+shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"It was in vain to tell him," returned Mother Bunch, "that the letter did
+not announce positively, that the orphans would be delivered up to him;
+but that, no doubt, he would gain some information about them.  He
+refused to hear anything, but said to me: `If I cannot find them, I will
+rejoin you.  But they were at the convent the day before yesterday, and
+now that all is discovered, they cannot refuse to give them up--"
+
+"And with such a man there is no disputing!" said Rodin, with a smile.
+
+"I hope they will not recognize him!" said Adrienne, remembering
+Baleinier's threats.
+
+"It is not likely," replied Rodin; "they will only refuse him admittance.
+That will be, I hope, the worst misfortune that will happen.  Besides,
+the magistrate will soon be here with the girls.  I am no longer wanted:
+other cares require my attention.  I must seek out Prince Djalma.  Only
+tell me, my dear young lady, where I shall find you, to keep you informed
+of my discoveries, and to take measures with regard to the young prince,
+if my inquiries, as I hope, shall be attended with success."
+
+"You will find me in my new house, Rue d'Anjou, formerly Beaulieu House.
+But now I think of it," said Adrienne, suddenly, after some moments of
+reflection, "it would not be prudent or proper, on many accounts, to
+lodge the Prince Djalma in the pavilion I occupied at Saint-Dizier House.
+I saw, some time ago, a charming little house, all furnished and ready;
+it only requires some embellishments, that could be completed in twenty-
+four hours, to make it a delightful residence.  Yes, that will be a
+thousand times preferable," added Mdlle. de Cardoville, after a new
+interval of silence; "and I shall thus be able to preserve the strictest
+incognito."
+
+"What!" cried Rodin, whose projects would be much impeded by this new
+resolution of the young lady; "you do not wish him to know who you are?"
+
+"I wish Prince Djalma to know absolutely nothing of the anonymous friend
+who comes to his aid; I desire that my name should not be pronounced
+before him, and that he should not even know of my existence--at least,
+for the present.  Hereafter--in a month, perhaps--I will see;
+circumstances will guide me."
+
+"But this incognito," said Rodin, hiding his disappointment, "will be
+difficult to preserve."
+
+"If the prince had inhabited the lodge, I agree with you; the
+neighborhood of my aunt would have enlightened him, and this fear is one
+of the reasons that have induced me to renounce my first project.  But
+the prince will inhabit a distant quarter--the Rue Blanche.  Who will
+inform him of my secret?  One of my old friends, M. Norval--you, sir--and
+this dear girl," pointing to Mother Bunch, "on whose discretion I can
+depend as on your own, will be my only confidants.  My secret will then
+be quite safe.  Besides, we will talk further on this subject to-morrow.
+You must begin by discovering the retreat of this unfortunate young
+prince."
+
+Rodin, though much vexed at Adrienne's subtle determination with regard
+to Djalma, put the best face on the matter, and replied: "Your intentions
+shall be scrupulously fulfilled, my dear young lady; and to-morrow, with
+your leave, I hope to give you a good account of what you are pleased to
+call my providential mission."
+
+"To-morrow, then, I shall expect you with impatience," said Adrienne, to
+Rodin, affectionately.  "Permit me always to rely upon you, as from this
+day you may count upon me.  You must be indulgent with me, sir; for I see
+that I shall yet have many counsels, many services to ask of you--though
+I already owe you so much."
+
+"You will never owe me enough, my dear young lady, never enough," said
+Rodin, as he moved discreetly towards the door, after bowing to Adrienne.
+At the very moment he was going out, he found himself face to face with
+Dagobert.
+
+"Holloa! at last I have caught one!" shouted the soldier, as he seized
+the Jesuit by the collar with a vigorous hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+EXCUSES.
+
+On seeing Dagobert grasp Rodin so roughly by the collar, Mdlle. de
+Cardoville exclaimed in terror, as she advanced several steps towards the
+soldier: "In the name of Heaven, sir! what are you doing?"
+
+"What am I doing?" echoed the soldier, harshly, without relaxing his hold
+on Rodin, and turning his head towards Adrienne, whom he did not know;
+"I take this opportunity to squeeze the throat of one of the wretches in
+the band of that renegade, until he tells me where my poor children are."
+
+"You strangle me," said the Jesuit, in a stifled voice, as he tried to
+escape from the soldier.
+
+"Where are the orphans, since they are not here, and the convent door has
+been closed against me?" cried Dagobert, in a voice of thunder.
+
+"Help! help!" gasped Rodin.
+
+"Oh! it is dreadful!" said Adrienne, as, pale and trembling, she held up
+her clasped hands to Dagobert.  "Have mercy, sir! listen to me! listen to
+him!"
+
+"M. Dagobert!" cried Mother Bunch, seizing with her weak hands the
+soldier's arm, and showing him Adrienne, "this is Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+What violence in her presence! and then, you are deceived doubtless!"
+
+At the name of Mdlle. de Cardoville, the benefactress of his son, the
+soldier turned round suddenly, and loosened his hold on Rodin.  The
+latter, crimson with rage and suffocation, set about adjusting his collar
+and his cravat.
+
+"I beg your pardon, madame," said Dagobert, going towards Adrienne, who
+was still pale with fright; "I did not known who you were, and the first
+impulse of anger quite carried me away."
+
+"But what has this gentleman done to you?" said Adrienne.  "If you had
+listened to me, you would have learned--"
+
+"Excuse me if I interrupt you, madame," said the soldier to Adrienne, in
+a hollow voice.  Then addressing himself to Rodin, who had recovered his
+coolness, he added: "Thank the lady, and begone!--If you remain here, I
+will not answer for myself."
+
+"One word only, my dear sir," said Rodin.
+
+"I tell you that if you remain, I will not answer for myself!" cried
+Dagobert, stamping his foot.
+
+"But, for heaven's sake, tell me the cause of this anger," resumed
+Adrienne; "above all, do not trust to appearances.  Calm yourself, and
+listen."
+
+"Calm myself, madame!" cried Dagobert, in despair; "I can think only of
+one thing, ma dame--of the arrival of Marshal Simon--he will be in Paris
+to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"Is it possible?" said Adrienne.  Rodin started with surprise and joy.
+
+"Yesterday evening," proceeded Dagobert, "I received a letter from the
+marshal: he has landed at Havre.  For three days I have taken step after
+step, hoping that the orphans would be restored to me, as the
+machinations of those wretches have failed."  He pointed to Rodin with a
+new gesture of impatience.  "Well! it is not so.  They are conspiring
+some new infamy.  I am prepared for anything."
+
+"But, sir," said Rodin advancing, "permit me--"
+
+"Begone!" cried Dagobert, whose irritation and anxiety redoubled, as he
+thought how at any moment Marshal Simon might arrive in Paris.  "Begone!
+Were it not for this lady, I would at least be revenged on some one."
+
+Rodin made a nod of intelligence to Adrienne, whom he approached
+prudently, and, pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of affectionate
+commiseration, he said to the latter:  "I will leave you, sir, and the
+more willingly, as I was about to withdraw when you entered."  Then,
+coming still closer to Mdlle. de Cardoville, the Jesuit whispered to her,
+"Poor soldier! he is beside himself with grief, and would be incapable of
+hearing me.  Explain it all to him, my dear young lady; he will be nicely
+caught," added he, with a cunning air.  "But in the meantime," resumed
+Rodin, feeling in the side-pocket of his great-coat and taking out a
+small parcel, "let me beg you to give him this, my dear young lady.  It
+is my revenge, and a very good one."
+
+And while Adrienne, holding the little parcel in her hand looked at the
+Jesuit with astonishment, the latter laying his forefinger upon his lip,
+as if recommending silence, drew backward on tiptoe to the door, and went
+out after again pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of pity; while the
+soldier, in sullen dejection, with his head drooping, and his arms
+crossed upon his bosom, remained deaf to the sewing-girl's earnest
+consolations.  When Rodin had left the room, Adrienne, approaching the
+soldier, said to him, in her mild voice, with an expression of deep
+interest, "Your sudden entry prevented my asking you a question that
+greatly concerns me.  How is your wound?"
+
+"Thank you, madame," said Dagobert, starting from his painful lethargy,
+"it is of no consequence, but I have not time to think of it.  I am sorry
+to have been so rough in your presence, and to have driven away that
+wretch; but 'tis more than I could master.  At sight of those people, my
+blood is all up."
+
+"And yet, believe me, you have been too hasty in your judgment.  The
+person who was just now here--"
+
+"Too hasty, madame!  I do not see him to-day for the first time.  He was
+with that renegade the Abbe d'Aigrigny--"
+
+"No doubt!--and yet he is an honest and excellent man."
+
+"He!" cried Dagobert.
+
+"Yes; for at this moment he is busy about only one thing restoring to you
+those dear children!"
+
+"He!" repeated Dagobert, as if he could not believe what he heard.  "He
+restore me my children?"
+
+"Yes; and sooner, perhaps, than you think for."
+
+"Madame," said Dagobert, abruptly, "he deceives you.  You are the dupe of
+that old rascal."
+
+"No," said Adrienne, shaking her head, with a smile.  "I have proofs of
+his good faith.  First of all, it is he who delivers me from this house."
+
+"Is it true?" said Dagobert, quite confounded.
+
+"Very true; and here is, perhaps, something that will reconcile you to
+him," said Adrienne, as she delivered the small parcel which Rodin had
+given her as he went out.  "Not wishing to exasperate you by his
+presence, he said to me: `Give this to that brave soldier; it is my
+revenge.'"
+
+Dagobert looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise, as he mechanically
+opened the little parcel.  When he had unfolded it, and discovered his
+own silver cross, black with age, and the old red, faded ribbon,
+treasures taken from him at the White Falcon Inn, at the same time as his
+papers, he exclaimed in a broken voice: "My cross! my cross!  It is my
+cross!"  In the excitement of his joy, he pressed the silver star to his
+gray moustache.
+
+Adrienne and the other were deeply affected by the emotion of the old
+soldier, who continued, as he ran towards the door by which Rodin had
+gone out: "Next to a service rendered to Marshal Simon, my wife, or son,
+nothing could be more precious to me.  And you answer for this worthy
+man, madame, and I have ill used him in your presence!  Oh! he is
+entitled to reparation, and he shall have it."
+
+So saying, Dagobert left the room precipitately, hastened through two
+other apartments, gained the staircase, and descending it rapidly,
+overtook Rodin on the lowest step.
+
+"Sir," said the soldier to him, in an agitated voice, as he seized him by
+the arm, "you must come upstairs directly."
+
+"You should make up your mind to one thing or the other, my dear sir,"
+said Rodin, stopping good-naturedly; "one moment you tell me to begone,
+and the next to return.  How are we to decide?"
+
+"Just now, sir, I was wrong; and when I am wrong, I acknowledge it.  I
+abused and ill-treated you before witnesses; I will make you my apologies
+before witnesses."
+
+"But, my dear sir--I am much obliged to you--I am in a hurry."
+
+"I cannot help your being in a hurry.  I tell you, I must have you come
+upstairs, directly--or else--or else," resumed Dagobert, taking the hand
+of the Jesuit, and pressing it with as much cordiality as emotion, "or
+else the happiness you have caused the in returning my cross will not be
+complete."
+
+"Well, then, my good friend, let us go up."
+
+"And not only have you restored me my cross, for which I have wept many
+tears, believe me, unknown to any one," cried Dagobert, much affected;
+"but the young lady told me, that, thanks to you, those poor children but
+tell me--no false joy-is it really true?--My God! is it really true?"
+
+"Ah! ah!  Mr. Inquisitive," said Rodin, with a cunning smile.  Then he
+added: "Be perfectly tranquil, my growler; you shall have your two angels
+back again."  And the Jesuit began to ascend the stairs.
+
+"Will they be restored to me to-day?" cried Dagobert, stopping Rodin
+abruptly, by catching hold of his sleeve.
+
+"Now, really, my good friend," said the Jesuit, "let us come to the
+point.  Are we to go up or down?  I do not find fault, but you turn me
+about like a teetotum."
+
+"You are right.  We shall be better able to explain things upstairs.
+Come with me--quick! quick!" said Dagobert, as, taking the Jesuit by the
+arm, he hurried him along, and brought him triumphantly into the room,
+where Adrienne and Mother Bunch had remained in much surprise at the
+soldier's sudden disappearance.
+
+"Here he is! here he is!" cried Dagobert, as he entered.  "Luckily, I
+caught him at the bottom of the stairs."
+
+"And you have made me come up at a fine pace!" added Rodin, pretty well
+out of breath.
+
+"Now, sir," said Dagobert, in a grave voice, "I declare, in presence of
+all, that I was wrong to abuse and ill-treat you.  I make you my apology
+for it, sir; and I acknowledge, with joy, that I owe you--much--oh! very
+much and when I owe, I pay."
+
+So saying, Dagobert held out his honest hand to Rodin, who pressed it in
+a very affable manner, and replied: "Now, really--what is all this about?
+What great service do you speak of?"
+
+"This!" said Dagobert, holding up the cross before Rodin's eyes.  "You do
+not know, then, what this cross is to me?"
+
+"On the contrary, supposing you would set great store by it, I intended
+to have the pleasure of delivering it myself.  I had brought it for that
+purpose; but, between ourselves, you gave me so warm a reception, that I
+had not the time--"
+
+"Sir," said Dagobert, in confusion, "I assure you that I sincerely repent
+of what I have done."
+
+"I know it, my good friend; do not say another word about it.  You were
+then much attached to this cross?"
+
+"Attached to it, sir!" cried Dagobert.  "Why, this cross," and he kissed
+it as he spoke, "is my relic.  He from whom it came was my saint--my
+hero--and he had touched it with his hand!"
+
+"Oh!" said Rodin, feigning to regard the cross with as much curiosity as
+respectful admiration; "did Napoleon--the Great Napoleon--indeed touch
+with his own hand--that victorious hand!--this noble star of honor?"
+
+"Yes, sir, with his own hand.  He placed it there upon my bleeding
+breast, as a cure for my fifth wound.  So that, you see, were I dying of
+hunger, I think I should not hesitate betwixt bread and my cross--that I
+might, in any case, have it on my heart in death.  But, enough--enough!-
+let us talk of something else.  It is foolish in an old soldier, is it
+not?" added Dagobert, drawing his hand across his eyes, and then, as if
+ashamed to deny what he really felt: "Well, then! yes," he resumed,
+raising his head proudly, and no longer seeking to conceal the tears that
+rolled down his cheek; "yes, I weep for joy, to have found my cross--my
+cross, that the Emperor gave me with his victorious hand, as this worthy
+man has called it."
+
+"Then blessed be my poor old hand for having restored you the glorious
+treasure!" said Rodin, with emotion.  "In truth," he added, "the day will
+be a good one for everybody--as I announced to you this morning in my
+letter."
+
+"That letter without a signature?" asked the soldier, more and more
+astonished.  "Was it from you?"
+
+"It was I who wrote it.  Only, fearing some new snare of the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, I did not choose, you understand, to explain myself more
+clearly."
+
+"Then--I shall see--my orphans?"
+
+Rodin nodded affirmatively, with an expression of great good-nature.
+
+"Presently--perhaps immediately," said Adrienne, with smile.  "Well! was
+I right in telling you that you had not judged this gentleman fairly?"
+
+"Why did he not tell me this when I came in?" cried Dagobert, almost
+beside himself with joy.
+
+"There was one difficulty in the way, my good friend," said Rodin;  "it
+was, that when you came in, you nearly throttled me."
+
+"True; I was too hasty.  Once more, I ask your pardon.  But was I to
+blame?  I had only seen you with that Abbe d'Aigrigny, and in the first
+moment--"
+
+"This dear young lady," said Rodin, bowing to Adrienne, "will tell you
+that I have been, without knowing it, the accomplice IN many perfidious
+actions; but as soon as I began to see my way through the darkness, I
+quitted the evil course on which I had entered, and returned to that
+which is honest, just and true."
+
+Adrienne nodded affirmatively to Dagobert, who appeared to consult her
+look.
+
+"If I did not sign the letter that I wrote to you, my good friend, it was
+partly from fear that my name might inspire suspicion; and if I asked you
+to come hither, instead of to the convent, it was that I had some dread--
+like this dear young lady--lest you might be recognized by the porter or
+by the gardener, your affair of the other night rendering such a
+recognition somewhat dangerous."
+
+"But M. Baleinier knows all; I forgot that," said Adrienne, with
+uneasiness.  "He threatened to denounce M. Dagobert and his son, if I
+made any complaint."
+
+"Do not be alarmed, my dear young lady; it will soon he for you to
+dictate conditions," replied Rodin.  "Leave that to me; and as for you,
+my good friend, your torments are now finished."
+
+"Yes," said Adrienne, "an upright and worthy magistrate has gone to the
+convent, to fetch Marshal Simon's daughters.  He will bring them hither;
+but he thought with me, that it would be most proper for them to take up
+their abode in my house.  I cannot, however, come to this decision
+without your consent, for it is to you that these orphans were entrusted
+by their mother."
+
+"You wish to take her place with regard to them, madame?" replied
+Dagobert.  "I can only thank you with all my heart, for myself and for
+the children.  But, as the lesson has been a sharp one, I must beg to
+remain at the door of their chamber, night and day.  If they go out with
+you, I must be allowed to follow them at a little distance, so as to keep
+them in view, just like Spoil-sport, who has proved himself a better
+guardian than myself.  When the marshal is once here--it will be in a day
+or two--my post will be relieved.  Heaven grant it may be soon!"
+
+"Yes," replied Rodin, in a firm voice, "heaven grant he may arrive soon,
+for he will have to demand a terrible reckoning of the Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+for the persecution of his daughters; and yet the marshal does not know
+all."
+
+"And don't you tremble for the renegade?" asked Dagobert, as he thought
+how the marquis would soon find himself face to face with the marshal.
+
+"I never care for cowards and traitors," answered Rodin; "and when
+Marshal Simon returns--" Then, after a pause of some seconds, he
+continued: "If he will do me the honor to hear me, he shall be edified as
+to the conduct of the Abbe d'Aigrigny.  The marshal knows that his
+dearest friends, as well as himself, have been victims of the hatred of
+that dangerous man."
+
+"How so?" said Dagobert.
+
+"Why, yourself, for instance," replied Rodin; "you are an example of what
+I advance."
+
+"Do you think it was mere chance, that brought about the scene at the
+White Falcon Inn, near Leipsic?"
+
+"Who told you of that scene?" said Dagobert in astonishment.
+
+"Where you accepted the challenge of Morok," continued the Jesuit,
+without answering Dagobert's question, "and so fell into a trap, or else
+refused it, and were then arrested for want of papers, and thrown into
+prison as a vagabond, with these poor children.  Now, do you know the
+object of this violence?  It was to prevent your being here on the 13th
+of February."
+
+"But the more I hear, sir," said Adrienne, "the more I am alarmed at the
+audacity of the Abbe d'Aigrigny, and the extent of the means he has at
+his command.  Really," she resumed, with increasing surprise, "if your
+words were not entitled to absolute belief--"
+
+"You would doubt their truth, madame?" said Dagobert.  "It is like me.
+Bad as he is.  I cannot think that this renegade had relations with a
+wild-beast showman as far off as Saxony; and then, how could he know that
+I and the children were to pass through Leipsic?  It is impossible, my
+good man."
+
+"In fact, sir," resumed Adrienne, "I fear that you are deceived by your
+dislike (a very legitimate one) of Abbe d'Aigrigny, and that you ascribe
+to him an almost fabulous degree of power and extent of influence."
+
+After a moment's silence, during which Rodin looked first at Adrienne and
+then at Dagobert, with a kind of pity, he resumed.  "How could the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny have your cross in his possession, if he had no connection
+with Morok?"
+
+"That is true, sir," said Dagobert; "joy prevented me from reflecting.
+But how indeed, did my cross come into your hands?"
+
+"By means of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's having precisely those relations with
+Leipsic, of which you and the young lady seem to doubt."
+
+"But how did my cross get to Paris?"
+
+"Tell me; you were arrested at Leipsic for want of papers--is it not so?"
+
+"Yes; but I could never understand how my passports and money disappeared
+from my knapsack.  I thought I must have had the misfortune to lose
+them."
+
+Rodin shrugged his shoulders, and replied: "You were robbed of them at
+the White Falcon Inn, by Goliath, one of Morok's servants, and the latter
+sent the papers and the cross to the Abbe d'Aigrigny, to prove that he
+had succeeded in executing his orders with respect to the orphans and
+yourself.  It was the day before yesterday, that I obtained the key of
+that dark machination.  Cross and papers were amongst the stores of Abbe
+d'Aigrigny; the papers formed a considerable bundle, and he might have
+missed them; but, hoping to see you this morning, and knowing how a
+soldier of the Empire values his cross, his sacred relic, as you call it,
+my good friend--I did not hesitate.  I put the relic into my pocket.
+`After all,' said I, `it is only restitution, and my delicacy perhaps
+exaggerates this breach of trust.'"
+
+"You could not have done a better action," said Adrienne; "and, for my
+part, because of the interest I feel for M. Dagobert--I take it as a
+personal favor.  But, sir," after a moment's silence, she resumed with
+anxiety: "What terrible power must be at the command of M. d'Aigrigny,
+for him to have such extensive and formidable relations in a foreign
+country!"
+
+"Silence!" said Rodin, in a low voice, and looking round him with an air
+of alarm.  "Silence! In heaven's name do not ask me about it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+REVELATIONS.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville, much astonished at the alarm displayed by Rodin,
+when she had asked him for some explanation of the formidable and far-
+reaching power of the Abby d'Aigrigny, said to him: "Why, sir, what is
+there so strange in the question that I have just asked you?"
+
+After a moment's silence, Rodin cast his looks all around, with well-
+feigned uneasiness, and replied in a whisper: "Once more, madame, do not
+question me on so fearful a subject.  The walls of this house may have
+ears."
+
+Adrienne and Dagobert looked at each other with growing surprise.  Mother
+Bunch, by an instinct of incredible force, continued to regard Rodin with
+invincible suspicion.  Sometimes she stole a glance at him, as if trying
+to penetrate the mask of this man, who filled her with fear.  At one
+moment, the Jesuit encountered her anxious gaze, obstinately fixed upon
+him; immediately he nodded to her with the greatest amenity.  The young
+girl, alarmed at finding herself observed, turned away with a shudder.
+
+"No, no, my dear young lady," resumed Rodin, with a sigh, as he saw
+Mdlle. de Cardoville astonished at his silence; "do not question me on
+the subject of the Abbe d'Aigrigny's power!"
+
+"But, to persist, sir," said Adrienne; "why this hesitation to answer?
+What do you fear?"
+
+"Ah, my dear young lady," said Rodin, shuddering, "those people are so
+powerful! their animosity is so terrible!"
+
+"Be satisfied, sir; I owe you too much, for my support ever to fail you."
+
+"Ah, my dear young lady," cried Rodin, as if hurt by the supposition;
+"think better of me, I entreat you.  Is it for myself that I fear?--No,
+no; I am too obscure, too inoffensive; but it is for you, for Marshal
+Simon, for the other members of your family, that all is to be feared.
+Oh, my dear young lady! let me beg you to ask no questions.  There are
+secrets which are fatal to those who possess them."
+
+"But, sir, is it not better to know the perils with which one is
+threatened?"
+
+"When you know the manoeuvres of your enemy, you may at least defend
+yourself," said Dagobert.  "I prefer an attack in broad daylight to an
+ambuscade."
+
+"And I assure you," resumed Adrienne, "the few words you have spoken
+cause me a vague uneasiness."
+
+"Well, if I must, my dear young lady," replied the Jesuit, appearing to
+make a great effort, "since you do not understand my hints, I will be
+more explicit; but remember," added he, in a deeply serious tone, "that
+you have persevered in forcing me to tell you what you had perhaps better
+not have known."
+
+"Speak, Sir, I pray you speak," said Adrienne.
+
+Drawing about him Adrienne, Dagobert, and Mother Bunch, Rodin said to
+them in a low voce, and with a mysterious air: "Have you never heard of a
+powerful association, which extends its net over all the earth, and
+counts its disciples, agents, and fanatics in every class of society
+which has had, and often has still, the ear of kings and nobles--which,
+in a word, can raise its creatures to the highest positions, and with a
+word can reduce them again to the nothingness from which it alone could
+uplift them?"
+
+"Good heaven, sir!" said Adrienne, "what formidable association?  Until
+now I never heard of it."
+
+"I believe you; and yet your ignorance on this subject greatly astonishes
+me, my dear young lady."
+
+"And why should it astonish you?"
+
+"Because you lived some time with your aunt, and must have often seen the
+Abbe d'Aigrigny."
+
+"I lived at the princess's, but not with her; for a thousand reasons she
+had inspired me with warrantable aversion."
+
+"In truth, my dear young lady, my remark was ill-judged.  It was there,
+above all, and particularly in your presence, that they would keep
+silence with regard to this association--and yet to it alone did the
+Princess de Saint-Dizier owe her formidable influence in the world,
+during the last reign.  Well, then; know this--it is the aid of that
+association which renders the Abbe d'Aigrigny so dangerous a man.
+
+"By it he was enabled to follow and to reach divers members of your
+family, some in Siberia, some in India, others on the heights of the
+American mountains; but, as I have told you, it was only the day before
+yesterday, and by chance, that, examining the papers of Abbe d'Aigrigny,
+I found the trace of his connection with this Company, of which he is the
+most active and able chief."
+
+"But the name, sir, the name of this Company?" said Adrienne.
+
+"Well! it is--" but Rodin stopped short.
+
+"It is," repeated Adrienne, who was now as much interested as Dagobert
+and the sempstress; "it is--"
+
+Rodin looked round him, beckoned all the actors in this scene to draw
+nearer, and said in a whisper, laying great stress upon the words: "It
+is--the Society of Jesus!" and he again shuddered.
+
+"The Jesuits!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, unable to restrain a burst of
+laughter, which was the more buoyant, as, from the mysterious precautions
+of Rodin, she had expected some very different revelation.  "The
+Jesuits!" she resumed, still laughing.  "They have no existence, except
+in books; they are frightful historical personages, certainly; but why
+should you put forward Madame de Saint-Dizier and M. d'Aigrigny in that
+character?  Such as they are, they have done quite enough to justify my
+aversion and disdain."
+
+After listening in silence to Mdlle. de Cardoville Rodin continued, with
+a grave and agitated air: "Your blindness frightens me, my dear, young
+lady; the past should have given you some anxiety for the future, since,
+more than any one, you have already suffered from the fatal influence of
+this Company, whose existence you regard as a dream!"
+
+"I, sir?" said Adrienne, with a smile, although a little surprised.
+
+"You."
+
+"Under what circumstances?"
+
+"You ask me this question! my dear young lady! you ask me this question!-
+-and yet you have been confined here as a mad person!  Is it not enough
+to tell you that the master of this house is one of the most devoted lay
+members of the Company, and therefore the blind instrument of the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny?"
+
+"So," said Adrienne, this time without smiling, "Dr. Baleinier"
+
+"Obeyed the Abbe d'Aigrigny, the most formidable chief of that formidable
+society.  He employs his genius for evil; but I must confess he is a man
+of genius.  Therefore, it is upon him that you and yours must fix all
+your doubts and suspicions; it is against him that you must be upon your
+guard.  For, believe me, I know him, and he does not look upon the game
+as lost.  You must be prepared for new attacks, doubtless of another
+kind, but only the more dangerous on that account--"
+
+"Luckily, you give us notice," said Dagobert, "and you will be on our
+side."
+
+"I can do very little, my good friends; but that little is at the service
+of honest people," said Rodin.
+
+"Now," said Adrienne, with a thoughtful air, completely persuaded by
+Rodin's air of conviction, "I can explain the inconceivable influence
+that my aunt exercised in the world.  I ascribed it chiefly to her
+relations with persons in power; I thought that she, like the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny, was concerned in dark intrigues, for which religion served as
+a veil--but I was far from believing what you tell me."
+
+"How many things you have got to learn!" resumed Rodin.  "If you knew, my
+dear young lady, with what art these people surround you, without your
+being aware of it, by agents devoted to themselves!  Every one of your
+steps is known to them, when they have any interest in such knowledge.
+Thus, little by little, they act upon you--slowly, cautiously, darkly.
+They circumvent you by every possible means, from flattery to terror--
+seduce or frighten, in order at last to rule you, without your being
+conscious of their authority.  Such is their object, and I must confess
+they pursue it with detestable ability."
+
+Rodin had spoken with so much sincerity, that Adrienne trembled; then,
+reproaching herself with these fears, she resumed: "And yet, no--I can
+never believe in so infernal a power; the might of priestly ambition
+belongs to another age.  Heaven be praised, it has disappeared forever!"
+
+"Yes, certainly, it is out of sight; for they now know how to disperse
+and disappear, when circumstances require it.  But then are they the most
+dangerous; for suspicion is laid asleep, and they keep watch in the dark.
+Oh! my dear young lady, if you knew their frightful ability!  In my
+hatred of all that is oppressive, cowardly, and hypocritical, I had
+studied the history of that terrible society, before I knew that the Abbe
+d'Aigrigny belonged to it.  Oh! it is dreadful.  If you knew what means
+they employ!  When I tell you that, thanks to their diabolical devices,
+the most pure and devoted appearances often conceal the most horrible
+snares."  Rodin's eye rested, as if by chance, on the hunchback; but,
+seeing that Adrienne did not take the hint, the Jesuit continued: "In a
+word--are you not exposed to their pursuits?--have they any interest in
+gaining you over?--oh! from that moment, suspect all that surround you,
+suspect the most noble attachments, the most tender affections, for these
+monsters sometimes succeed in corrupting your best friends, and making a
+terrible use of them, in proportion to the blindness of your confidence."
+
+"Oh! it is impossible," cried Adrienne, in horror.  "You must exaggerate.
+No! hell itself never dreamed of more frightful treachery!"
+
+"Alas, my dear young lady!  one of your relations, M. Hardy--the most
+loyal and generous-hearted man that could be--has been the victim of some
+such infamous treachery.  Do you know what we learned from the reading of
+your ancestor's will?  Why, that he died the victim of the malevolence of
+these people; and now, at the lapse of a hundred and fifty years, his
+descendants are still exposed to the hate of that indestructible
+society."
+
+"Oh, sir! it terrifies me," said Adrienne, feeling her heart sink within
+her.  "But are there no weapons against such attacks?"
+
+"Prudence, my dear young lady--the most watchful caution--the most
+incessant study and suspicion of all that approach you."
+
+"But such a life would be frightful!  It is a torture to be the victim of
+continual suspicions, doubts, and fears."
+
+"Without doubt!  They know it well, the wretches!  That constitutes their
+strength.  They often triumph by the very excess of the precautions taken
+against them.  Thus, my dear young lady, and you, brave and worthy
+soldier, in the name of all that is dear to you, be on your guard, and do
+not lightly impart your confidence.  Be on your guard, for you have
+nearly fallen the victims of those people.  They will always be your
+implacable enemies.  And you, also, poor, interesting girl!" added the
+Jesuit, speaking to Mother Bunch, "follow my advice--fear these people.
+Sleep, as the proverb says, with one eye open."
+
+"I, sir!" said the work-girl.  "What have I done? what have I to fear?"
+
+"What have you done?  Dear me!  Do not you tenderly love this young lady,
+your protectress? have you not attempted to assist her?  Are you not the
+adopted sister of the son of this intrepid soldier, the brave Agricola!
+Alas, poor, girl! are not these sufficient claims to their hatred, in
+spite of your obscurity?  Nay, my dear young lady! do not think that I
+exaggerate.  Reflect! only reflect!  Think what I have just said to the
+faithful companion-in-arms of Marshal Simon, with regard to his
+imprisonment at Leipsic.  Think what happened to yourself, when, against
+all law and reason, you were brought hither.  Then you will see, that
+there is nothing exaggerated in the picture I have drawn of the secret
+power of this Company.  Be always on your guard, and, in doubtful cases,
+do not fear to apply to me.  In three days, I have learned enough by my
+own experience, with regard to their manner of acting, to be able to
+point out to you many a snare, device, and danger, and to protect you
+from them."
+
+"In any such case, sir," replied Mdlle. de Cardoville, "my interests, as
+well as gratitude, would point to you as my best counsellor."
+
+According to the skillful tactics of the sons of Loyola, who sometimes
+deny their own existence, in order to escape from an adversary--and
+sometimes proclaim with audacity the living power of their organization,
+in order to intimidate the feeble-R-odin had laughed in the face of the
+bailiff of Cardoville, when the latter had spoken of the existence of the
+Jesuits; while now, at this moment, picturing their means of action, he
+endeavored, and he succeeded in the endeavor, to impregnate the mind of
+Mdlle. de Cardoville with some germs of doubt, which were gradually to
+develop themselves by reflection, and serve hereafter the dark projects
+that he meditated.  Mother Bunch still felt considerable alarm with
+regard to Rodin.  Yet, since she had heard the fatal powers of the
+formidable Order revealed to Adrienne, the young sempstress, far from
+suspecting the Jesuit of having the audacity to speak thus of a society
+of which he was himself a member, felt grateful to him, in spite of
+herself, for the important advice that he had just given her patroness.
+The side-glance which she now cast upon him (which Rodin also detected,
+for he watched the young girl with sustained attention), was full of
+gratitude, mingled with surprise.  Guessing the nature of this
+impression, and wishing entirely to remove her unfavorable opinion, and
+also to anticipate a revelation which would be made sooner or later, the
+Jesuit appeared to have forgotten something of great importance, and
+exclaimed, striking his forehead: "What was I thinking of?"  Then,
+speaking to Mother Bunch, he added: "Do you know where your sister is, my
+dear girl?"  Disconcerted and saddened by this unexpected question, the
+workwoman answered with a blush, for she remembered her last interview
+with the brilliant Bacchanal Queen: "I have not seen my sister for some
+days, sir."
+
+"Well, my dear girl, she is not very comfortable," said Rodin; "I
+promised one of her friends to send her some little assistance.  I have
+applied to a charitable person, and that is what I received for her."  So
+saying, he drew from his pocket a sealed roll of coin, which he delivered
+to Mother Bunch, who was now both surprised and affected.
+
+"You have a sister in trouble, and I know nothing of it?" said Adrienne,
+hastily.  "This is not right of you, my child!"
+
+"Do not blame her," said Rodin.  "First of a11, she did not know that her
+sister was in distress, and, secondly, she could not ask you, my dear
+young lady, to interest yourself about her."
+
+As Mdlle. de Cardoville looked at Rodin with astonishment, he added,
+again speaking to the hunchback: "Is not that true, my dear girl!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the sempstress, casting down her eyes and blushing.
+Then she added, hastily and anxiously: "But when did you see my sister,
+sir? where is she? how did she fall into distress?"
+
+"All that would take too long to tell you, my dear girl; but go as soon
+as possible to the greengrocer's in the Rue Clovis, and ask to speak to
+your sister as from M. Charlemagne or M.  Rodin, which you please, for I
+am equally well known in that house by my Christian name as by my
+surname, and then you will learn all about it.  Only tell your sister,
+that, if she behaves well, and keeps to her good resolutions, there are
+some who will continue to look after her."
+
+More and more surprised, Mother Bunch was about to answer Rodin, when the
+door opened, and M. de Gernande entered.  The countenance of the
+magistrate was grave and sad.
+
+"Marshal Simon's daughters!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"Unfortunately, they are not with me," answered the judge.
+
+"Then, where are they, sir?  What have they done with them?  The day
+before yesterday, they were in the convent!" cried Dagobert, overwhelmed
+by this complete destruction of his hopes.
+
+Hardly had the soldier pronounced these words, when, profiting by the
+impulse which gathered all the actors in this scene about the magistrate,
+Rodin withdrew discreetly towards the door, and disappeared without any
+one perceiving his absence.  Whilst the soldier, thus suddenly thrown
+back to the depths of his despair, looked at M. de Gernande, waiting with
+anxiety for the answer, Adrienne said to the magistrate: "But, sir, when
+you applied at the convent, what explanation did the superior give on the
+subject of these young girls?"
+
+"The lady superior refused to give any explanation, madame.  `You
+pretend,' said she, `that the young persons of whom you speak are
+detained here against their will.  Since the law gives you the right of
+entering this house, make your search.' `But, madame, please to answer me
+positively,' said I to the superior; `do you declare, that you know
+nothing of the young girls, whom I have come to claim?' `I have nothing
+to say on this subject, sir.  You assert, that you are authorized to make
+a search: make it.' Not being able to get any other explanation,"
+continued the magistrate, "I searched all parts of the convent, and had
+every door opened--but, unfortunately, I could find no trace of these
+young ladies."
+
+"They must have sent them elsewhere," cried Dagobert; "who knows?--
+perhaps, ill.  They will kill them--O God! they will kill them!" cried
+he, in a heart-rending tone.
+
+"After such a refusal, what is to be done?  Pray, sir, give us your
+advice; you are our providence," said Adrienne, turning to speak to
+Rodin, who she fancied was behind her.  "What is your--"
+
+Then, perceiving that the Jesuit had suddenly disappeared, she said to
+Mother Bunch, with uneasiness: "Where is M. Rodin?"
+
+"I do not know, madame," answered the girl, looking round her; "he is no
+longer here."
+
+"It is strange," said Adrienne, "to disappear so abruptly!"
+
+"I told you he was a traitor!" cried Dagobert, stamping with rage; "they
+are all in a plot together."
+
+"No, no," said Mdlle. de Cardoville; "do not think that.  But the absence
+is not the less to be regretted, for, under these difficult
+circumstances, he might have given us very useful information, thanks to
+the position he occupied at M. d'Aigrigny's."
+
+"I confess, madame, that I rather reckoned upon it," said M. de Gernande;
+"and I returned hither, not only to inform you of the fruitless result of
+my search, but also to seek from the upright and honorable roan, who so
+courageously unveiled these odious machinations, the aid of his counsels
+in this contingency."
+
+Strangely enough, for the last few moments Dagobert was so completely
+absorbed in thought, that he paid no attention to the words of the
+magistrate, however important to him.  He did not even perceive the
+departure of M. de Gernande, who retired after promising Adrienne that he
+would neglect no means to arrive at the truth, in regard to the
+disappearance of the orphans.  Uneasy at this silence, wishing to quit
+the house immediately, and induce Dagobert to accompany her, Adrienne,
+after exchanging a rapid glance with Mother Bunch, was advancing towards
+the soldier, when hasty steps were heard from without the chamber, and a
+manly sonorous voice, exclaiming with impatience, "Where is he--where is
+he?"
+
+At the sound of this voice, Dagobert seemed to rouse himself with a
+start, made a sudden bound, and with a loud cry, rushed towards the door.
+It opened.  Marshal Simon appeared on the threshold!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+PIERRE SIMON.
+
+Marshal Pierre Simon, Duke de Ligny, was a man of tall stature, plainly
+dressed in a blue frock-coat, buttoned up to the throat, with a red
+ribbon tied to the top buttonhole.  You could not have wished to see a
+more frank, honest, and chivalrous cast of countenance than the
+marshal's.  He had a broad forehead, an aquiline nose, a well formed
+chin, and a complexion bronzed by exposure to the Indian sun.  His hair,
+cut very short, was inclined to gray about the temples; but his eyebrows
+were still as black as his large, hanging moustache.  His walk was free
+and bold, and his decided movements showed his military impetuosity.  A
+man of the people, a man of war and action, the frank cordiality of his
+address invited friendliness and sympathy.  As enlightened as he was
+intrepid as generous as he was sincere, his manly, plebeian pride was the
+most remarkable part of his character.  As others are proud of their high
+birth, so was he of his obscure origin, because it was ennobled by the
+fine qualities of his father, the rigid republican, the intelligent and
+laborious artisan, who, for the space of forty years, had been the
+example and the glory of his fellow-workmen.  In accepting with gratitude
+the aristocratic title which the Emperor had bestowed upon him, Pierre
+Simon acted with that delicacy which receives from a friendly hand a
+perfectly useless gift, and estimates it according to the intention of
+the giver.  The religious veneration of Pierre Simon for the Emperor had
+never been blind; in proportion as his devotion and love for his idol
+were instructive and necessary, his admiration was serious, and founded
+upon reason.  Far from resembling those swashbucklers who love fighting
+for its own sake, Marshal Simon not only admired his hero as the greatest
+captain in the world, but he admired him, above all, because he knew that
+the Emperor had only accepted war in the hope of one day being able to
+dictate universal peace; for if peace obtained by glory and strength is
+great, fruitful, and magnificent, peace yielded by weakness and cowardice
+is sterile, disastrous, and dishonoring.  The son of a workman, Pierre
+Simon still further admired the Emperor, because that imperial parvenu
+had always known how to make that popular heart beat nobly, and,
+remembering the people, from the masses of whom he first arose, had
+invited them fraternally to share in regal and aristocratic pomp.
+
+When Marshal Simon entered the room, his countenance was much agitated.
+At sight of Dagobert, a flash of joy illumined his features; he rushed
+towards the soldier, extending his arms, and exclaimed, "My friend! my
+old friend!"
+
+Dagobert answered this affectionate salute with silent emotion.  Then the
+marshal, disengaging himself from his arms, and fixing his moist eyes
+upon him, said to him in so agitated a voice that his lips trembled,
+"Well, didst arrive in time for the 13th of February?"
+
+"Yes, general; but everything is postponed for four months."
+
+"And--my wife?--my child?"  At this question Dagobert shuddered, hung down
+his head, and was silent.
+
+"They are not, then, here?" asked Simon, with more surprise than
+uneasiness.  "They told me they were not at your house, but that I should
+find you here--and I came immediately.  Are they not with you?"
+
+"General," said Dagobert, becoming deadly pale; "general--"  Drying the
+drops of cold sweat that stood upon his forehead, he was unable to
+articulate a word, for his voice was checked in his parched throat.
+
+"You frighten me!" exclaimed Pierre Simon, becoming pale as the soldier,
+and seizing him by the arm.
+
+At this, Adrienne advanced, with a countenance full of grief and
+sympathy; seeing the cruel embarrassment of Dagobert, she wished to come
+to his assistance, and she said to Pierre Simon, in a mild but agitated
+voice, "Marshal, I am Mdlle. de Cardoville--a relation of your dear
+children."
+
+Pierre Simon turned around suddenly, as much struck with the dazzling
+beauty of Adrienne as with the words she had just pronounced.  He
+stammered out in his surprise, "You, madame--a relation--of my children!"
+
+He laid a stress on the last words, and looked at Dagobert in a kind of
+stupor.
+
+"Yes, marshal your children," hastily replied Adrienne; "and the love of
+those charming twin sisters--"
+
+"Twin sisters!" cried Pierre Simon, interrupting Mdlle. de Cardoville,
+with an outburst of joy impossible to describe.  "Two daughters instead
+of one!  Oh! what happiness for their mother!  Pardon me, madame, for
+being so impolite," he continued; "and so little grateful for what you
+tell me.  But you will understand it; I have been seventeen years without
+seeing my wife; I come, and I find three loved beings, instead of two.
+Thanks, madame: would I could express all the gratitude I owe you!  You
+are our relation; this is no doubt your house; my wife and children are
+with you.  Is it so?  You think that my sudden appearance might be
+prejudicial to them?  I will wait--but madame, you, that I am certain are
+good as fair--pity my impatience--will make haste to prepare them to
+receive me--"
+
+More and more agitated, Dagobert avoided the marshal's gaze, and trembled
+like a leaf.  Adrienne cast down her eyes without answering.  Her heart
+sunk within her, at thought of dealing the terrible blow to Marshal
+Simon.
+
+The latter, astonished at this silence, looking at Adrienne, then at the
+soldier, became first uneasy, and at last alarmed.  "Dagobert!" he
+exclaimed, "something is concealed from me!"
+
+"General!" stammered the soldier, "I assure you--I--I--."
+
+"Madame!" cried Pierre Simon, "I conjure you, in pity, speak to me
+frankly!--my anxiety is horrible.  My first fears return upon me.  What
+is it?  Are my wife and daughters ill?  Are they in danger?  Oh! speak!
+speak!"
+
+"Your daughters, marshal," said Adrienne "have been rather unwell, since
+their long journey--but they are in no danger."
+
+"Oh, heaven! it is my wife!"
+
+"Have courage, sir!" said Mdlle. de Cardoville, sadly. "Alas! you must
+seek consolation in the affection of the  two angels that remain to you."
+
+"General!" said Dagobert, in a firm grave tone, "I returned from Siberia-
+-alone with your two daughters."
+
+"And their mother! their mother!" cried Simon, in a voice of despair.
+
+"I set out with the two orphans the day after her death," said the
+soldier.
+
+"Dead?" exclaimed Pierre Simon, overwhelmed by the stroke; "dead?"  A
+mournful silence was the only answer.  The marshal staggered beneath this
+unexpected shock, leaned on the back of a chair for support, and then,
+sinking into the seat, concealed his face with his hands.  For same
+minutes nothing was heard but stifled sobs, for not only had Pierre Simon
+idolized his wife, but by one of those singular compromises, that a man
+long cruelly tried sometimes makes with destiny, Pierre Simon, with the
+fatalism of loving souls, thought he had a right to reckon upon happiness
+after so many years of suffering, and had not for a moment doubted that
+he should find his wife and child--a double consolation reserved to him
+after going through so much.  Very different from certain people, whom
+the habit of misfortune renders less exacting, Simon had reckoned upon
+happiness as complete as had been his misery.  His wife and child were
+the sole, indispensable conditions of this felicity, and, had the mother
+survived her daughters, she would have no more replaced them in his eyes
+than they did her.  Weakness or avarice of the heart, so it was; we
+insist upon this singularity, because the consequences of these incessant
+and painful regrets exercised a great influence on the future life of
+Marshal Simon.  Adrienne and Dagobert had respected the overwhelming
+grief of this unfortunate man.  When he had given a free course to his
+tears, he raised his manly countenance, now of marble paleness, drew his
+hand across his blood-shot eyes, rose, and said to Adrienne, "Pardon me,
+madame; I could not conquer my first emotion.  Permit me to retire.  I
+have cruel details to ask of the worthy friend who only quitted my wife
+at the last moment.  Have the kindness to let me see my children--my poor
+orphans!--" And the marshal's voice again broke.
+
+"Marshal," said Mdlle. de Cardoville, "just now we were expecting your
+dear children: unfortunately, we have been deceived in our hopes."
+Pierre Simon first looked at Adrienne without answering, as if he had not
+heard or understood.--" But console yourself," resumed the young girl;
+"we have yet no reason to despair."
+
+"To despair?" repeated the marshaling by turns at Mdlle. de Cardoville
+despair?--of what, in heaven's name?"
+
+"Of seeing your children, marshal," said Adrienne; "the presence of their
+father will facilitate the search."
+
+"The search!" cried Pierre Simon.  "Then, my daughters are not here?"
+
+"No, sir," said Adrienne, at length; "they have been taken from the
+affectionate care of the excellent man who brought them from Russia, to
+be removed to a convent."
+
+"Wretch!" cried Pierre Simon, advancing towards Dagobert, with a menacing
+and terrible aspect; "you shall answer to me for all!"
+
+"Oh, sir, do not blame him!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville.
+
+"General," said Dagobert, in a tone of mournful resignation, "I merit
+your anger.  It is my fault.  Forced to absent myself from Paris, I
+entrusted the children to my wife; her confessor turned her head, and
+persuaded her that your daughters would be better in a convent than at
+our house.  She believed him, and let them be conveyed there.  Now they
+say at the convent, that they do not know where they are.  This is the
+truth: do what you will with me; I have only to silently endure."
+
+"This is infamous!" cried Pierre Simon, pointing to Dagobert, with a
+gesture of despairing indignation.  "In whom can a man confide, if he has
+deceived me? Oh, my God!"
+
+"Stay, marshal! do not blame him," repeated Mdlle. de Cardoville; "do not
+think so!  He has risked life and honor to rescue your children from the
+convent.  He is not the only one who has failed in this attempt.  Just
+now, a magistrate--despite his character and authority--was not more
+successful.  His firmness towards the superior, his minute search of the
+convent, were all in vain.  Up to this time it has been impossible to
+find these unfortunate children."
+
+"But where's this convent!" cried Marshal Simon, raising his head, his
+face all pale and agitated with grief and rage.  "Where is it?  Do these
+vermin know what a father is, deprived of his children?"  At the moment
+when Marshal Simon, turning towards Dagobert, pronounced these words,
+Rodin, holding Rose and Blanche by the hand, appeared at the open door of
+the chamber.  On hearing the marshal's exclamation, he started with
+surprise, and a flash of diabolical joy lit up his grim countenance--for
+he had not expected to meet Pierre Simon so opportunely.
+
+Mdlle. de Cardoville was the first to perceive the presence of Rodin.
+She exclaimed, as she hastened towards him: "Oh!  I was not deceived.  He
+is still our providence."
+
+"My poor children!" said Rodin, in a low voice, to the young girls, as he
+pointed to Pierre Simon, "this is your father!"
+
+"Sir!" cried Adrienne, following close upon Rose and Blanche.  "Your
+children are here!"
+
+As Simon turned round abruptly, his two daughters threw themselves into
+his arms.  Here was a long silence, broken only by sobs, and kisses, and
+exclamations of joy.
+
+"Come forward, at least, and enjoy the good you have done!" said Mdlle.
+de Cardoville, drying her eyes, and turning towards Rodin, who, leaning
+against the door, seemed to contemplate this scene with deep emotion.
+
+Dagobert, at sight of Rodin bringing back the children, was at first
+struck with stupor, and unable to move a step; but hearing the words of
+Adrienne, and yielding to a burst of almost insane gratitude, he threw
+himself on his knees before the Jesuit, joined his hands together, and
+exclaimed in a broken voice: "You have saved me, by bringing back these
+children."
+
+"Oh, bless you, sir!" said Mother Bunch, yielding to the general current.
+
+"My good friends, this is too much," said Rodin, as if his emotions were
+beyond his strength; "this is really too much for me.  Excuse me to the
+marshal, and tell him that I am repaid by the sight of his happiness."
+
+"Pray, sir," said Adrienne, "let the marshal at least have the
+opportunity to see and know you."
+
+"Oh, remain! you that have saved us all!" cried Dagobert, trying to stop
+Rodin.
+
+"Providence, you know, my dear young lady, does not trouble itself about
+the good that is done, but the good that remains to do," said Rodin, with
+an accent of playful kindness.  "Must I not think of Prince Djalma?  My
+task is not finished, and moments are precious.  Come," he added,
+disengaging himself gently from Dagobert's hold, "come the day has been
+as good a one as I had hoped..  The Abbe d'Aigrigny is unmasked; you are
+free, my dear young lady; you have recovered your cross, my brave
+soldier; Mother Bunch is sure of a protectress; the marshal has found his
+children.  I have my share in all these joys, it is a full share--my
+heart is satisfied.  Adieu, my friends, till we meet again."  So saying,
+Rodin waved his hand affectionately to Adrienne, Dagobert, and the
+hunchback, and withdrew, waving his hand with a look of delight on
+Marshal Simon, who, seated between his daughters, held them in his arms,
+and covered them with tears and kisses, remaining quite indifferent to
+all that was passing around him.
+
+An hour after this scene, Mdlle. de Cardoville and the sempstress,
+Marshal Simon, his two daughters and Dagobert quitted Dr. Beleinier's
+asylum.
+
+In terminating this episode, a few words by way of moral, with regard to
+lunatic asylums and convents may not be out of place.  We have said, and
+we repeat, that the laws which apply to the superintendence of lunatic
+asylums appear to us insufficient.  Facts that have recently transpired
+before the courts, and other facts that have been privately communicated
+to us, evidently prove this insufficiency.  Doubtless, magistrates have
+full power to visit lunatic asylums.  They are even required to make such
+visits.  But we know, from the best authority, that the numerous and
+pressing occupations of magistrates, whose number is often out of
+proportion with the labor imposed upon them, render these inspections so
+rare, that they are, so to speak, illusory.  It appears, therefore, to us
+advisable to institute a system of inspections, at least twice a month,
+especially designed for lunatic asylums, and entrusted to a physician and
+a magistrate, so that every complaint may be submitted to a double
+examination.  Doubtless, the law is sufficient when its ministers are
+fully informed; but how many formalities, how many difficulties must be
+gone through, before they can be so, particularly when the unfortunate
+creature who needs their assistance, already suspected, isolated, and
+imprisoned, has no friend to come forward in defence, and demand, in his
+or her name, the protection of the authorities!  Is it not imperative,
+therefore, on the civil power, to meet these necessities by a periodical
+and well-organized system of inspection?
+
+What we here say of lunatic asylums will apply with still greater force
+to convents for women, seminaries, and houses inhabited by religious
+bodies.  Recent and notorious facts, with which all France has rung,
+have, unfortunately, proved that violence, forcible detention, barbarous
+usage, abduction of minors, and illegal imprisonment, accompanied by
+torture, are occurrences which, if not frequent, are at least possible in
+religious houses.  It required singular accidents, audacious and cynical
+brutalities; to bring these detestable actions to public knowledge.  How
+many other victims have been, and, perhaps still are, entombed in those
+large silent mansions, where no profane look may penetrate, and which,
+through the privileges of the clergy, escape the superintendence of the
+civil power.  Is it not deplorable that these dwellings should not also
+be subject to periodical inspection, by visitors consisting, if it be
+desired, of a priest, a magistrate, and some delegate of the municipal
+authorities?  If nothing takes place, but what is legal, human, and
+charitable, in these establishments, which have all the character,
+and incur all the responsibility, of public institutions, why this
+resistance, this furious indignation of the church party, when any
+mention is made of touching what they call their privileges?  There is
+something higher than the constitutions devised at Rome.  We mean the Law
+of France--the common law--which grants to all protection, but which, in
+return, exacts from all respect and obedience.
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wandering Jew, v6
+by Eugene Sue
+
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