the arrival of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse upon the scene, the return
of the public prosecutor, and the hasty confabulation of his learned

brethren; so he had omitted to trace out a plan for du Croisier's
guidance in the event of the preliminaryexaminationtaking place.

Neither of the pair imagined that the proceedings would be hurried on
in this way. Du Croisier obeyed the summons at once; he wanted to know

how M. Camusot was disposed to act. So he was compelled to answer the
questions put to him. Camusot addressed him in summary fashion with

the six following inquiries:--
"Was the signature on the bill alleged to be a forgery in your

handwriting?--Had you previously done business with M. le Comte
d'Esgrignon?--Was not M. le Comte d'Esgrignon in the habit of drawing

upon you, with or without advice?--Did you not write a letter
authorizing M. d'Esgrignon to rely upon you at any time?-- Had not

Chesnel squared the account not once, but many times already?--Were
you not away from home when this took place?"

All these questions the banker answered in the affirmative. In spite
of wordy explanations, the magistrate always brought him back to a

"Yes" or "No." When the questions and answers alike had been resumed
in the proces-verbal, the examining magistrate brought out a final

thunderbolt.
"Was du Croisier aware that the money destined to meet the bill had

been deposited with him, du Croisier, according to Chesnel's
declaration, and a letter of advice sent by the said Chesnel to the

Comte d'Esgrignon, five days before the date of the bill?"
That last question frightened du Croisier. He asked what was meant by

it, and whether he was supposed to be the defendant and M. le Comte
d'Esgrignon the plaintiff? He called the magistrate's attention to the

fact that if the money had been deposited with him, there was no
ground for the action.

"Justice is seeking information," said the magistrate, as he dismissed
the witness, but not before he had taken down du Croisier's last

observation.
"But the money, sir----"

"The money is at your house."
Chesnel, likewise summoned, came forward to explain the matter. The

truth of his assertions was borne out by Mme. du Croisier's
deposition. The Count had already been examined. Prompted by Chesnel,

he produced du Croisier's first letter, in which he begged the Count
to draw upon him without the insulting formality of depositing the

amount beforehand. The Comte d'Esgrignon next brought out a letter in
Chesnel's handwriting, by which the notary advised him of the deposit

of a hundred thousand crowns with M. du Croisier. With such primary
facts as these to bring forward as evidence, the young Count's

innocence was bound to emergetriumphantly from a court of law.
Du Croisier went home from the court, his face white with rage, and

the foam of repressed fury on his lips. His wife was sitting by the
fireside in the drawing-room at work upon a pair of slippers for him.

She trembled when she looked into his face, but her mind was made up.
"Madame," he stammered out, "what deposition is this that you made

before the magistrate? You have dishonored, ruined, and betrayed me!"
"I have saved you, monsieur," answered she. "If some day you will have

the honor of connecting yourself with the d'Esgrignons by marrying
your niece to the Count, it will be entirely owing to my conduct to-

day."
"A miracle!" cried he. "Balaam's ass has spoken. Nothing will astonish

me after this. And where are the hundred thousand crowns which (so M.
Camusot tells me) are here in my house?"

"Here they are," said she, pulling out a bundle of banknotes from
beneath the cushions of her settee. "I have not committed mortal sin

by declaring that M. Chesnel gave them into my keeping."
"While I was away?"

"You were not here."
"Will you swear that to me on your salvation?"

"I swear it," she said composedly.
"Then why did you say nothing to me about it?" demanded he.

"I was wrong there," said his wife, "but my mistake was all for your
good. Your niece will be Marquise d'Esgrignon some of these days, and

you will perhaps be a deputy, if you behave well in this deplorable
business. You have gone too far; you must find out how to get back

again."
Du Croisier, under stress of painfulagitation, strode up and down his

drawing-room; while his wife, in no less agitation, awaited the result
of this exercise. Du Croisier at length rang the bell.

"I am not at home to any one to-night," he said, when the man
appeared; "shut the gates; and if any one calls, tell them that your

mistress and I have gone into the country. We shall start directly
after dinner, and dinner must be half an hour earlier than usual."

The great news was discussed that evening in every drawing-room;
little shopkeepers, working folk, beggars, the noblesse, the merchant

class--the whole town, in short, was talking of the Comte
d'Esgrignon's arrest on a charge of forgery. The Comte d'Esgrignon

would be tried in the Assize Court; he would be condemned and branded.
Most of those who cared for the honor of the family denied the fact.

At nightfall Chesnel went to Mme. Camusot and escorted the stranger to
the Hotel d'Esgrignon. Poor Mlle. Armande was expecting him; she led

the fair Duchess to her own room, which she had given up to her, for
his lordship the Bishop occupied Victurnien's chamber; and, left alone

with her guest, the noble woman glanced at the Duchess with most
piteous eyes.

"You owed help, indeed, madame, to the poor boy who ruined himself for
your sake," she said, "the boy to whom we are all of us sacrificing

ourselves."
The Duchess had already made a woman's survey of Mlle. d'Esgrignon's

room; the cold, bare, comfortless chamber, that might have been a
nun's cell, was like a picture of the life of the heroic woman before

her. The Duchess saw it all--past, present, and future--with rising
emotion, felt the incongruity of her presence, and could not keep back

the falling tears that made answer for her.
But in Mlle. Armande the Christian overcame Victurnien's aunt. "Ah, I

was wrong; forgive me, Mme. la Duchesse; you did not know how poor we
were, and my nephew was capable" target="_blank" title="a.无能力的；不能的">incapable of the admission. And besides, now

that I see you, I can understand all--even the crime!"
And Mlle. Armande, withered and thin and white, but beautiful as those

tall austereslender figures which German art alone can paint, had
tears too in her eyes.

"Do not fear, dear angel," the Duchess said at last; "he is safe."
"Yes, but honor?--and his career? Chesnel told me; the King knows the

truth."
"We will think of a way of repairing the evil," said the Duchess.

Mlle. Armande went downstairs to the salon, and found the Collection
of Antiquities complete to a man. Every one of them had come, partly

to do honor to the Bishop, partly to rally round the Marquis; but
Chesnel, posted in the antechamber, warned each new arrival to say no

word of the affair, that the aged Marquis might never know that such a
thing had been. The loyal Frank was quite capable of killing his son

or du Croisier; for either the one or the other must have been guilty
of death in his eyes. It chanced, strangely enough, that he talked

more of Victurnien than usual; he was glad that his son had gone back
to Paris. The King would give Victurnien a place before very long; the

King was interesting himself at last in the d'Esgrignons. And his
friends, their hearts dead within them, praised Victurnien's conduct

to the skies. Mlle. Armande prepared the way for her nephew's sudden
appearance among them by remarking to her brother that Victurnien

would be sure to come to see them, and that he must be even then on
his way.

"Bah!" said the Marquis, standing with his back to the hearth, "if he