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then go and make inquiries from place to place. Let us know, by

dessert, which road Mademoiselle Brazier has taken."
This order quieted for a time the poor creature, who was moaning like

a child that has lost its nurse. At this moment Rouget, who hated Max,
thought his tormentor an angel. A passion like that of this miserable

old man for Flore is astonishingly like the emotions of childhood. At
six o'clock, the Pole, who had merely taken a walk, returned to

announce that Flore had driven towards Vatan.
"Madame is going back to her own people, that's plain," said Kouski.

"Would you like to go to Vatan to-night?" said Max. "The road is bad,
but Kouski knows how to drive, and you'll make your peace better to-

night than to-morrow morning."
"Let us go!" cried Rouget.

"Put the horse in quietly," said Max to Kouski; "manage, if you can,
that the town shall not know of this nonsense, for Monsieur Rouget's

sake. Saddle my horse," he added in a whisper. "I will ride on ahead
of you."

Monsieur Hochon had already notified Philippe of Flore's departure;
and the colonel rose from Monsieur Mignonnet's dinner-table to rush to

the place Saint-Jean; for he at once guessed the meaning of this
clever strategy. When Philippe presented himself at his uncle's house,

Kouski answered through a window that Monsieur Rouget was unable to
see any one.

"Fario," said Philippe to the Spaniard, who was stationed in the
Grande-Narette, "go and tell Benjamin to mount his horse; it is all-

important that I shall know what Gilet does with my uncle."
"They are now putting the horse into the caleche," said Fario, who had

been watching the Rouget stable.
"If they go towards Vatan," answered Philippe, "get me another horse,

and come yourself with Benjamin to Monsieur Mignonnet's."
"What do you mean to do?" asked Monsieur Hochon, who had come out of

his own house when he saw Philippe and Fario standing together.
"The genius of a general, my dear Monsieur Hochon," said Philippe,

"consists not only in carefully observing the enemy's movements, but
also in guessing his intentions from those movements, and in modifying

his own plan whenever the enemy interferes with it by some unexpected
action. Now, if my uncle and Max drive out together, they are going to

Vatan; Maxence will have promised to reconcile him with Flore, who
"fugit ad salices,"--the manoeuvre is General Virgil's. If that's the

line they take, I don't yet know what I shall do; I shall have some
hours to think it over, for my uncle can't sign a power of attorney at

ten o'clock at night; the notaries will all be in bed. If, as I rather
fancy, Max goes on in advance of my uncle to teach Flore her lesson,--

which seems necessary and probable,--the rogue is lost! you will see
the sort of revenge we old soldiers take in a game of this kind. Now,

as I need a helper for this last stroke, I must go back to Mignonnet's
and make an arrangement with my friend Carpentier."

Shaking hands with Monsieur Hochon, Philippe went off down the Petite-
Narette to Mignonnet's house. Ten minutes later, Monsieur Hochon saw

Max ride off at a quick trot; and the old miser's curiosity was so
powerfully excited that he remained standing at his window, eagerly

expecting to hear the wheels of the old demi-fortune, which was not
long in coming. Jean-Jacques's impatience made him follow Max within

twenty minutes. Kouski, no doubt under orders from his master, walked
the horse through the town.

"If they get to Paris, all is lost," thought Monsieur Hochon.
At this moment, a lad from the faubourg de Rome came to the Hochon

house with a letter for Baruch. The two grandsons, much subdued by the
events of the morning, had kept their rooms of their own accord during

the day. Thinking over their prospects, they saw plainly that they had
better be cautious with their grandparents. Baruch knew very well the

influence which his grandfather Hochon exerted over his grandfather
and grandmother Borniche: Monsieur Hochon would not hesitate to get

their property for Adolphine if his conduct were such as to make them
pin their hopes on the grand marriage with which his grandfather had

threatened him that morning. Being richer than Francois, Baruch had
the most to lose; he therefore counselled an absolutesurrender, with

no other condition than the payment of their debt to Max. As for
Francois, his future was entirely in the hands of his grandfather; he

had no expectations except from him, and by the guardianship account,
he was now his debtor. The two young men accordingly gave solemn

promises of amendment, prompted by their imperilled interests, and by
the hope Madame Hochon held out, that the debt to Max should be paid.

"You have done very wrong," she said to them; "repair it by future
good conduct, and Monsieur Hochon will forget it."

So, when Francois had read the letter which had been brought for
Baruch, over the latter's shoulder, he whispered in his ear, "Ask

grandpapa's advice."
"Read this," said Baruch, taking the letter to old Hochon.

"Read it to me yourself; I haven't my spectacles."
My dear Friend,--I hope you will not hesitate, under the serious

circumstances in which I find myself, to do me the service of
receiving a power of attorney from Monsieur Rouget. Be at Vatan

to-morrow morning at nine o'clock. I shall probably send you to
Paris, but don't be uneasy; I will furnish you with money for the

journey, and join you there immediately. I am almost sure I shall
be obliged to leave Issoudun, December third.

Adieu. I count on your friendship; rely on that of your friend,
Maxence

"God be praised!" exclaimed Monsieur Hochon; "the property of that old
idiot is saved from the claws of the devil."

"It will be if you say so," said Madame Hochon; "and I thank God,--who
has no doubt heard my prayers. The prosperity of the wicked is always

fleeting."
"You must go to Vatan, and accept the power of attorney from Monsieur

Rouget," said the old man to Baruch. "Their object is to get fifty
thousand francs a year transferred to Mademoiselle Brazier. They will

send you to Paris, and you must seem to go; but you are to stop at
Orleans, and wait there till you hear from me. Let no one--not a soul

--know where you lodge; go to the first inn you come to in the
faubourg Bannier, no matter if it is only a post-house--"

"Look here!" cried Francois, who had rushed to the window at the
sudden noise of wheels in the Grande-Narette. "Here's something new!--

Pere Rouget and Colonel Bridau coming back together in the caleche,
Benjamin and Captain Carpentier following on horseback!"

"I'll go over," cried Monsieur Hochon, whose curiosity carried the day
over every other feeling.

Monsieur Hochon found old Rouget in his bedroom, writing the following
letter at his nephew's dictation:

Mademoiselle,--If you do not start to return here the moment you
receive this letter, your conduct will show such ingratitude for

all my goodness that I shall revoke the will I have made in your
favor, and give my property to my nephew Philippe. You will

understand that Monsieur Gilet can no longer be my guest after
staying with you at Vatan. I send this letter by Captain

Carpentier, who will put it into your own hands. I hope you will
listen to his advice; he will speak to you with authority from me.

Your affectionate
J.-J. Rouget.

"Captain Carpentier and I MET my uncle, who was so foolish as to
follow Mademoiselle Brazier and Monsieur Gilet to Vatan," said

Philippe, with sarcastic emphasis, to Monsieur Hochon. "I have made my
uncle see that he was running his head into a noose; for that girl

will abandon him the moment she gets him to sign a power of attorney,
by which they mean to obtain the income of his money in the Funds.

That letter will bring her back under his roof, the handsome runaway!
this very night, or I'm mistaken. I promise to make her as pliable as

a bit of whalebone for the rest of her days, if my uncle allows me to
take Maxence Gilet's place; which, in my opinion, he ought never to

have had in the first place. Am I not right?--and yet here's my uncle
bemoaning himself!"

"Neighbor," said Monsieur Hochon, "you have taken the best means to
get peace in your household. Destroy your will, and Flore will be once

more what she used to be in the early days."
"No, she will never forgive me for what I have made her suffer,"

whimpered the old man; "she will no longer love me."
"She shall love you, and closely too; I'll take care of that," said

Philippe.
"Come, open your eyes!" exclaimed Monsieur Hochon. "They mean to rob

you and abandon you."
"Oh! I was sure of it!" cried the poor imbecile.

"See, here is a letter Maxence has written to my grandson Borniche,"
said old Hochon. "Read it."

"What infamy!" exclaimed Carpentier, as he listened to the letter,
which Rouget read aloud, weeping.

"Is that plain enough, uncle?" demanded Philippe. "Hold that hussy by
her interests and she'll adore you as you deserve."

"She loves Maxence too well; she will leave me," cried the frightened
old man.

"But, uncle, Maxence or I,--one or the other of us--won't leave our
footsteps in the dust of Issoudun three days hence."

"Well then go, Monsieur Carpentier," said Rouget; "if you promise me
to bring her back, go! You are a good man; say to her in my name all

you think you ought to say."
"Captain Carpentier will whisper in her ear that I have sent to Paris

for a woman whose youth and beauty are captivating; that will bring
the jade back in a hurry!"

The captain departed, driving himself in the old caleche; Benjamin
accompanied him on horseback, for Kouski was nowhere to be found.

Though threatened by the officers with arrest and the loss of his
situation, the Pole had gone to Vatan on a hired horse, to warn Max

and Flore of the adversary's move. After fulfilling his mission,
Carpentier, who did not wish to drive back with Flore, was to change

places with Benjamin, and take the latter's horse.
When Philippe was told of Kouski's flight he said to Benjamin, "You

will take the Pole's place, from this time on. It is all mapping out,
papa Hochon!" cried the lieutenant-colonel. "That banquet will be

jovial!"
"You will come and live here, of course," said the old miser.

"I have told Fario to send me all my things," answered Philippe. "I
shall sleep in the room adjoining Gilet's apartment,--if my uncle

consents."
"What will come of all this?" cried the terrified old man.

"Mademoiselle Flore Brazier is coming, gentle as a paschal lamb,"
replied Monsieur Hochon.

"God grant it!" exclaimed Rouget, wiping his eyes.
"It is now seven o'clock," said Philippe; "the sovereign of your heart

will be here at half-past eleven: you'll never see Gilet again, and
you will be as happy ever after as a pope.--If you want me to

succeed," he whispered to Monsieur Hochon, "stay here till the hussy
comes; you can help me in keeping the old man up to his resolution;

and, together, we'll make that crab-girl see on which side her bread
is buttered."

Monsieur Hochon felt the reasonableness of the request and stayed: but
they had their hands full, for old Rouget gave way to childish

lamentations, which were only quieted by Philippe's repeating over and
over a dozen times:--

"Uncle, you will see that I am right when Flore returns to you as
tender as ever. You shall be petted; you will save your property: be

guided by my advice, and you'll live in paradise for the rest of your
days."

When, about half-past eleven, wheels were heard in the Grande-Narette,
the question was, whether the carriage were returning full or empty.

Rouget's face wore an expression of agony, which changed to the
prostration of excessive joy when he saw the two women, as the

carriage turned to enter the courtyard.
"Kouski," said Philippe, giving a hand to Flore to help her down. "You

are no longer in Monsieur Rouget's service. You will not sleep here
to-night; get your things together, and go. Benjamin takes your

place."
"Are you the master here?" said Flore sarcastically.



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