Camusot. "Did I not tell you, dear, that they would play you some ugly

trick? The President has gone off to slander you to the public
prosecutor and the President of the Court-Royal. You will be changed

before you can make the examination. Is that clear?"
"You will stay, monsieur," said the Duchess. "The public prosecutor is

coming, I hope, in time."
"When the public prosecutor arrives," little Mme. Camusot said, with

some heat, "he must find all over.--Yes, my dear, yes," she added,
looking full at her amazed husband.--"Ah! old hypocrite of a

President, you are setting your wits against us; you shall remember
it! You have a mind to help us to a dish of your own making, you shall

have two served up to you by your humble servant Cecile Amelie
Thirion!--Poor old Blondet! It is lucky for him that the President has

taken this journey to turn us out, for now that great oaf of a Joseph
Blondet will marry Mlle. Blandureau. I will let Father Blondet have

some seeds in return.--As for you, Camusot, go to M. Michu's, while
Mme. la Duchesse and I will go to find old Blondet. You must expect to

hear it said all over the town to-morrow that I took a walk with a
lover this morning."

Mme. Camusot took the Duchess' arm, and they went through the town by
deserted streets to avoid any unpleasant adventure on the way to the

old Vice-President's house. Chesnel meanwhile conferred with the young
Count in prison; Camusot had arranged a stoleninterview. Cook-maids,

servants, and the other early risers of a country town, seeing Mme.
Camusot and the Duchess taking their way through the back streets,

took the young gentleman for an adorer from Paris. That evening, as
Cecile Amelie had said, the news of her behavior was circulated about

the town, and more than one scandalous rumor was occasioned thereby.
Mme. Camusot and her supposed lover found old Blondet in his green-

house. He greeted his colleague's wife and her companion, and gave the
charming young man a keen, uneasy glance.

"I have the honor to introduce one of my husband's cousins," said Mme.
Camusot, bringing forward the Duchess; "he is one of the most

distinguished horticulturists in Paris; and as he cannot spend more
than one day with us, on his way back from Brittany, and has heard of

your flowers and plants, I have taken the liberty of coming early."
"Oh, the gentleman is a horticulturist, is he?" said the old Blondet.

The Duchess bowed.
"This is my coffee-plant," said Blondet, "and here is a tea-plant."

"What can have taken M. le President away from home?" put in Mme.
Camusot. "I will wager that his absence concerns M. Camusot."

"Exactly.--This, monsieur, is the queerest of all cactuses," he
continued, producing a flower-pot which appeared to contain a piece of

mildewed rattan; "it comes from Australia. You are very young, sir, to
be a horticulturist."

"Dear M. Blondet, never mind your flowers," said Mme. Camusot. "YOU
are concerned, you and your hopes, and your son's marriage with Mlle.

Blandureau. You are duped by the President."
"Bah!" said old Blondet, with an incredulous air.

"Yes," retorted she. "If you cultivated people a little more and your
flowers a little less, you would know that the dowry and the hopes you

have sown, and watered, and tilled, and weeded are on the point of
being gathered now by cunning hands."

"Madame!----"
"Oh, nobody in the town will have the courage to fly in the

President's face and warn you. I, however, do not belong to the town,
and, thanks to this obliging young man, I shall soon be going back to

Paris; so I can inform you that Chesnel's successor has made formal
proposals for Mlle. Claire Blandureau's hand on behalf of young du

Ronceret, who is to have fifty thousand crowns from his parents. As
for Fabien, he has made up his mind to receive a call to the bar, so

as to gain an appointment as judge."
Old Blondet dropped the flower-pot which he had brought out for the

Duchess to see.
"Oh, my cactus! Oh, my son! and Mlle. Blandureau! . . . Look here! the

cactus flower is broken to pieces."
"No," Mme. Camusot answered, laughing; "everything can be put right.

If you have a mind to see your son a judge in another month, we will
tell you how you must set to work----"

"Step this way, sir, and you will see my pelargoniums, an enchanting
sight while they are in flower----" Then he added to Mme. Camusot,

"Why did you speak of these matters while your cousin was present."
"All depends upon him," riposted Mme. Camusot. "Your son's appointment

is lost for ever if you let fall a word about this young man."
"Bah!"

"The young man is a flower----"
"Ah!"

"He is the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, sent here by His Majesty to save
young d'Esgrignon, whom they arrested yesterday on a charge of forgery

brought against him by du Croisier. Mme. la Duchesse has authority
from the Keeper of the Seals; he will ratify any promises that she

makes to us----"
"My cactus is all right!" exclaimed Blondet, peering at his precious

plant.--"Go on, I am listening."
"Take counsel with Camusot and Michu to hush up the affair as soon as

possible, and your son will get the appointment. It will come in time
enough to baffle du Ronceret's underhand dealings with the

Blandureaus. Your son will be something better than assistant judge;
he will have M. Camusot's post within the year. The public prosecutor

will be here today. M. Sauvager will be obliged to resign, I expect,
after his conduct in this affair. At the court my husband will show

you documents which completely exonerate the Count and prove that the
forgery was a trap of du Croisier's own setting."

Old Blondet went into the Olympic circus where his six thousand
pelargoniums stood, and made his bow to the Duchess.

"Monsieur," said he, "if your wishes do not exceed the law, this thing
may be done."

"Monsieur," returned the Duchess, "send in your resignation to M.
Chesnel to-morrow, and I will promise you that your son shall be

appointed within the week; but you must not resign until you have had
confirmation of my promise from the public prosecutor. You men of law

will come to a better understanding among yourselves. Only let him
know that the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse had pledged her word to you.

And not a word as to my journey hither," she added.
The old judge kissed her hand and began recklessly to gather his best

flowers for her.
"Can you think of it? Give them to madame," said the Duchess. "A young

man should not have flowers about him when he has a pretty woman on
his arm."

"Before you go down to the court," added Mme. Camusot, "ask Chesnel's
successor about those proposals that he made in the name of M. and

Mme. du Ronceret."
Old Blondet, quite overcome by this revelation of the President's

duplicity, stood planted on his feet by the wicket gate, looking after
the two women as they hurried away through by-streets home again. The

edifice raised so painfully during ten years for his beloved son was
crumbling visibly before his eyes. Was it possible? He suspected some

trick, and hurried away to Chesnel's successor.
At half-past nine, before the court was sitting, Vice-President

Blondet, Camusot, and Michu met with remarkable punctuality in the
council chamber. Blondet locked the door with some precautions when

Camusot and Michu came in together.
"Well, Mr. Vice-President," began Michu, "M. Sauvager, without

consulting the public prosecutor, has issued a warrant for the
apprehension of one Comte d'Esgrignon, in order to serve a grudge