he
pleasure she would have felt in looking at a pretty toy. Could it be
possible that that boy had served in the army? and how could they have
been so cruel as to break his arm? The story of his gallantry in the
field made him even more interesting still, and Delaherche, who had
received Henriette with the cordiality of a man to whom the sight of a
new face is a godsend, while the servants were handing round the cutlets
and the potatoes cooked in their jackets, never seemed to tire of
eulogizing his secretary, who was as industrious and well behaved as he
was handsome. They made a very pleasant and homelike picture, the four,
thus seated around the bright table in the snug, warm dining room.

"So you want us to interest ourselves in Father Fouchard's case,
and it's to that we owe the pleasure of your visit, eh?" said the
manufacturer. "I'm extremely sorry that I have to go away to-night,
but my wife will set things straight for you in a jiffy; there's no
resisting her, she has only to ask for a thing to get it." He laughed
as he concluded his speech, which was uttered in perfect simplicity
of soul, evidently pleased and flattered that his wife possessed such
influence, in which he shone with a kind of reflected glory. Then
turning suddenly to her: "By the way, my dear, has Edmond told you of
his great discovery?"

"No; what discovery?" asked Gilberte, turning her pretty caressing eyes
full on the young sergeant.

The cherub blushed whenever a woman looked at him in that way, as if
the exquisiteness of his sensations was too much for him. "It's nothing,
madame; only a bit of old lace; I heard you saying the other day you
wanted some to put on your mauve peignoir. I happened yesterday to come
across five yards of old Bruges point, something really handsome and
very cheap. The woman will be here presently to show it to you."

She could have kissed him, so delighted was she. "Oh, how nice of you!
You shall have your reward."

Then, while a terrine of foie-gras, purchased in Belgium, was being
served, the conversation took another turn; dwelling for an instant
on the quantities of fish that were dying of poison in the Meuse, and
finally coming around to the subject of the pestilence that menaced
Sedan when there should be a thaw. Even as early as November, there had
been several cases of disease of an epidemic character. Six thousand
francs had been expended after the battle in cleansing the city and
collecting and bur