atagems, the equivocal hints, in which his
open, courageous nature was wallowing about, and with head erect and
heart laid bare, talked to that upright man in a language which he was
built to understand.

"Do not be surprised, my dear colleague,"--his voice trembled at first,
but soon became firm in his conviction of the justice of his cause--"do
not be surprised that I have come to see you here instead of simply
asking to be heard by the third committee. The explanations that I have
to put before you are of such a delicate and confidential nature that it
would have been impossible for me to give them in a public place, before
my assembled colleagues."

Maitre Le Merquier looked at the curtain over his spectacles with an air
of dismay. Evidently the conversation was taking an unexpected turn.

"I do not touch upon the substance of the question," continued the
Nabob. "I am sure that your report is impartial and just, such a report
as your conscience must have dictated. But certain disgusting slanders
have been set on foot concerning myself, to which I have not replied,
and which may have influenced the opinion of the committee. That is the
subject on which I wish to speak to you. I know the confidence which
your colleagues repose in you, Monsieur Le Merquier, and that, when I
have convinced you, your word will be sufficient and I shall not be
obliged to parade my distress before the full committee. You know the
charge. I refer to the most horrible, the most shameful one. There are
so many that one might make a mistake among them. My enemies have given
names, dates, addresses. Be it so! I bring you the proofs of my
innocence. I lay them before you, before you only; for I have the
gravest reasons for keeping this whole affair secret."

Thereupon he showed the advocate a certificate from the consulate at
Tunis that in twenty years he had left the principality but twice, the
first time to see his father who lay dying at Bourg-Saint-Andeol, the
second time to pay a visit of three days at his Chateau of Saint-Romans
with the bey.

"How does it happen that with such a decisive document in my hands I
have not cited my defamers before the courts to contradict them and put
them to shame? Alas! Monsieur, there are family bonds that cut into the
flesh. I had a brother, a poor weak spoiled creature, who rolled for a
long while in the filth of Paris, left his intelligence and his honor
here. Did he really descend to that stage of