ny accidents should it become unsettled every
time a woman made a mistake.

"It was I who was right; they were incapable of comprehending him,"
though Mlle. Moriaz, as she crossed the Seine, and she contemplated with
a delighted eye the lovely blue sky, the tranquil waters, the verdant
banks of the river, with their long range of poplar-trees. It seemed
to her that all was going well, that order reigned everywhere, that the
Great Mechanician was at his post, that the world was in good hands, and
that travellers therein had no cause to fear untoward mischance.

When she arrived at Cormeilles, M. Moriaz was shut up in his laboratory,
which he had been overjoyed to find just as he had left it. A velvet
skull-cap perched on one side of his head, his sleeves turned up, a
brown holland apron tied round his neck and his waist, a feather brush
in his hand, he had proceeded at once to examine his precious stock in
detail--his furnaces, his long-necked, big-bellied matrasses, the curved
necks and the tubulures of his retorts, his cucurbits, and his alembics.
Balloons, tubes, pipettes, pneumatic vats, receivers, cupels, lamps,
bell-glasses, blow-pipes, and mortars, he passed in review to assure
himself that during his absence nothing had been damaged. He carefully
dusted his jars, examined the labels, made sure that none of his
treasures were cracked, that his gauges were not out of order. He was as
happy as a king who has his troops pass in review before him, and feels
convinced that they bear themselves well; that they will stand fire and
do honour to their master.

Agreeable as was the occupation to which for two hours he had devoted
himself, M. Moriaz had not forgotten the existence of his daughter and
of M. Larinski. He knew that Antoinette had repaired to Maisons Lafitte
to have an explanation with Mme. de Lorcy, and this thought cast a
shadow over his felicity. He hoped, however, that this interview might
turn out according to his wishes; that the Pole star, which had caused
him so much disquietude, might disappear forever from his horizon.

Some one knocked at the door of his laboratory. "Come in!" he cried, and
turning he saw Antoinette standing upon the threshold. He gazed at
her fixedly. Her eye was so animated, her countenance so beaming, so
luminous, that involuntarily he dropped his arms and let fall, as he did
so, a little vial he held in his hands.

"Naughty girl, to cause such havoc in her father's laboratory!