u have seen Gabriel, do not
delay long. Think what a blow it would be for your father, if they came
to arrest you in his very presence mon Dieu!"

"You are right," said Agricola; "it is indispensable that I should
depart--while near Gabriel in spite of my anxiety, my fears were
forgotten."

"Go quickly, then; and if Miss de Cardoville should grant this favor,
perhaps in a couple of hours you will return, quite at ease both as to
yourself and us."

"True! a very few minutes more; and I'll come down."

"I return to watch at the door. If I perceive anything. I'll come up
again to apprise you. But pray, do not delay."

"Be easy, good sister." Mother Bunch hurriedly descended the staircase,
to resume her watch at the street door, and Agricola re-entered his
garret. "Dear father," he said to Dagobert, "my mother has just received
this letter, and she requests you to read it."

"Very well; read it for me, my boy." And Agricola read as follows:

"MADAME.--I understand that your husband has been charged by General
Simon with an affair of very great importance. Will you, as soon as your
husband arrives in Paris, request him to come to my office at Chartres
without a moment's delay. I am instructed to deliver to himself, and
to no other person, some documents indispensable to the interests of
General Simon.

"DURAND, Notary at Chartres."

Dagobert looked at his son with astonishment, and said to him, "Who can
have told this gentleman already of my arrival in Paris?"

"Perhaps, father," said Agricola, "this is the notary to whom you
transmitted some papers, and whose address you have lost."

"But his name was not Durand; and I distinctly recollect that his
address was Paris, not Chartres. And, besides," said the soldier,
thoughtfully, "if he has some important documents, why didn't he
transmit them to me?"

"It seems to me that you ought not to neglect going to him as soon as
possible," said Agricola, secretly rejoiced that this circumstance
would withdraw his father for about two days, during which time his
(Agricola's) fate would be decided in one way or other.

"Your counsel is good," replied his father.

"This thwarts your intentions in some degree?" asked Gabriel.

"Rather, my lads; for I counted upon passing the day with you. However,
'duty before everything.' Having come happily from Siberia to Paris,
it is not for me to fear a journey from Paris to Chartres, when it is
required on an affair o