appened
to the first speaker, who, on account of nearsightedness, had shot a
cow, taking it for a buck. The laugh, which had been at the notary's
expense first, now turned against his adversary.

"How many pairs of boots did you get out of your game?" asked one.

"Gentlemen, let us return to our conversation," said a young man, whose
precise face aspired to an austere and imposing air. "Up to this time,
we can form only very vague conjectures as to the road that Lambernier
took to escape. This, allow me to say, is more important than the
notary's hare or Monsieur de Carrier's cow."

At these words, Bergenheim, who had taken no part in the conversation,
straightened up in his chair.

"A glass of Sauterne," said he, suddenly, to one of his neighbors.

Gerfaut looked at him stealthily for a moment, and then lowered his
eyes, as if he feared his glance might be noticed.

"The public prosecutor scents a culprit, and there is no fear he will
drop the trail," said the notary.

"The case will doubtless come up at the next session of the Assizes."

M. de Carrier put his glass, which was half filled, upon the table,
angrily exclaiming:

"The devil take the jury! I am called to the next session, and I will
wager my head that I shall be drawn. How agreeable that will be! To
leave my home and business in the middle of winter and spend a fortnight
with a lot of fellows whom I do not know from Adam! That is one of the
agreeable things supplied by constitutional government. The French have
to be judged by their peers! Of what use is it to pay for judges if we,
land-owners, are obliged to do their work. The old parliaments, against
which so much has been said, were a thousand times better than all this
bedlam let loose in a court of assizes."

Marillac, who during this speech was amusing himself with singing his
low "G" while peeling an apple, interrupted his song, to the great
relief of a hound who lay at his feet, and whose nerves seemed to be
singularly affected by the strain.

"Monsieur de Carrier," said he, "you are a large landowner, an eligible
citizen and a Carlist; you fast on Fridays, go to mass in your parish,
and occasionally kill cows for bucks; I esteem and respect you;
but allow me to say that you have just uttered an old, antediluvian
platitude."

"Gentlemen," said the public prosecutor, punctuating each word with
his first finger, "I have the greatest respect for the old parliaments,
those worthy models o