with her where's the harm?"

After this merited snub, Francois could not at once catch up the
thread of his ideas; but he was still less able to do so when Max said
to him, gently,--

"Go on."

"Faith, no!" cried Francois.

"You needn't get angry, Max," said young Goddet; "didn't we agree to
talk freely to each other at Mere Cognette's? Shouldn't we all be
mortal enemies if we remembered outside what is said, or thought, or
done here? All the town calls Flore Brazier the Rabouilleuse; and if
Francois did happen to let the nickname slip out, is that a crime
against the Order of Idleness?"

"No," said Max, "but against our personal friendship. However, I
thought better of it; I recollected we were in session, and that was
why I said, 'Go on.'"

A deep silence followed. The pause became so embarrassing for the
whole company that Max broke it by exclaiming:--

"I'll go on for him," [sensation] "--for all of you," [amazement]
"--and tell you what you are thinking" [profound sensation]. "You
think that Flore, the Rabouilleuse, La Brazier, the housekeeper of
Pere Rouget,--for they call him so, that old bachelor, who can never
have any children!--you think, I say, that that woman supplies all my
wants ever since I came back to Issoudun. If I am able to throw three
hundred francs a month to the dogs, and treat you to suppers,--as I do
to-night,--and lend money to all of you, you think I get the gold out
of Mademoiselle Flore Brazier's purse? Well, yes" [profound
sensation]. "Yes, ten thousand times yes! Yes, Mademoiselle Brazier is
aiming straight for the old man's property."

"She gets it from father to son," observed Goddet, in his corner.

"You think," continued Max, smiling at Goddet's speech, "that I intend
to marry Flore when Pere Rouget dies, and so this sister and her son,
of whom I hear to-night for the first time, will endanger my future?"

"That's just it," cried Francois.

"That is what every one thinks who is sitting round this table," said
Baruch.

"Well, don't be uneasy, friends," answered Max. "Forewarned is
forearmed! Now then, I address the Knights of Idleness. If, to get rid
of these Parisians I need the help of the Order, will you lend me a
hand? Oh! within the limits we have marked out for our fooleries," he
added hastily, perceiving a general hesitation. "Do you suppose I want
to kill them,--poison them? Thank God I'm not an idiot. Besides, if
the Bridaus succeed, and Flore has nothing but w