hat she stands in, I
should be satisfied; do you understand that? I love her enough to
prefer her to Mademoiselle Fichet,--if Mademoiselle Fichet would have
me."

Mademoiselle Fichet was the richest heiress in Issoudun, and the hand
of the daughter counted for much in the reported passion of the
younger Goddet for the mother. Frankness of speech is a pearl of such
price that all the Knights rose to their feet as one man.

"You are a fine fellow, Max!"

"Well said, Max; we'll stand by you!"

"A fig for the Bridaus!"

"We'll bridle them!"

"After all, it is only three swains to a shepherdess."

"The deuce! Pere Lousteau loved Madame Rouget; isn't it better to love
a housekeeper who is not yoked?"

"If the defunct Rouget was Max's father, the affair is in the family."

"Liberty of opinion now-a-days!"

"Hurrah for Max!"

"Down with all hypocrites!"

"Here's a health to the beautiful Flore!"

Such were the eleven responses, acclamations, and toasts shouted forth
by the Knights of Idleness, and characteristic, we may remark, of
their excessively relaxed morality. It is now easy to see what
interest Max had in becoming their grand master. By leading the young
men of the best families in their follies and amusements, and by doing
them services, he meant to create a support for himself when the day
for recovering his position came. He rose gracefully and waved his
glass of claret, while all the others waited eagerly for the coming
allocution.

"As a mark of the ill-will I bear you, I wish you all a mistress who
is equal to the beautiful Flore! As to this irruption of relations, I
don't feel any present uneasiness; and as to the future, we'll see
what comes--"

"Don't let us forget Fario's cart!"

"Hang it! that's safe enough!" said Goddet.

"Oh! I'll engage to settle that business," cried Max. "Be in the
market-place early, all of you, and let me know when the old fellow
goes for his cart."

It was striking half-past three in the morning as the Knights slipped
out in silence to go to their homes; gliding close to the walls of the
houses without making the least noise, shod as they were in list
shoes. Max slowly returned to the place Saint-Jean, situated in the
upper part of the town, between the port Saint-Jean and the port
Vilatte, the quarter of the rich bourgeoisie. Maxence Gilet had
concealed his fears, but the news had struck home. His experience on
the hulks at Cabrera had taught him a dissimulat