it."

She tried to take it from him, terrified and hardly able to say:

"Listen--listen! Give it to me! I must not tell you! It is a secret.
Listen to me!"

But he grew angry and turned pale.

"I want to know how this overcoat comes to be here? It does not belong to
me."

Then she almost screamed at him:

"Yes, it does; listen! Swear to me--well--you are decorated!"

She did not intend to joke at his expense.

He was so overcome that he let the overcoat fall and dropped into an
armchair.

"I am--you say I am--decorated?"

"Yes, but it is a secret, a great secret."

She had put the glorious garment into a cupboard, and came to her husband
pale and trembling.

"Yes," she continued, "it is a new overcoat that I have had made for you.
But I swore that I would not tell you anything about it, as it will not
be officially announced for a month or six weeks, and you were not to
have known till your return from your business journey. M. Rosselin
managed it for you."

"Rosselin!" he contrived to utter in his joy. "He has obtained the
decoration for me? He--Oh!"

And he was obliged to drink a glass of water.

A little piece of white paper fell to the floor out of the pocket of the
overcoat. Caillard picked it up; it was a visiting card, and he read out:

"Rosselin-Deputy."

"You see how it is," said his wife.

He almost cried with joy, and, a week later, it was announced in the
Journal Officiel that M. Caillard had been awarded the Legion of Honor on
account of his exceptional services.

THE TEST

The Bondels were a happy family, and although they frequently quarrelled
about trifles, they soon became friends again.

Bondel was a merchant who had retired from active business after saving
enough to allow him to live quietly; he had rented a little house at
Saint-Germain and lived there with his wife. He was a quiet man with very
decided opinions; he had a certain degree of education and read serious
newspapers; nevertheless, he appreciated the gaulois wit. Endowed with a
logical mind, and that practical common sense which is the master quality
of the industrial French bourgeois, he thought little, but clearly, and
reached a decision only after careful consideration of the matter in
hand. He was of medium size, with a distinguished look, and was beginning
to turn gray.

His wife, who was full of serious qualities, had also several faults. She
had a quick temper and a frankness that bordered upon v