ket and brought out the
purse containing the five hundred francs, which he had forgotten in his
agitation. Five hundred francs! What a fortune! He poured the gold pieces
out on the counter and spread them out with his big hand with a slow,
caressing touch so as to see them all at the same time. There were
twenty-five, twenty-five round gold pieces, all gold! They glistened on
the wood in the dim light and he counted them over and over, one by one.
Then he put them back in the purse, which he replaced in his pocket.

Who will ever know or who can tell what a terrible conflict took place in
the soul of the "Rosier" between good and evil, the tumultuous attack of
Satan, his artifices, the temptations which he offered to this timid
virgin heart? What suggestions, what imaginations, what desires were not
invented by the evil one to excite and destroy this chosen one? He seized
his hat, Mme. Husson's saint, his hat, which still bore the little bunch
of orange blossoms, and going out through the alley at the back of the
house, he disappeared in the darkness.

Virginie, the fruiterer, on learning that her son had returned, went home
at once, and found the house empty. She waited, without thinking anything
about it at first; but at the end of a quarter of an hour she made
inquiries. The neighbors had seen Isidore come home and had not seen him
go out again. They began to look for him, but could not find him. His
mother, in alarm, went to the mayor. The mayor knew nothing, except that
he had left him at the door of his home. Mme. Husson had just retired
when they informed her that her protege had disappeared. She immediately
put on her wig, dressed herself and went to Virginie's house. Virginie,
whose plebeian soul was readily moved, was weeping copiously amid her
cabbages, carrots and onions.

They feared some accident had befallen him. What could it be? Commandant
Desbarres notified the police, who made a circuit of the town, and on the
high road to Pontoise they found the little bunch of orange blossoms. It
was placed on a table around which the authorities were deliberating. The
"Rosier" must have been the victim of some stratagem, some trick, some
jealousy; but in what way? What means had been employed to kidnap this
innocent creature, and with what object?

Weary of looking for him without any result, Virginie, alone, remained
watching and weeping.

The following evening, when the coach passed by on its return from Pari