e handed them to his protege, who
took his departure with many protestations of gratitude.

M. Marin attended to some business and then went home, passed the day
quietly, slept well, woke in a good humor and sent for his newspapers.

The first he opened was a radical sheet. He read:

"OUR CLERGY AND OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

"We shall never make an end of enumerating the misdeeds of the clergy. A
certain priest, named Ceinture, convicted of conspiracy against the
present government, accused of base actions to which we will not even
allude, suspected besides of being a former Jesuit, metamorphosed into a
simple priest, suspended by a bishop for causes that are said to be
unmentionable and summoned to Paris to give an explanation of his
conduct, has found an ardent defender in the man named Marin, a
councillor of state, who was not afraid to give this frocked malefactor
the warmest letters of recommendation to all the republican officials,
his colleagues.

"We call the, attention of the ministry to the unheard of attitude of
this councillor of state----"

M. Marin bounded out of bed, dressed himself and hastened to his
colleague, Petitpas, who said to him:

"How now? You were crazy to recommend to me that old conspirator!"

M. Marin, bewildered, stammered out:

"Why no--you see--I was deceived. He looked such an honest man.
He played me a trick--a disgraceful trick! I beg that you will
sentence him severely, very severely. I am going to write. Tell me to
whom I should write about having him punished. I will go and see the
attorney-general and the archbishop of Paris--yes, the archbishop."

And seating himself abruptly at M. Petitpas' desk, he wrote:

"Monseigneur, I have the honor to bring to your grace's notice the fact
that I have recently been made a victim of the intrigues and lies of a
certain Abbe Ceinture, who imposed on my kind-heartedness.

"Deceived by the representations of this ecclesiastic, I was
led----"

Then, having signed and sealed his letter, he turned to his colleague and
exclaimed:

"See here; my dear friend, let this be a warning to you never to
recommend any one again."

THE DOOR

"Bah!" exclaimed Karl Massouligny, "the question of complaisant husbands
is a difficult one. I have seen many kinds, and yet I am unable to give
an opinion about any of them. I have often tried to determine whether
they are blind, weak or clairvoyant. I believe that there are some which
belong