grateful to her; but is that any reason why I should be false to you,
who have done us still greater services?"

"But you must admit," said la Peyrade, craftily, "that she has told you
a great deal of harm of me."

"Naturally she has; these fine ladies are all that way; they expect the
whole world to adore them, and she sees that you are thinking only of
Celeste; but all she has said to me against you runs off my mind like
water from varnished cloth."

"So, then, little aunt, I may continue to count on you?" persisted la
Peyrade.

"Yes; provided you are not tormenting, and will let me manage this
affair."

"Tell me how you are going to do it?" asked la Peyrade, with an air of
great good-humor.

"In the first place, I shall signify to Felix that he is not to set foot
in this house again."

"Is that possible?" said the barrister; "I mean can it be done civilly?"

"Very possible; I shall make Phellion himself tell him. He's a man who
is always astride of principles, and he'll be the first to see that if
his son will not do what is necessary to obtain Celeste's hand he ought
to deprive us of his presence."

"What next?" asked la Peyrade.

"Next, I shall signify to Celeste that she was left at liberty to choose
one husband or the other, and as she did not choose Felix she must make
up her mind to take you, a pious fellow, such as she wants. You needn't
be uneasy; I'll sing your praises, especially your generosity in not
profiting by the arrangement she agreed to make to-day. But all that
will take a week at least, and if Thuillier's pamphlet isn't out before
then, I don't know but what we shall have to put him in a lunatic
asylum."

"The pamphlet can be out in two days. But is it very certain, little
aunt, that we are playing above-board? Mountains, as they say, never
meet, but men do; and certainly, when the time comes to promote the
election, I can do Thuillier either good or bad service. Do you know,
the other day I was terribly frightened. I had a letter from him in
my pocket, in which he spoke of the pamphlet as being written by me. I
fancied for a moment that I had dropped it in the Luxembourg. If I had,
what a scandal it would have caused in the quarter."

"Who would dare to play tricks with such a wily one as you?" said
Brigitte, fully comprehending the comminatory nature of la Peyrade's
last words, interpolated into the conversation without rhyme or reason.
"But really," she added, "why should you co