when the
trial came up he would be treated without mercy. Then, as always happens
among accomplices after the non-success of an affair they have done in
common, he turned upon la Peyrade in the sharpest manner: La Peyrade
had paid no attention to what he wrote; he had given full swing to his
stupid Saint-Simonian ideas; _he_ didn't care for the consequences; it
was not _he_ who would have to pay the fine and go to prison! Then, when
la Peyrade answered that the matter did not look to him serious, and
he expected to get a verdict of acquittal without difficulty, Thuillier
burst forth upon him, vehemently:--

"Parbleu! the thing is plain enough; monsieur sees nothing in it? Well,
I shall not put my honor and my fortune into the hands of a little
upstart like yourself; I shall take some great lawyer if the case comes
to trial. I've had enough of your collaboration by this time."

Under the injustice of these remarks la Peyrade felt his anger rising.
However, he saw himself disarmed, and not wishing to come to an open
rupture, he parted from Thuillier, saying that he forgave a man excited
by fear, and would go to see him later in the afternoon, when he would
probably be calmer; they could then decide on what steps they had better
take.

Accordingly, about four o'clock, the Provencal arrived at the house
in the Place de la Madeleine. Thuillier's irritation was quieted, but
frightful consternation had taken its place. If the executioner were
coming in half an hour to lead him to the scaffold he could not have
been more utterly unstrung and woe-begone. When la Peyrade entered
Madame Thuillier was trying to make him take an infusion of
linden-leaves. The poor woman had come out of her usual apathy, and
proved herself, beside the present Sabinus, another Eponina.

As for Brigitte, who presently appeared, bearing a foot-bath, she had
no mercy or restraint towards Theodose; her sharp and bitter reproaches,
which were out of all proportion to the fault, even supposing him
to have committed one would have driven a man of the most placid
temperament beside himself. La Peyrade felt that all was lost to him
in the Thuillier household, where they now seemed to seize with joy the
occasion to break their word to him and to give free rein to revolting
ingratitude. On an ironical allusion by Brigitte to the manner in which
he decorated his friends, la Peyrade rose and took leave, without any
effort being made to retain him.

After wal