; "you go
round and round the pot as if I were a man it would do you some good to
finesse with."

"You remember," said Cerizet, coming out with it, "that some time ago
Dutocq and I were much puzzled to know how la Peyrade was, all of a
sudden, able to make that payment of twenty-five thousand francs?"

"Ha!" said the old man quickly, "have you discovered the origin of that
very improbable sum in our friend's hands; and is that origin shady?"

"You shall judge," said Cerizet.

And he related in all its details the affair of Madame Lambert,--adding,
however, that on questioning the woman closely at the office of the
justice-of-peace, after the meeting with la Peyrade, he had been unable
to extract from her any confession, although by her whole bearing she
had amply confirmed the suspicions of Dutocq and himself.

"Madame Lambert, rue du Val-de-Grace, No. 9; at the house of Monsieur
Picot, professor of mathematics," said du Portail, as he made a note of
the information. "Very good," he added; "come back and see me to-morrow,
my dear Monsieur Cerizet."

"But please remark," said the usurer, "that I must give an answer to
la Peyrade in the course of to-day. He is in a great hurry to start the
business."

"Very well; you must accept, asking a delay of twenty-four hours to
obtain your security. If, after making certain inquiries I see it is
more to my interests not to meddle in the affair, you can get out of it
by merely breaking your word; you can't be sent to the court of assizes
for that."

Independently of a sort of inexplicable fascination which du Portail
exercised over his agent, he never lost an opportunity to remind him of
the very questionable point of departure of their intercourse.

The next day Cerizet returned.

"You guessed right," said du Portail. "That woman Lambert, being obliged
to conceal the existence of her booty, and wanting to draw interest
on her stolen property, must have taken it into her head to consult
la Peyrade; his devout exterior may have recommended him to her. She
probably gave him that money without taking a receipt. In what kind of
money was Dutocq paid?"

"In nineteen thousand-franc notes, and twelve of five-hundred francs."

"That's precisely it," said du Portail. "There can't be the slightest
doubt left. Now, what use do you expect to make of this information
bearing upon Thuillier."

"I expect to put it into his head that la Peyrade, to whom he is going
to give his godd