ere trifle to the police), this treacherous friend agreed
to insert into the pamphlet three or four phrases which exposed it
to seizure and caused its author to be summoned before the court
of assizes. Now the way to make the explanation clinch the doubt in
Thuillier's mind is to let him know that the next day la Peyrade, who,
as Thuillier knew, hadn't a sou, paid Dutocq precisely that very sum of
twenty-five thousand francs."

"The devil!" cried Cerizet, "it isn't a bad trick. Fellows of the
Thuillier species will believe anything against the police."

"We shall see, then," continued du Portail, "whether Thuillier will want
to keep such a collaborator beside him, and above all, whether he will
be so eager to give him his goddaughter."

"You are a strong man, monsieur," said Cerizet, again expressing his
approbation; "but I must own that I feel some scruples at the part
assigned me. La Peyrade came and offered me the management of the paper,
and, you see, I should be working to evict him."

"And that lease he knocked you out of in spite of his promises, have you
forgotten that?" asked the little old man. "Besides, are we not aiming
for his happiness, though the obstinate fellow persists in thwarting our
benevolent intentions?"

"It is true," said Cerizet, "that the result will absolve me. Yes, I'll
go resolutely along the ingenious path you've traced out for me. But
there's one thing more: I can't fling my revelation at Thuillier's head
at the very first; I must have time to prepare the way for it, but that
security will have to be paid in immediately."

"Listen to me, Monsieur Cerizet," said du Portail, in a tone of
authority; "if the marriage of la Peyrade to my ward takes place it is
my intention to reward your services, and the sum of thirty thousand
francs will be your perquisite. Now, thirty thousand from one side and
twenty-five thousand from the other makes precisely fifty-five thousand
francs that the matrimonial vicissitudes of your friend la Peyrade will
have put into your pocket. But, as country people do at the shows of
a fair, I shall not pay till I come out. If you take that money out of
your own hoard I shall feel no anxiety; you will know how to keep it
from the clutches of your creditors. If, on the contrary, my money is
at stake, you will have neither the same eagerness nor the same
intelligence in keeping it out of danger. Therefore arrange your affairs
so that you can pay down your own thirty-