thout him, and he can follow us."

So saying, the old maid gave two little sharp and very imperious raps on
the door, after which she resolutely entered the study.

La Peyrade, goaded by anxiety, had the bad taste to look through
the keyhole himself at what was happening. Instantly he thought
he recognized the small old man he had seen under the name of "the
commander" on that memorable morning when he had waited for Madame de
Godollo. Then he saw Thuillier addressing his sister with impatience
and with gestures of authority altogether out of his usual habits of
deference and submission.

"It seems," said Brigitte, re-entering the salon, "that Thuillier finds
some great interest in that creature's talk, for he ordered me bluntly
to leave them, though the little old fellow did say, rather civilly,
that they would soon be through. But Jerome added: '_Mind_, you are to
wait for me.' Really, since he has taken to making newspapers I don't
know him; he has set up an air as if he were leading the world with his
wand."

"I am very much afraid he is being entangled by some adventurer," said
la Peyrade. "I am pretty sure I saw that old man at Madame de Godollo's
the day I went to warn her off the premises; he must be of the same
stripe."

"Why didn't you tell me?" cried Brigitte. "I'd have asked him for news
of the countess, and let him see we knew what we knew of his Hungarian."

Just then the sound of moving chairs was heard, and Brigitte darted back
to the keyhole.

"Yes," she said, "he is really going, and Thuillier is bowing him out
respectfully!"

As Thuillier did not immediately return, Colleville had time to go to
the window and exclaim at seeing the little old gentleman driving away
in an elegant coupe, of which the reader has already heard.

"The deuce!" cried Colleville; "what an ornate livery! If he is an
adventurer he is a number one."

At last Thuillier re-entered the room, his face full of care, his manner
extremely grave.

"My dear la Peyrade," he said, "you did not tell us that another
proposal of marriage had been seriously considered by you."

"Yes, I did; I told you that a very rich heiress had been offered to
me, but that my inclinations were here, and that I had not given any
encouragement to the affair; consequently, of course, there was no
serious engagement."

"Well, I think you do wrong to treat that proposal so lightly."

"What! do you mean to say, in presence of these ladies, that yo