oth sides. The Rogron
salon was crowded. Vinet had stirred up the whole Liberal party on the
subject. The Chargeboeuf ladies dined with the Rogrons, for the contract
was to be signed that evening. Vinet had had the banns posted at the
mayor's office in the afternoon. He made light of the Pierrette affair.
If the Provins court was prejudiced, the Royal courts would appreciate
the facts, he said, and the Auffrays would think twice before they
flung themselves into such a suit. The alliance of the Rogrons with
the Chargeboeufs was an immense consideration in the minds of a certain
class of people. To them it made the Rogrons as white as snow and
Pierrette an evilly disposed little girl, a serpent warmed in their
bosom.

In Madame Tiphaine's salon vengeance was had for all the mischievous
scandals that the Vinet party had disseminated for the past two years.
The Rogrons were monsters, and the guardian should undergo a criminal
trial. In the Lower town, Pierrette was quite well; in the Upper town
she was dying; at the Rogrons' she scratched her wrist; at Madame
Tiphaine's her fingers were fractured and one was to be cut off. The
next day the "Courrier de Provins," had a plausible article, extremely
well-written, a masterpiece of insinuations mixed with legal points,
which showed that there was no case whatever against Rogron. The
"Bee-hive," which did not appear till two days later, could not answer
without becoming defamatory; it replied, however, that in an affair like
this it was best to wait until the law took its course.

The Family Council was selected by the _juge de paix_ of the canton
of Provins, and consisted of Rogron and the two Messieurs Auffray, the
nearest relatives, and Monsieur Ciprey, nephew of Pierrette's maternal
grandmother. To these were joined Monsieur Habert, Pierrette's
confessor, and Colonel Gouraud, who had always professed himself a
comrade and friend of her father, Colonel Lorrain. The impartiality of
the judge in these selections was much applauded,--Monsieur Habert and
Colonel Gouraud being considered the firm friends of the Rogrons.

The serious situation in which Rogron found himself made him ask for the
assistance of a lawyer (and he named Vinet) at the Family Council. By
this manoeuvre, evidently advised by Vinet himself, Rogron succeeded in
postponing the meeting of the council till the end of December. At that
time Monsieur Tiphaine and his wife would be settled in Paris for the
openin