eking victims; he never
believes in the innocence of an accused person. This thoroughbred
prosecutor is held to be one of the most amiable men on the circuit;
and he is no less liked in Paris and in the Chamber; at court he is a
charming courtier.

According to a certain promise made by Vinet, General Baron Gouraud,
that noble relic of our glorious armies, married a Mademoiselle Matifat,
twenty-five years old, daughter of a druggist in the rue des Lombards,
whose dowry was a hundred thousand francs. He commands (as Vinet
prophesied) a department in the neighborhood of Paris. He was named
peer of France for his conduct in the riots which occurred during the
ministry of Casimir Perier. Baron Gouraud was one of the generals
who took the church of Saint-Merry, delighted to rap those rascally
civilians who had vexed him for years over the knuckles; for which
service he was rewarded with the grand cordon of the Legion of honor.

None of the personages connected with Pierrette's death ever felt
the slightest remorse about it. Monsieur Desfondrilles is still
archaeological, but, in order to compass his own election, the
_procureur general_ Vinet took pains to have him appointed president of
the Provins court. Sylvie has a little circle, and manages her brother's
property; she lends her own money at high interest, and does not spend
more than twelve hundred francs a year.

From time to time, when some former son or daughter of Provins returns
from Paris to settle down, you may hear them ask, as they leave
Mademoiselle Rogron's house, "Wasn't there a painful story against the
Rogrons,--something about a ward?"

"Mere prejudice," replies Monsieur Desfondrilles. "Certain persons tried
to make us believe falsehoods. Out of kindness of heart the Rogrons took
in a girl named Pierrette, quite pretty but with no money. Just as she
was growing up she had an intrigue with a young man, and stood at her
window barefooted talking to him. The lovers passed notes to each other
by a string. She took cold in this way and died, having no constitution.
The Rogrons behaved admirably. They made no claim on certain property
which was to come to her,--they gave it all up to the grandmother. The
moral of it was, my good friend, that the devil punishes those who try
to benefit others."

"Ah! that is quite another story from the one old Frappier told me."

"Frappier consults his wine-cellar more than he does his memory,"
remarked another of Mademo