a lawyer," I answered; "but it seems to me that, supposing I
do not feel honored by this recognition, it does not wholly depend on me
to decline it."

"Pardon me," replied Jacques Bricheteau; "under the circumstances
you could, if you chose, legally contest the paternity. I will also
add,--and in doing so I am sure that I express the intentions of your
father,--if you think that a man who has already spent half a million on
furthering your career is not a desirable father, we leave you free to
follow your own course, and shall not insist in any way."

"Precisely, precisely," said Monsieur de Sallenauve, uttering that
affirmation with the curt intonation and shrill voice peculiar to the
relics of the old aristocracy.

Politeness, to say the least, forced me to accept the paternity thus
offered to me. To the few words I uttered to that effect, Jacques
Bricheteau replied gaily:--

"We certainly do not intend to make you buy a father in a poke.
Monsieur le marquis is desirous of laying before you all title-deeds and
documents of every kind of which he is the present holder. Moreover, as
he has been so long absent from this country, he intends to prove his
identity by several of his contemporaries who are still living. For
instance, among the honorable personages who have already recognized
him I may mention the worthy superior of the Ursuline convent, Mother
Marie-des-Anges, for whom, by the bye, you have done a masterpiece."

"Faith, yes," said the marquis, "a pretty thing, and if you turn out as
well in politics--"

"Well, marquis," interrupted Jacques Bricheteau, who seemed to me
inclined to manage the affair, "are you ready to proceed with our young
friend to the verification of the documents?"

"That is unnecessary," I remarked, and did not think that by this
refusal I pledged my faith too much; for, after all, what signify papers
in the hands of a man who might have forged them or stolen them? But my
father would not consent; and for more than two hours they spread before
me parchments, genealogical trees, contracts, patents, documents of all
kinds, from which it appeared that the family of Sallenauve is, after
that of Cinq-Cygne, the most ancient family in the department of
the Aube. I ought to add that the exhibition of these archives was
accompanied by an infinite number of spoken details which seemed to make
the identity of the Marquis de Sallenauve indisputable. On all other
subjects my father is laconic;