the old soldier tried
the experiment which he expected would be so decisive. The ill-success
of his past efforts so stimulated Dumay's sense of duty, that he
determined not to go to Paris to see after his own fortune as announced
by his patron, until he had guessed the riddle of Modeste's heart. These
friends, to whom feelings were more precious than interests, well knew
that unless the daughter were pure and innocent, the father would die of
grief when he came to know the death of Bettina and the blindness of
his wife. The distress of poor Dumay made such an impression on the
Latournelles that they even forgot their parting with Exupere, whom they
had sent off that morning to Paris. During dinner, while the three were
alone, Monsieur and Madame Latournelle and Butscha turned the problem
over and over in their minds, and discussed every aspect of it.

"If Modeste loved any one in Havre she would have shown some fear
yesterday," said Madame Latournelle; "her lover, therefore, lives
somewhere else."

"She swore to her mother this morning," said the notary, "in presence
of Dumay, that she had not exchanged a look or a word with any living
soul."

"Then she loves after my fashion!" exclaimed Butscha.

"And how is that, my poor lad?" asked Madame Latournelle.

"Madame," said the little cripple, "I love alone and afar--oh! as far as
from here to the stars."

"How do you manage it, you silly fellow?" said Madame Latournelle,
laughing.

"Ah, madame!" said Butscha, "what you call my hump is the socket of my
wings."

"So that is the explanation of your seal, is it?" cried the notary.

Butscha's seal was a star, and under it the words "Fulgens,
sequar,"--"Shining One, I follow thee,"--the motto of the house of
Chastillonest.

"A beautiful woman may feel as distrustful as the ugliest," said
Butscha, as if speaking to himself; "Modeste is clever enough to fear
she may be loved only for her beauty."

Hunchbacks are extraordinary creations, due entirely to society for,
according to Nature's plan, feeble or aborted beings ought to perish.
The curvature or distortion of the spinal column creates in these
outwardly deformed subjects as it were a storage-battery, where
the nerve currents accumulate more abundantly than under normal
conditions,--where they develop, and whence they are emitted, so to say,
in lightning flashes, to energize the interior being. From this, forces
result which are sometimes brought to light by ma