ice.
It is what I tell him all the time: 'Imitate Monsieur Godeschal; listen
to what he tells you.'"

"He'll go all right, madame," interposed Godeschal, "but he mustn't
commit any more blunders like one he was guilty of last night, or he'll
lose the confidence of the master. Monsieur Desroches won't stand any
one not succeeding in what he tells them to do. He ordered your son,
for a first employment in his new clerkship, to get a copy of a judgment
which ought to have been served last evening, and Oscar, instead of
doing so, allowed himself to be fooled. The master was furious. It's a
chance if I have been able to repair the mischief by going this morning,
at six o'clock, to see the head-clerk at the Palais, who has promised me
to have a copy ready by seven o'clock to-morrow morning."

"Ah, Godeschal!" cried Oscar, going up to him and pressing his hand.
"You are, indeed, a true friend."

"Ah, monsieur!" said Madame Clapart, "a mother is happy, indeed,
in knowing that her son has a friend like you; you may rely upon a
gratitude which can end only with my life. Oscar, one thing I want to
say to you now. Distrust that Georges Marest. I wish you had never met
him again, for he was the cause of your first great misfortune in life."

"Was he? How so?" asked Godeschal.

The too devoted mother explained succinctly the adventure of her poor
Oscar in Pierrotin's coucou.

"I am certain," said Godeschal, "that that blagueur is preparing some
trick against us for this evening. As for me, I can't go to the Marquise
de las Florentinas' party, for my sister wants me to draw up the terms
of her new engagement; I shall have to leave after the dessert. But,
Oscar, be on your guard. They will ask you to play, and, of course, the
Desroches office mustn't draw back; but be careful. You shall play for
both of us; here's a hundred francs," said the good fellow, knowing that
Oscar's purse was dry from the demands of his tailor and bootmaker. "Be
prudent; remember not to play beyond that sum; and don't let yourself
get tipsy, either with play or libations. Saperlotte! a second clerk is
already a man of weight, and shouldn't gamble on notes, or go beyond a
certain limit in anything. His business is to get himself admitted
to the bar. Therefore don't drink too much, don't play too long, and
maintain a proper dignity,--that's your rule of conduct. Above all, get
home by midnight; for, remember, you must be at the Palais to-morrow
morning by