irst course next November. The
great work on which he has been engaged for so long will be published
this month by the firm of Cavalier and Co., who agree to share the
profits with my father; they have already paid him on account thirty
thousand francs. My father bought our house with that money. The
minister of justice has awarded me a pension of twelve hundred francs
as the daughter of a former judge; my father has his retiring pension of
three thousand, and his professorship will give him five thousand more.
We are so economical that we are almost rich. My dear Auguste will begin
his law studies in two months; but he is already employed in the office
of the attorney-general, and is earning twelve hundred francs a year.
Ah! Monsieur Godefroid, promise me you will never speak of that unhappy
affair of my poor Auguste. As for me, I bless him every day for his
action, though his grandfather has not yet forgiven him. Yes, his mother
blesses him, Halpersohn adores him, but my father is implacable!"

"What affair?" asked Godefroid.

"Ah! I recognize your generosity," cried Vanda. "What a heart you have!
Your mother must be proud of you."

She stopped as if a pain had struck her heart.

"I swear to you that I know nothing of the affair of which you speak,"
said Godefroid.

"It is possible that you really did not know it?" said Vanda. And she
related naively, in terms of admiration for her son, the story of the
loan that he had secured from the doctor.

"We may not speak of it before Baron Bourlac," said Godefroid, "tell me
now how your son got out of his trouble."

"Well," said Vanda, "I told you, I think, that he is now employed by the
attorney-general, who shows him the greatest kindness. Auguste was
only forty-eight hours in the Conciergerie, where he was put into the
governor's house. The good doctor, who did not receive a noble letter
the boy wrote him till late at night, withdrew his complaint; and,
through the influence of a former judge of the Royal Courts, whom my
father has never been able to meet, the attorney-general was induced to
annul the proceedings in the court. There is no trace left of the
affair except in my heart and my son's conscience, and alas! in his
grandfather's mind. From that day he has treated Auguste as almost a
stranger. Only yesterday Halpersohn begged him to forgive the boy; but
my father, who never before refused me anything--me, whom he loves so
well!--replied: 'You are the person