ble, insisted on leaving the family, went from
paroxysm to paroxysm of tears; and it was only after Anastasie had been
closeted for an hour with him, alone, that she came forth, sought out the
Doctor, and, with tears in her eyes, acquainted that gentleman with what
had passed.

'At first, my husband, he would hear of nothing,' she said. 'Imagine! if
he had left us! what would the treasure be to that? Horrible treasure,
it has brought all this about! At last, after he has sobbed his very
heart out, he agrees to stay on a condition--we are not to mention this
matter, this infamous suspicion, not even to mention the robbery. On
that agreement only, the poor, cruel boy will consent to remain among his
friends.'

'But this inhibition,' said the Doctor, 'this embargo--it cannot possibly
apply to me?'

'To all of us,' Anastasie assured him.

'My cherished one,' Desprez protested, 'you must have misunderstood. It
cannot apply to me. He would naturally come to me.'

'Henri,' she said, 'it does; I swear to you it does.'

'This is a painful, a very painful circumstance,' the Doctor said,
looking a little black. 'I cannot affect, Anastasie, to be anything but
justly wounded. I feel this, I feel it, my wife, acutely.'

'I knew you would,' she said. 'But if you had seen his distress! We
must make allowances, we must sacrifice our feelings.'

'I trust, my dear, you have never found me averse to sacrifices,'
returned the Doctor very stiffly.

'And you will let me go and tell him that you have agreed? It will be
like your noble nature,' she cried.

So it would, he perceived--it would be like his noble nature! Up jumped
his spirits, triumphant at the thought. 'Go, darling,' he said nobly,
'reassure him. The subject is buried; more--I make an effort, I have
accustomed my will to these exertions--and it is forgotten.'

A little after, but still with swollen eyes and looking mortally
sheepish, Jean-Marie reappeared and went ostentatiously about his
business. He was the only unhappy member of the party that sat down that
night to supper. As for the Doctor, he was radiant. He thus sang the
requiem of the treasure:--

'This has been, on the whole, a most amusing episode,' he said. 'We are
not a penny the worse--nay, we are immensely gainers. Our philosophy has
been exercised; some of the turtle is still left--the most wholesome of
delicacies; I have my staff, Anastasie has her new dress, Jean-Marie is
the prou