e police, who made a circuit of the town, and
on the high road to Pontoise they found the little bunch of orange
blossoms. It was placed on a table around which the authorities were
deliberating. The "Rosier" must have been the victim of some stratagem,
some trick, some jealousy; but in what way? What means had been employed
to kidnap this innocent creature, and with what object?

Weary of looking for him without any result, Virginie, alone, remained
watching and weeping.

The following evening, when the coach passed by on its return from
Paris, Gisors learned with astonishment that its "Rosier" had stopped
the vehicle at a distance of about two hundred metres from the town,
had climbed up on it and paid his fare, handing over a gold piece and
receiving the change, and that he had quietly alighted in the centre of
the great city.

There was great excitement all through the countryside. Letters passed
between the mayor and the chief of police in Paris, but brought no
result.

The days followed one another, a week passed.

Now, one morning, Dr. Barbesol, who had gone out early, perceived,
sitting on a doorstep, a man dressed in a grimy linen suit, who was
sleeping with his head leaning against the wall. He approached him and
recognized Isidore. He tried to rouse him, but did not succeed in doing
so. The ex-"Rosier" was in that profound, invincible sleep that is
alarming, and the doctor, in surprise, went to seek assistance to help
him in carrying the young man to Boncheval's drugstore. When they lifted
him up they found an empty bottle under him, and when the doctor sniffed
at it, he declared that it had contained brandy. That gave a suggestion
as to what treatment he would require. They succeeded in rousing him.

Isidore was drunk, drunk and degraded by a week of guzzling, drunk and
so disgusting that a ragman would not have touched him. His beautiful
white duck suit was a gray rag, greasy, muddy, torn, and destroyed, and
he smelt of the gutter and of vice.

He was washed, sermonized, shut up, and did not leave the house for four
days. He seemed ashamed and repentant. They could not find on him either
his purse, containing the five hundred francs, or the bankbook, or even
his silver watch, a sacred heirloom left by his father, the fruiterer.

On the fifth day he ventured into the Rue Dauphine, Curious glances
followed him and he walked along with a furtive expression in his eyes
and his head bent down. As he got