ion of collector
at Ville-aux-Fayes, and Leclercq himself, Gaubertin's son-in-law, had
lately bought a fine estate beyond the valley of the Avonne, which
brought him in a rental of thirty thousand francs, with park and chateau
and a controlling influence in its own canton.

Thus, in the upper regions of the State, in both Chambers, and in the
chief ministerial department, Gaubertin could rely on an influence that
was powerful and also active, and which he was careful not to weary with
unimportant requests.

The counsellor Gendrin, appointed judge by the Chamber, was the leading
spirit of the Supreme Court; for the chief justice, one of the three
ministerial deputies, left the management of it to Gendrin during half
the year. The counsel for the Prefecture, a cousin of Sarcus, called
"Sarcus the rich," was the right-hand man of the prefect, himself a
deputy. Even without the family reasons which allied Gaubertin and young
des Lupeaulx, a brother of Madame Sarcus would still have been desirable
as sub-prefect to the arrondissement of Ville-aux-Fayes. Madame Sarcus,
the counsellor's wife, was a Vallat of Soulanges, a family connected
with the Gaubertins, and she was said to have "distinguished" the notary
Lupin in her youth. Though she was now forty-five years old, with a son
in the school of engineers, Lupin never went to the Prefecture without
paying his respects and dining with her.

The nephew of Guerbet, the postmaster, whose father was, as we have
seen, collector of Soulanges, held the important situation of examining
judge in the municipal court of Ville-aux-Fayes. The third judge, son of
Corbinet, the notary, belonged body and soul to the all-powerful mayor;
and, finally, young Vigor, son of the lieutenant of the gendarmerie, was
the substitute judge.

Sibilet's father, sheriff of the court, had married his sister to
Monsieur Vigor the lieutenant, and that individual, father of six
children, was cousin of the father of Gaubertin through his wife, a
Gaubertin-Vallat. Eighteen months previously the united efforts of the
two deputies, Monsieur de Soulanges and Gaubertin, had created the place
of commissary of police for the sheriff's second son.

Sibilet's eldest daughter married Monsieur Herve, a school-master, whose
school was transformed into a college as a result of this marriage,
so that for the past year Soulanges had rejoiced in the presence of a
professor.

The sheriff's youngest son was employed on the