't exist
this year, my love," said Madame Soudry.

"What reason, dearest?" asked Soudry.

"The Shopman wanted to marry Mademoiselle de Soulanges," said the
notary. "The family replied that she was too young, and that mortified
him. That is why Monsieur de Soulanges and Monsieur de Montcornet, two
old friends who both served in the Imperial Guard, are so cool to
each other that they never speak. The Shopman doesn't want to meet the
Soulanges at the fair; but this year the family are not coming."

Usually the Soulanges party stayed at the chateau from July to October,
but the general was then in command of the artillery in Spain, under the
Duc d'Angouleme, and the countess had accompanied him. At the siege of
Cadiz the Comte de Soulanges obtained, as every one knows, the marshal's
baton, which he kept till 1826.

"Very true," cried Lupin. "Well, it is for you, papa," he added,
addressing Rigou, "to manoeuvre the matter so that we can get him to the
fair; once there, we ought to be able to entrap him."

The fair of Soulanges, which takes place on the 15th of August, is one
of the features of the town, and carries the palm over all other
fairs in a circuit of sixty miles, even those of the capital of
the department. Ville-aux-Fayes has no fair, for its fete-day, the
Saint-Sylvestre, happens in winter.

From the 12th to the 15th of August all sorts of merchants abounded at
Soulanges, and set up their booths in two parallel lines, two rows of
the well-known gray linen huts, which gave a lively appearance to the
usually deserted streets. The two weeks of the fair brought in a sort
of harvest to the little town, for the festival has the authority and
prestige of tradition. The peasants, as old Fourchon said, flocked in
from the districts to which labor bound them for the rest of the
year. The wonderful show on the counters of the improvised shops, the
collection of all sorts of merchandise, the coveted objects of the wants
or the vanities of these sons of the soil, who have no other shows or
exhibitions to enjoy exercise a periodical seduction over the minds of
all, especially the women and children. So, after the first of August
the authorities posted advertisements signed by Soudry, throughout
the whole arrondissement, offering protection to merchants, jugglers,
mountebanks, prodigies of all kinds, and stating how long the fair would
last, and what would be its principal attractions.

On these posters, about which it