emed to be surprised, she wrote,--

"We are sure of your innocence, Jacques, and still we are in despair.
Your mother is here, with a Paris lawyer, a M. Folgat, who is devoted
to your interests. What must we do? Give us your instructions. You can
reply without fear, as you have _our_ book.

"DIONYSIA."

"Read this," she said to the clerk, when she had finished. But he did
not avail himself of the permission. He folded the paper, and slipped it
into an envelope, which he sealed.

"Oh, you are very kind!" said the young girl, touched by his delicacy.

"Not at all, madam. I only try to do a dishonest thing in the most
honest way. To-morrow, madam, you shall have your answer."

"I will call for it."

Mechinet trembled.

"Take care not to do so," he said. "The good people of Sauveterre are
too cunning not to know that just now you are not thinking much of
dress; and your calls here would look suspicious. Leave it to me to see
to it that you get M. de Boiscoran's answer."

While Dionysia was writing, the clerk had made a parcel of the bonds
which she had brought. He handed it to her, and said,--

"Take it, madam. If I want money for Blangin, or for Trumence, I will
ask you for it. And now you must go: you need not go in to my sisters. I
will explain your visit to them."

VIII.

"What can have happened to Dionysia, that she does not come back?"
murmured Grandpapa Chandore, as he walked up and down the Square, and
looked, for the twentieth time, at his watch. For some time the fear of
displeasing his grandchild, and of receiving a scolding, kept him at
the place where she had told him to wait for her; but at last it was too
much for him, and he said,--

"Upon my word, this is too much! I'll risk it."

And, crossing the road which separates the Square from the houses, he
entered the long, narrow passage in the house of the sisters Mechinet.
He was just putting his foot on the first step of the stairs, when he
saw a light above. He distinguished the voice of his granddaughter, and
then her light step.

"At last!" he thought.

And swiftly, like a schoolboy who hears his teacher coming, and fears
to be caught in the act, he slipped back into the Square. Dionysia was
there almost at the same moment, and fell on his neck, saying,--

"Dear grandpapa, I bring you back your bonds," and then she rained a
shower of kisses upon the old gentleman's furrowed cheeks.

If any thing could astonish M. de Chandore, it w