and I mean to see them regularly and
legally married."

"Ah! old Vyder; he is a very worthy old fellow, with plenty of good
sense. The poor old man has already made friends in the neighborhood,
though he has been here but two months. He keeps my accounts for me.
He is, I believe, a brave Colonel who served the Emperor well. And how
he adores Napoleon!--He has some orders, but he never wears them. He
is waiting till he is straight again, for he is in debt, poor old boy!
In fact, I believe he is hiding, threatened by the law--"

"Tell him that I will pay his debts if he will marry the child."

"Oh, that will soon be settled.--Suppose you were to see him, madame;
it is not two steps away, in the Passage du Soleil."

So the lady and the stove-fitter went out.

"This way, madame," said the man, turning down the Rue de la
Pepiniere.

The alley runs, in fact, from the bottom of this street through to the
Rue du Rocher. Halfway down this passage, recently opened through,
where the shops let at a very low rent, the Baroness saw on a window,
screened up to a height with a green, gauze curtain, which excluded
the prying eyes of the passer-by, the words:

"ECRIVAIN PUBLIC"; and on the door the announcement:

BUSINESS TRANSACTED.

_Petitions Drawn Up, Accounts Audited, Etc._

_With Secrecy and Dispatch._

The shop was like one of those little offices where travelers by
omnibus wait the vehicles to take them on to their destination. A
private staircase led up, no doubt, to the living-rooms on the
entresol which were let with the shop. Madame Hulot saw a dirty
writing-table of some light wood, some letter-boxes, and a wretched
second-hand chair. A cap with a peak and a greasy green shade for the
eyes suggested either precautions for disguise, or weak eyes, which
was not unlikely in an old man.

"He is upstairs," said the stove-fitter. "I will go up and tell him to
come down."

Adeline lowered her veil and took a seat. A heavy step made the narrow
stairs creak, and Adeline could not restrain a piercing cry when she
saw her husband, Baron Hulot, in a gray knitted jersey, old gray
flannel trousers, and slippers.

"What is your business, madame?" said Hulot, with a flourish.

She rose, seized Hulot by the arm, and said in a voice hoarse with
emotion:

"At last--I have found you!"

"Adeline!" exclaimed the Baron in bewilderment, and he locked the shop
do