e shall close this paper with a tale, appended, as make-weight, to the
final volume of the "Gentilhomme Campagnard", and whose brevity
recommends it for extraction. It is too short and slight to be a fair
specimen of M. de Bernard's powers, but, as far as it goes, it is as
witty and amusing as any thing he has written. It is entitled--

A CONSULTATION.

Towards the beginning of last autumn, amongst a number of persons
assembled in Doctor Magnian's waiting room, sat a man of about forty
years of age, fair complexioned, thin, pale, with a slight stoop in his
shoulders, and altogether of a weak and sickly aspect, that would have
convinced any one he was in the house of a physician. On his entrance,
this person had established himself in a corner with an uneasy air, and
there waited until all the other patients had had their consultations.
When the last had departed, the master of the house approached him with
a friendly smile.

"Good morning, Bouchereau," said the doctor; "excuse me for making you
wait; but my time belongs in the first instance to the sick, and I trust
you have no such claim on an early audience."

"The sufferings of the mind are worse than those of the body," said the
pale man, with a stifled sigh.

"What's the matter?" cried the doctor. "You look haggard and anxious.
Surely Madame Bouchereau is not ill?"

"My wife is in robust health," replied Bouchereau, smiling bitterly.

"Then what is the cause of your agitation? The mind, say you? If you do
not speak, how am I to tell what passes in yours? Come, how can I serve
you?"

"My dear doctor," said the other, sitting down with a most dejected
countenance, "we have known each other for twenty years. I look upon you
as my best friend, and in you I have unlimited confidence."

"Well, well!" said the doctor--"enough of compliments."

"They are not compliments; I speak from my heart. And the strange
confession I have resolved to make to you will be sufficient proof of my
esteem for your character."

"To the point!" cried Magnian impatiently.

"The fact is melancholy for me, and may even appear ridiculous. That is
why I hesitate. Promise me, in the first place, never to reveal what I
am about to tell you."

"The secret of the confessional is as sacred for the physician as for
the priest," said Doctor Magnian gravely.

Bouchereau again sighed, bit his lips, and gazed up at the ceiling. "You
know Pelletier?" he at last said, looking piteously at h