not, as you will easily understand, like to have any
public or known dealings with you. Seven or eight hundred francs, I
understood you to say, the timber you required would amount to?'

'Certainly not more than that, monsieur,' Bertrand contrived to
answer, taken away as his breath nearly was by astonishment.

'Here, then, is a note of the Bank of France for one thousand francs.'

'Monsieur!--monsieur!' gasped the astounded recipient.

'You will repay me,' continued Derville, 'when your contract is
completed; and you will please to bear strictly in mind, that the
condition of any future favour of a like kind is, that you keep this
one scrupulously secret.' He then hurried off, leaving Bertrand in a
state of utter amazement. This feeling, however, slowly subsided,
especially after assuring himself, by the aid of his chamber-lamp,
that the note was a genuine one, and not, as he had half feared, a
valueless deception. 'This Monsieur Derville,' drowsily murmured
Bertrand as he ensconced himself in the bed-clothes, 'is a _bon
enfant_, after all--a generous, magnanimous prince, if ever there was
one. But then, to be sure, he wishes to do Marie a service by secretly
assisting her _futur_ on in life. _Sapristie!_ It is quite simple,
after all, this generosity; for undoubtedly Marie is the most
charming--charm--cha'----

Hector Bertrand went to Dufour's timber-yard at about noon the next
day, selected what he required, and pompously tendered the
thousand-franc note in payment. 'Whe-e-e-e-w!' whistled Dufour, 'the
deuce!' at the same time looking with keen scrutiny in his customer's
face.

'I received it from Monsieur Mangier in advance,' said Hector in hasty
reply to that look, blurting out in some degree inadvertently the
assertion which he had been thinking would be the most feasible
solution of his sudden riches, since he had been so peremptorily
forbidden to mention M. Derville's name.

'It is very generous of Monsieur Mangier,' said Dufour; 'and he is not
famous for that virtue either. But let us go to Blaise's bank: I have
not sufficient change in the house, and I daresay we shall get silver
for it there.'

As often happens in France, a daughter of the banker was the cashier
of the establishment; and it was with an accent of womanly
commiseration that she said, after minutely examining the note: 'From
whom, Monsieur Bertrand, did you obtain possession of this note?'

Bertrand hesitated. A vague feeling of alarm