avenge my father, from whom Lucien
stole Coralie.--If I can unveil these scoundrels, my skill will
be loudly proclaimed, and Lucien will soon be thrown over by his
friends.--Well, well, the examination will settle all that."

He turned into a curiosity shop, tempted by a Boule clock.

"Not to be false to my conscience, and yet to oblige two great
ladies--that will be a triumph of skill," thought he. "What, do you
collect coins too, monsieur?" said Camusot to the Public Prosecutor,
whom he found in the shop.

"It is a taste dear to all dispensers of justice," said the Comte de
Granville, laughing. "They look at the reverse side of every medal."

And after looking about the shop for some minutes, as if continuing his
search, he accompanied Camusot on his way down the quay without it ever
occurring to Camusot that anything but chance had brought them together.

"You are examining Monsieur de Rubempre this morning," said the Public
Prosecutor. "Poor fellow--I liked him."

"There are several charges against him," said Camusot.

"Yes, I saw the police papers; but some of the information came from an
agent who is independent of the Prefet, the notorious Corentin, who had
caused the death of more innocent men than you will ever send guilty men
to the scaffold, and----But that rascal is out of your reach.--Without
trying to influence the conscience of such a magistrate as you are, I
may point out to you that if you could be perfectly sure that Lucien was
ignorant of the contents of that woman's will, it would be self-evident
that he had no interest in her death, for she gave him enormous sums of
money."

"We can prove his absence at the time when this Esther was poisoned,"
said Camusot. "He was at Fontainebleau, on the watch for Mademoiselle de
Grandlieu and the Duchesse de Lenoncourt."

"And he still cherished such hopes of marrying Mademoiselle de
Grandlieu," said the Public Prosecutor--"I have it from the Duchesse
de Grandlieu herself--that it is inconceivable that such a clever young
fellow should compromise his chances by a perfectly aimless crime."

"Yes," said Camusot, "especially if Esther gave him all she got."

"Derville and Nucingen both say that she died in ignorance of the
inheritance she had long since come into," added Granville.

"But then what do you suppose is the meaning of it all?" asked Camusot.
"For there is something at the bottom of it."

"A crime committed by some servant," said the Public