deep scoundrel!" said the judge to his clerk, to avenge
himself for the crushing scorn the poet had displayed. "He thought he
might save himself by betraying his accomplice."

"Of the two," said Coquart timidly, "the convict is the most
thorough-paced."

"You are free for the rest of the day, Coquart," said the lawyer. "We
have done enough. Send away any case that is waiting, to be called
to-morrow.--Ah! and you must go at once to the public prosecutor's
chambers and ask if he is still there; if so, ask him if he can give me
a few minutes. Yes; he will not be gone," he added, looking at a common
clock in a wooden case painted green with gilt lines. "It is but a
quarter-past three."

These examinations, which are so quickly read, being written down at
full length, questions and answers alike, take up an enormous amount of
time. This is one of the reasons of the slowness of these preliminaries
to a trial and of these imprisonments "on suspicion." To the poor this
is ruin, to the rich it is disgrace; to them only immediate release can
in any degree repair, so far as possible, the disaster of an arrest.

This is why the two scenes here related had taken up the whole of the
time spent by Asie in deciphering her master's orders, in getting a
Duchess out of her boudoir, and putting some energy into Madame de
Serizy.

At this moment Camusot, who was anxious to get the full benefit of his
cleverness, took the two documents, read them through, and promised
himself that he would show them to the public prosecutor and take his
opinion on them. During this meditation, his usher came back to tell
him that Madame la Comtesse de Serizy's man-servant insisted on speaking
with him. At a nod from Camusot, a servant out of livery came in, looked
first at the usher, and then at the magistrate, and said, "I have the
honor of speaking to Monsieur Camusot?"

"Yes," replied the lawyer and his clerk.

Camusot took a note which the servant offered him, and read as
follows:--

"For the sake of many interests which will be obvious to you, my
dear Camusot, do not examine Monsieur de Rubempre. We have brought
ample proofs of his innocence that he may be released forthwith.

"D. DE MAUFRIGNEUSE.
"L. DE SERIZY.

"_P. S._--Burn this note."

Camusot understood at once that he had blundered preposterously
in laying snares for Lucien, and he