ture difficulties, and it was not long before their exercise was
called for. Claudine Rollet, his sister, who was a very pretty girl, had
attracted the attention of Mademoiselle de Bellefonds' brother, Alphonse;
and as he paid her more attention than from such a quarter was agreeable
to Jacques, the young men had more than one quarrel on the subject, on
which occasions they had each, characteristically, given vent to their
enmity, the one in contemptuous monosyllables, and the other in a volley
of insulting words. But Claudine had another lover more nearly of her own
condition of life; this was Claperon, the deputy-governor of the Rouen
jail, with whom she made acquaintance during one or two compulsory visits
paid by her brother to that functionary; but Claudine, who was a bit of a
coquette, though she did not altogether reject his suit, gave him little
encouragement, so that betwixt hopes and fears, and doubts and
jealousies, poor Claperon led a very uneasy kind of life.

Affairs had been for some time in this position, when, one fine morning,
Alphonse de Bellefonds was not to be found in his chamber when his
servant went to call him; neither had his bed been slept in. He had been
observed to go out rather late on the preceding evening, but whether or
not he had returned, nobody could tell. He had not appeared at supper,
but that was too ordinary an event to awaken suspicion; and little alarm
was excited till several hours had elapsed, when inquiries were
instituted and a search commenced, which terminated in the discovery of
his body, a good deal mangled, lying at the bottom of a pond which had
belonged to the old brewery. Before any investigations had been made,
every person had jumped to the conclusion that the young man had been
murdered, and that Jacques Rollet was the assassin. There was a strong
presumption in favor of that opinion, which further perquisitions tended
to confirm. Only the day before, Jacques had been heard to threaten M. de
Bellefonds with speedy vengeance. On the fatal evening, Alphonse and
Claudine had been seen together in the neighborhood of the now dismantled
brewery; and as Jacques, betwixt poverty and democracy, was in bad odor
with the prudent and respectable part of society, it was not easy for him
to bring witnesses to character, or prove an unexceptionable alibi. As
for the Bellefonds and De Chaulieus, and the aristocracy in general, they
entertained no doubt of his guilt; and finally, t