the library--he was near there--he resolved to go to his office,
if it was only to excuse himself to his superior, and relate to him the
causes of his absence; but here a grief, not less terrible than the
rest, was in store for Buvat; on opening the door of his office, he saw
his seat occupied--a stranger had been appointed to his place!

As he had never before--during the whole fifteen years--been an hour
late, the curator had imagined him dead, and had replaced him. Buvat had
lost his situation for having saved France!

This last stroke was more than he could bear, and Buvat returned home
almost as ill as Bathilde.

CHAPTER XL.

BONIFACE.

As we have seen, Dubois urged on the trial of D'Harmental, hoping that
his revelations would furnish him with weapons against those whom he
wished to attack, but D'Harmental took refuge in a total denial with
respect to others. As to what concerned himself personally, he confessed
everything, saying, that his attempt on the regent was the result of
private revenge, a revenge which had arisen from the injustice which had
been done him in depriving him of his regiment. As to the men who had
accompanied him, and who had lent him their aid in the execution of his
plans, he declared that they were poor devils of peasants, who did not
even know whom they were escorting. All this was not highly probable,
but there was no means of bringing anything beyond the answers of the
accused to bear on the matter; the consequence was, that to the infinite
annoyance of Dubois, the real criminals escaped his vengeance, under
cover of the eternal denials of the chevalier, who denied having seen
Monsieur or Madame de Maine more than once or twice in his life, or ever
having been trusted with any political mission by either of them.

They had arrested successively Laval, Pompadour, and Valef, and had
taken them to the Bastille, but they knew that they might rely upon the
chevalier; and, as the situation in which they found themselves had
been foreseen, and it had been agreed what each should say, they all
entirely denied any knowledge of the affair, confessing associations
with Monsieur and Madame de Maine, but saying that those associations
were confined to a respectful friendship. As to D'Harmental, they knew
him, they said, for a man of honor, who complained of a great injustice
which had been done to him. They were confronted, one after the other,
with the chevalier; but these interview