"You say you have been a thief before," continued Casimir. "Now, how am I
to know that you are not one still? I suppose you could climb the green
gate?"

"Yes," still lower, from the culprit.

"Well, then, it was you who stole these things. You know it, and you dare
not deny it. Look me in the face! Raise your sneak's eyes, and answer!"

But in place of anything of that sort Jean-Marie broke into a dismal howl
and fled from the arbour. Anastasie, as she pursued to capture and
reassure the victim, found time to send one Parthian arrow--"Casimir, you
are a brute!"

"My brother," said Desprez, with the greatest dignity, "you take upon
yourself a licence----"

"Desprez," interrupted Casimir, "for Heaven's sake be a man of the world.
You telegraph me to leave my business and come down here on yours. I
come, I ask the business, you say, 'Find me this thief!' Well, I find
him; I say 'There he is!' You need not like it, but you have no manner of
right to take offence."

"Well," returned the Doctor, "I grant that; I will even thank you for
your mistaken zeal. But your hypothesis was so extravagantly
monstrous----"

"Look here," interrupted Casimir; "was it you or Stasie?"

"Certainly not," answered the Doctor.

"Very well; then it was the boy. Say no more about it," said the
brother-in-law, and he produced his cigar-case.

"I will say this much more," returned Desprez: "if that boy came and told
me so himself, I should not believe him; and if I did believe him, so
implicit is my trust, I should conclude that he had acted for the best."

"Well, well," said Casimir indulgently. "Have you a light? I must be
going. And by the way, I wish you would let me sell your Turks for you.
I always told you, it meant smash. I tell you so again. Indeed, it was
partly that which brought me down. You never acknowledge my letters--a
most unpardonable habit."

"My good brother," replied the Doctor blandly, "I have never denied your
ability in business; but I can perceive your limitations."

"Egad, my friend, I can return the compliment," observed the man of
business. "Your limitation is to be downright irrational."

"Observe the relative position," returned the Doctor, with a smile. "It
is your attitude to believe through thick and thin in one man's
judgment--your own. I follow the same opinion, but critically and with
open eyes. Which is the more irrational? I leave it to yourself."

"Oh, my dear fellow!" cried Casimir, "stick