gee at
the farm of Bouqueval. David's care and attention have worked wonders.
Apropos of La Goualeuse: what do you think, Sir Walter Murphy, any of
your Cite acquaintances would say at seeing you so strangely disguised,
as at present they would consider you, most valiant charcoal-man, to be?
They would be somewhat astonished, I fancy."

"Much in the same degree as the surprise your royal highness would
excite among your new acquaintances in the Rue du Temple, were you to
proceed thither, as now attired, to pay a friendly visit to Madame
Pipelet, and to inquire after the health of Cabrion's victim, the poor
melancholy Alfred!"

"My lord has drawn so lively a sketch of Alfred, attired in his
long-skirted green coat and bell-crowned hat," said the baron, "that I
can well imagine him seated in magisterial dignity in his dark and smoky
lodge. Let me hope that your royal highness's visit to the Rue du Temple
has fully answered your expectations, and that you are in every way
satisfied with the researches of my agent?"

"Perfectly so," answered Rodolph. "My success was even beyond my
expectations."

Then, after a moment's painful silence, and to drive away the train of
thought conjured up by the recollection of the probable guilt of Madame
d'Harville, he resumed, in a tone more gay:

"I am almost ashamed to own to so much childishness, but I confess
myself amused with the contrast between my treating Madame Pipelet in
the morning to a glass of cordial, and then proceeding in the evening to
a grand fete, with all the pomp and prestige of one of those privileged
beings who, by the grace of God, 'reign over this lower world.' Some men
of small fortune would speak of my revenues as those of a millionaire,"
added Rodolph, in a sort of parenthesis, alluding to the limited extent
of his estates.

"And many millionaires, my lord, might not have the rare, the admirable
good sense, of the man of narrow means."

"Ah, my dear De Grauen, you are really too good, much too good! You
really overwhelm me," replied Rodolph, with an ironical smile, while the
baron glanced at Murphy with the consciousness of a man who has just
discovered he has been saying a foolish thing.

"Really, my dear De Grauen," resumed Rodolph, "I know not how to
acknowledge the weight of your compliment, or how to repay such delicate
flattery in its own way."

"My lord, let me entreat of you not to take the trouble," exclaimed the
baron, who had for the insta