he
sequent gloom of the morning were gone; in their place rode an almost
giddy hopefulness to which no scheme seemed too fanciful, no plan
without its promise. Betray his country! Never, never! Though, be it
noted, there was small scope in the Republic for such a man as himself,
and he had received and could receive but a tithe of the honour he
deserved! While other men, Baudichon and Petitot for instance, to say
nothing of Fabri and Du Pin, reaped where they had not sown.

That, by the way; for it had naught to do with the matter in hand--the
discovery of a scheme which would place the _remedium_ within his grasp.
He thought awhile of the young student. He might make a second attempt
to coerce him. But Claude's flat refusal to go farther with the matter,
a refusal on which, up to the time of Basterga's abrupt entrance, the
Syndic had made no impression, was a factor; and reluctantly, after some
thought, Blondel put him out of his mind.

To do the thing himself was his next idea. But the scare of the night
before had given him a distaste for the house; and he shrank from the
attempt with a timidity he did not understand. He held the room in
abhorrence, the house in dread; and though he told himself that in the
last resort--perhaps he meant the last but one--he should venture,
while there was any other way he put that plan aside.

And there was another way: there were others through whom the thing
could be done. Grio, indeed, who had access to the room and the box, was
Basterga's creature; and the Syndic dared not tamper with him. But there
was a third lodger, a young fellow, of whom the inquiries he had made
respecting the house had apprised him. Blondel had met Gentilis more
than once, and marked him; and the lad's weak chin and shifty eyes, no
less than the servility with which he saluted the magistrate had not
been lost on the observer. The youth, granted he was not under
Basterga's thumb, was unlikely to refuse a request backed by authority.

As he reflected, the very person who was in his thoughts passed the
window, moving with the shuffling gait and sidelong look which betrayed
his character. The Syndic took his presence for an omen: tempted by it,
he rose precipitately, seized his head-gear and cane, and hurried into
the street. He glanced up and down, and saw Louis in the distance moving
in the direction of the College. He followed. Three or four youths,
bearing books, were hastening in the same direction thr