resumed the cure, "I believe you will remain Seigneur du
Buisson-Souef, and that I shall be spared the pain of writing another
name over your seat in the church of Villeneuve."

"The affair must be settled in a few days, for I can wait no longer; if
the purchaser be not Monsieur Derues, it will have to be someone else.
What makes you think he is short of money?"

"Oh! oh!" said the cure, "a man who has money either pays his debts,
or is a cheat. Now Heaven preserve me from suspecting Monsieur Derues'
honesty!"

"What do you know about him?"

"Do you remember Brother Marchois of the Camaldulians, who came to see
me last spring, and who was here the day Monsieur Derues arrived, with
your wife and Edouard?"

"Perfectly. Well?"

"Well, I happened to tell him in one of my letters that Monsieur Derues
had become the purchaser of Buisson-Souef, and that I believed the
arrangements were concluded. Thereupon Brother Marchois wrote asking me
to remind him that he owes them a sum of eight hundred livres, and that,
so far, they have not seen a penny of it."

"Ah!" said Monsieur de Lamotte, "perhaps I should have done better not
to let myself be deluded by his fine promises. He certainly has money
on his tongue, and when once one begins to listen to him, one can't help
doing what he wants. All the same, I had rather have had to deal with
someone else."

"And is it this which worries you, and makes you seem so anxious?"

"This and other things."

"What, then?"

"I am really ashamed to own it, but I am a credulous and timid as any
old woman. Now do not laugh at me too much. Do you believe in dreams?"

"Monsieur," said the cure, smiling, "you should never ask a coward
whether he is afraid, you only risk his telling a lie. He will say 'No,'
but he means 'Yes.'"

"And are you a coward, my father?"

"A little. I don't precisely believe all the nursery, tales, or in the
favourable or unfavourable meaning of some object seen during our sleep,
but--"

A sound of steps interrupted them, a servant entered, announcing
Monsieur Derues.

On hearing the name, Monsieur de Lamotte felt troubled in spite of
himself, but, overcoming the impression, he rose to meet the visitor.

"You had better stay," he said to the cure, who was also rising to
take leave. "Stay; we have probably nothing to say which cannot be said
before you."

Derues entered the room, and, after the usual compliments, sat down by
the fire, opposite Monsieur