hat goes, M. Rodolph, it is your affair, not mine; and,
whatever happens, remember I warned you. If, after all you have heard,
you still think the place would suit your young friend, why, of course,
you can please yourself; and, then, to be sure, as far as regards the
notary, there are always two sides to every picture, a for and against
to every tale; he is hard-hearted as a flint-stone, obstinate as a
jackass, bigoted as a Jesuit, that's true enough; but then he is of the
most scrupulous punctuality in all his affairs; he gives very low wages,
but, then, he pays on the nail; the living is very bad at his house,
still it is the same one day as another. In a word, though it is a house
where a servant must work like a horse, yet, at the same time, it is one
of those dull, quiet, stupid places, where there is certainly nothing to
tempt a girl to get into mischief. Certainly, Louise managed to go
wrong, but that was all a chance."

"Madame Pipelet, I am going to confide a great secret to your honour."

"Well, then, upon the word and honour of Anastasie Pipelet, whose maiden
name was Gulimard, as true as there is a God and heaven, and that Alfred
always wears green coats, I will be silent as a stockfish!"

"You must not breathe a word to M. Pipelet."

"That I won't, I swear by the head of that dear old duck himself, if it
relates to a proper and correct affair."

"Surely, Madame Pipelet, you have too good an opinion of me to suppose,
for a minute, that I would insult your chaste ears with anything that
was not?"

"Well, then, go it! Let's know all about it, and, I promise you, Alfred
shall never be the wiser, be it what it may. Bless you! he is as easy to
cheat as a child of six years old."

"I rely implicitly on you; therefore listen to my words."

"I will, my king of lodgers; and remember that we are now sworn friends
for life or for death. So go on with your story."

"The young person I spoke to you about has, unfortunately, committed one
serious fault."

"I was sure of it! Why, Lord bless you, if I had not married Alfred when
I was fifteen years of age, I dare say I should have committed, fifties
and hundreds of faults! I? There, just as you see. I was like a barrel
of gunpowder at the very sight or mention of a smart young fellow.
Luckily for me, Pipelet extinguished the warmth of my nature in the
coolness of his own virtue; if he had not, I can't say what might have
happened, for I did dearly love the gay d