to be
made, and that Sarah was no farther advanced now than she was on the day
of their separation. She might even have said that she was less so; for
the two years and more which had just elapsed had made a large inroad
upon the savings of M. Elgin and Mrs. Brian. When they had paid for
their establishment in Circus Street, when they had advanced the hire
of a _coupe_, a landau, and two saddle-horses, they had hardly four
thousand dollars left in all.

"They knew, therefore, that they must succeed or sink in the coming
year. And, thus driven to bay, they were doubly to be feared. They were
determined to fall furiously upon the first victim that should pass
within reach, when chance brought to them the unlucky cashier of the
Mutual Discount Society, Malgat."

XXXI.

For a few moments the fatigue of the old dealer seemed to have
disappeared. He was sitting up straight, with tremulous lips, with
flashing eyes, and continued in a strangely strident voice,--

"Fools alone attach no weight to trifling occurrences. And still it
is those that appear most insignificant which we ought to fear most,
because they alone determine our fate, precisely as an atom of sand
dismembers the most powerful engine.

"It was on a fine afternoon in the month of October when Sarah Brandon
appeared for the first time before the eyes of Malgat. He was at that
time a man of forty, sprung from an old and respectable though modest
family, content with his lot in life, and rather simple, as most men
are who have always lived far from the intrigues of society. He had
one passion, however,--he filled the five rooms of his lodgings
with curiosities of every kind, happy for a week to come, if he had
discovered a piece of old china, or a curious piece of furniture, which
he could purchase cheap. He was not rich, his whole patrimony having
been long since spent on his collections; but he had a place that
brought him some three thousand dollars; and he was sure of an ample
pension in his old age.

"He was honest in the highest sense of the word; his honesty being
instinctive, so to say, never reasoning, never hesitating. For fifteen
years now, he had been cashier; and hundreds of millions had passed
through his hands without arousing in him a shadow of covetousness. He
handled the gold in the bags, and the notes in the portfolios, with
as much indifference as if they had been pebbles and dry leaves. His
employers, besides, felt for him more tha