ffence at it, he would have removed from his path every opportunity of
ever finding his way back to Madame Arnoux; and then, this was the only
means whereby he could hear about her movements. The earthenware-dealer,
in accordance with his usual practice, or perhaps with some cunning
design, recalled her readily in the course of conversation, and asked
him why he no longer came to see her.

Frederick, having exhausted every excuse he could frame, assured him
that he had called several times to see Madame Arnoux, but without
success. Arnoux was convinced that this was so, for he had often
referred in an eager tone at home to the absence of their friend, and
she had invariably replied that she was out when he called, so that
these two lies, in place of contradicting, corroborated each other.

The young man's gentle ways and the pleasure of finding a dupe in him
made Arnoux like him all the better. He carried familiarity to its
extreme limits, not through disdain, but through assurance. One day he
wrote saying that very urgent business compelled him to be away in the
country for twenty-four hours. He begged of the young man to mount guard
in his stead. Frederick dared not refuse, so he repaired to the
guard-house in the Place du Carrousel.

He had to submit to the society of the National Guards, and, with the
exception of a sugar-refiner, a witty fellow who drank to an inordinate
extent, they all appeared to him more stupid than their cartridge-boxes.
The principal subject of conversation amongst them was the substitution
of sashes for belts. Others declaimed against the national workshops.

One man said:

"Where are we going?"

The man to whom the words had been addressed opened his eyes as if he
were standing on the verge of an abyss.

"Where are we going?"

Then, one who was more daring than the rest exclaimed:

"It cannot last! It must come to an end!"

And as the same kind of talk went on till night, Frederick was bored to
death.

Great was his surprise when, at eleven o'clock, he suddenly beheld
Arnoux, who immediately explained that he had hurried back to set him at
liberty, having disposed of his own business.

The fact was that he had no business to transact. The whole thing was an
invention to enable him to spend twenty-four hours alone with Rosanette.
But the worthy Arnoux had placed too much confidence in his own powers,
so that, now in the state of lassitude which was the result, he was
seized wi