man would
explain it as the devil explains it to me, in spite of myself. Your
look--three words suffice--"

"Stop!" said Madame Cesar, taking the letter and burning it. "My son, I
am severely punished for a trifling error. You shall know all, Anselme.
I shall not allow a suspicion inspired by her mother to injure my
daughter; and besides, I can speak without blushing. What I now tell
you, I could tell my husband. Du Tillet wished to seduce me; I informed
my husband of it, and du Tillet was to have been dismissed. On the
very day my husband was about to send him away, he robbed us of three
thousand francs."

"I was sure of it!" said Popinot, expressing his hatred by the tones of
his voice.

"Anselme, your future, your happiness, demand this confidence; but
you must let it die in your heart, just as it is dead in mine and in
Cesar's. Do you not remember how my husband scolded us for an error in
the accounts? Monsieur Birotteau, to avoid a police-court which might
have destroyed the man for life, no doubt placed in the desk three
thousand francs,--the price of that cashmere shawl which I did not
receive till three years later. All this explains the scene. Alas!
my dear child, I must admit my foolishness; du Tillet wrote me three
love-letters, which pictured him so well that I kept them," she said,
lowering her eyes and sighing, "as a curiosity. I have not re-read them
more than once; still, it was imprudent to keep them. When I saw du
Tillet just now I was reminded of them, and I came upstairs to burn
them; I was looking over the last as you came in. That's the whole
story, my friend."

Anselme knelt for a moment beside her and kissed her hand with an
unspeakable emotion, which brought tears into the eyes of both; Madame
Cesar raised him, stretched out her arms and pressed him to her heart.

* * * * *

This day was destined to be a day of joy to Cesar. The private secretary
of the king, Monsieur de Vandenesse, called at the Sinking-Fund Office
to find him. They walked out together into the little courtyard.

"Monsieur Birotteau," said the Vicomte de Vandenesse, "your efforts to
pay your creditors in full have accidentally become known to the king.
His Majesty, touched by such rare conduct, and hearing that through
humility you no longer wear the cross of the Legion of honor, has sent
me to command you to put it on again. Moreover, wishing to help you in
meeting your obligations, he ha