e suspended, and drawing-rooms would become deserted! Posters
would be placarded everywhere bearing the inscription: "Closed on
account of nursing."

"Briefly," said Beauchene, in conclusion, "you want to have a
revolution."

"A revolution, yes," the doctor gently replied, "and we will effect it."

X

MATHIEU finished studying his great scheme, the clearing and cultivation
of Chantebled, and at last, contrary to all prudence but with all the
audacity of fervent faith and hope, it was resolved upon. He warned
Beauchene one morning that he should leave the works at the end of the
month, for on the previous day he had spoken to Seguin, and had found
him quite willing to sell the little pavilion and some fifty acres
around it on very easy terms. As Mathieu had imagined, Seguin's affairs
were in a very muddled state, for he had lost large sums at the gaming
table and spent money recklessly on women, leading indeed a most
disastrous life since trouble had arisen in his home. And so he welcomed
the transaction which Mathieu proposed to him, in the hope that the
young man would end by ridding him of the whole of that unprofitable
estate should his first experiment prove successful. Then came other
interviews between them, and Seguin finally consented to sell on a
system of annual payments, spread over a term of years, the first to be
made in two years' time from that date. As things stood, the property
seemed likely to remain unremunerative forever, and so there was nothing
risked in allowing the purchaser a couple of years' credit. However,
they agreed to meet once more and settle the final details before a
formal deed of sale was drawn up. And one Monday morning, therefore,
about ten o'clock, Mathieu set out for the house in the Avenue d'Antin
in order to complete the business.

That morning, as it happened, Celeste the maid received in the linen
room, where she usually remained, a visit from her friend Madame Menoux,
the little haberdasher of the neighborhood, in whose tiny shop she was
so fond of gossiping. They had become more intimate than ever since
La Couteau, at Celeste's instigation, had taken Madame Menoux's child,
Pierre, to Rougemont, to be put out to nurse there in the best possible
way for the sum of thirty francs a month. La Couteau had also very
complaisantly promised to call each month at one or another of her
journeys in order to receive the thirty francs, thereby saving the
mother the trouble of