n the
Mutual Credit kept out, and insert in its place some financial news
cut out from other papers. Above all, don't mention my arrest,
unless M. de Thaller should demand it. Go ahead, and let 'The
Pilot' appear as usual: that's important."

He had, whilst speaking, lighted a cigar. The honest man, victim
of human iniquity, has not a firmer and more tranquil countenance.

"Justice does not know," he said to the commissary, who was fumbling
in all the drawers of the desk, "what irreparable damage she may
cause by arresting so hastily a man who has charge of immense
interests like me. It is the fortune of ten or twelve small
capitalists that is put in jeopardy."

Already the witnesses of the arrest had retired, one by one, to go
and scatter the news along the Boulevard, and also to see what
could be made out of it; for, at the bourse, news is money.

M. de Tregars and Maxence left also. As they passed the door,

"Don't you say any thing about what I told you," M. Saint Pavin
recommended to them.

M. de Tregars made no answer. He had the contracted features and
tightly-drawn lips of a man who is maturing a grave determination,
which, once taken, will be irrevocable.

Once in the street, and when Maxence had opened the carriage-door,

"We are going to separate here," he told him in that brief tone of
voice which reveals a settled plan. "I know enough now to venture
to call at M. de Thaller's. There only shall I be able to see how
to strike the decisive blow. Return to the Rue St. Gilles, and
relieve your mother's and sister's anxiety. You shall see me during
the evening, I promise you."

And, without waiting for an answer, he jumped into the cab, which
started off.

But it was not to the Rue St. Gilles that Maxence went. He was
anxious, first, to see Mlle. Lucienne, to tell her the events of
that day, the busiest of his existence; to tell her his discoveries,
his surprises, his anxieties, and his hopes.

To his great surprise, he failed to find her at the Hotel des
Folies. She had gone riding at three o'clock, M. Fortin told him,
and had not yet returned; but she could not be much longer, as it
was already getting dark. Maxence went out again then, to see if
he could not meet her. He had walked a little way along the
Boulevard, when, at some distance off, on the Place du Chateau
d'Eau, he thought he noticed an unusual bustle. Almost
immediately he heard shouts of terror. Frightened people wer