t the shop, and went up the street quite absorbed in the one
thought that Alphonse had paid.

He thought how foolish it really was of him to wait and wait for the
other's ruin. How easily might not the adroit and lucky Alphonse come
across many a brilliant business opening, and make plenty of money
without a word of it reaching Charles's ears. Perhaps, after all, he was
getting on well. Perhaps it would end in people saying: "See, at last
Monsieur Alphonse shows what he is fit for, now that he is quit of his
dull and crabbed partner!"

Charles went slowly up the street with his head bent. Many people
jostled him, but he heeded not. His life seemed to him so meaningless,
as if he had lost all that he had ever possessed--or had he himself cast
it from him? Just then some one ran against him with more than usual
violence. He looked up. It was an acquaintance from the time when he and
Alphonse had been in the Credit Lyonnais.

"Ah, good-day, Monsieur Charles!" cried he, "It is long since we met.
Odd, too, that I should meet you to-day. I was just thinking of you this
morning."

"Why, may I ask?" said Charles, half-absently.

"Well, you see, only to-day I saw up at the bank a paper--a bill for
thirty or forty thousand francs--bearing both your name and that
of Monsieur Alphonse. It astonished me, for I thought that you
two--hm!--had done with each other."

"No, we have not quite done with each other yet," said Charles, slowly.

He struggled with all his might to keep his face calm, and asked in
as natural a tone as he could command: "When does the bill fall due? I
don't quite recollect."

"To-morrow or the day after, I think," answered the other, who was a
hard-worked business man, and was already in a hurry to be off. "It was
accepted by Monsieur Alphonse."

"I know that," said Charles; "but could you not manage to let _me_
redeem the bill to-morrow? It is a courtesy--a favor I am anxious to
do."

"With pleasure. Tell your messenger to ask for me personally at the bank
to-morrow afternoon. I will arrange it; nothing easier. Excuse me; I'm
in a hurry. Good-bye!" and with that he ran on----Next day Charles sat
in his counting-house waiting for the messenger who had gone up to the
bank to redeem Alphonse's bill.

At last a clerk entered, laid a folded blue paper by his principal's
side, and went out again.

Not until the door was closed did Charles seize the draft, look swiftly
round the room, and open it. He s