y to be able
to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I regarded my
clerk as quite unnecessary."

He went close to M. d'Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: "It
is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that Madame la
Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which you ought at
once to counteract."

Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the
courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of those
which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours when the
soul seeks consolation.

"Those rooms would just suit me," said he to himself as he reached home.
"If M. d'Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease."

The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written out
his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de Justice,
intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he went to the
robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told him that the
President of his Court begged him to attend in his private room, where
he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed.

"Good-morning, my dear Popinot," said the President, "I have been
waiting for you."

"Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?"

"A mere silly trifle," said the President. "The Keeper of the Seals,
with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a
corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d'Espard, in
whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to understand
that it would be as well that you should not sit on this case----"

"But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d'Espard's
house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience----"

"Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know you.
I need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you know,
'Caesar's wife must not be suspected.' So we shall not make this
foolish trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. Between
ourselves, it is not on your account, but on that of the Bench."

"But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman----" said the judge,
trying to pull his report out of his pocket.

"I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with the
strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, have
often taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; but the
fact that the Keep