e justice when this generous
young man, the victim of all of us, is, at the present hour, at
the mercy of waves and tempests, to which for three long years he
is consigned."

"Providence is very powerful, monsieur," replied the Abbe Gondrin.
"God will protect Monsieur Felix Phellion wherever he may be, and
I have the firmest hope that three years hence he will be among
his friends once more."

"But three years!" said Monsieur Picot. "Will it still be time?
Will Mademoiselle Colleville have waited for him?"

"Yes, I swear it!" cried the young girl, carried away by an
impulse she could not control.

Then she sat down again, quite ashamed, and burst into tears.

"And you, Mademoiselle Thuillier, and you, Madame Colleville, will
you permit this young lady to reserve herself for one who is
worthy of her?"

"Yes! Yes!" cried everybody; for Monsieur Picot's voice, which is
very full and sonorous, seemed to have tears in it and affected
everybody.

"Then it is time," he said, "to forgive Providence."

And rushing suddenly to the door, where my ear was glued to the
keyhole, he very nearly caught me.

"Announce," he said to me, in a very loud tone of voice, "Monsieur
Felix Phellion and his family."

And thereupon the door of a side room opened, and five or six
persons came out, who were led by Monsieur Picot into the salon.

At the sight of her _lover_, Mademoiselle Colleville was taken ill,
but the faint lasted only a minute; seeing Monsieur Felix at her
feet she threw herself into Madame Thuillier's arms, crying out:--

"Godmother! you always told me to hope."

Mademoiselle Thuillier, who, in spite of her harsh nature and want
of education, I have always myself thought a remarkable woman, now
had a fine impulse. As the company were about to go into the
dining-room,--

"One moment!" she said.

Then going up to Monsieur Phellion, senior, she said to him:

"Monsieur and old friend! I ask you for the hand of Monsieur Felix
Phellion for our adopted daughter, Mademoiselle Colleville."

"Bravo! bravo!" they call cried in chorus.

"My God!" said Monsieur Phellion, with tears in his eyes; "what
have I done to deserve such happiness?"

"You have been an honest man and a Christian without knowing it,"
replied the Abbe Gondrin.

Here la Peyrade flung down the manuscript.

"You did not finish it," said Corentin, taking back the pa