tely, and by ten o'clock
was in Paris. He stopped at the Hotel Secqville.

"Is the marquis yet risen?" he asked.

"No;" he was in his bed; he had not retired until very late, and must
not be disturbed.

"But I _must_ see him, my good friend; his happiness, indeed his safety,
depends upon my seeing him immediately."

Blassemare was so very urgent, that at length the servant consented to
deliver a note to his master.

Rubbing his eyes, and more asleep than awake, the marquis took the
billet, and read--

"The Sieur de Blassemare, who had the honor of meeting the Marquis de
Secqville last night at the Chateau des Anges, implores a few minutes
conversation without one moment's delay; by granting which the marquis
may possibly avert consequences the most deplorable."

Certain shocks are strong enough to restore a drunken man to sobriety in
an instant, and, _a fortiori_, to dispel in a moment the fumes of sleep.
In a few seconds the marquis, in slippers, and morning-gown, received
Blassemare, with many apologies, in his dressing-room.

"A very slight acquaintance will justify a _friendly_ interposition,"
said Blassemare, after a few little speeches of ceremony at each side;
"and my visit is inspired by a friendly and charitable motive. The fact
is--the fact is--my dear friend, that--your coat is torn."

"My coat torn!" repeated the marquis in surprise, visibly disconcerted,
while he affected surprise.

"Yes, the coat you wore last night. Ah! there it is--this blue velvet,
with diamond button. La! Yes, there is the place. It was caught--ha, ha,
ha!--in that cursed door; and, egad, as one of Le Prun's confidential
advisers has got the piece in his possession----"

"Psha! you are jesting. Why, there are more blue coats than one in the
world."

"I know; but there is only _one_ Marquis de Secqville. And as I
happened, purely accidentally, upon my honor, to witness with my own
eyes no inconsiderable part of his last night's adventure, it may be as
well if he reverses his clever points of evidence for Monsieur Le Prun,
should his suspicions chance to take an unfortunate direction."

"What adventure pray, sir, do you speak of?"

"Your interview with Madame Le Prun, your unfortunate descent from the
balcony, your flight through the park-door, and the disastrous severance
of a button and a specimen-bit of velvet from your coat--in short, my
dear marquis, you may, if you please, affect a reserve, which, indeed,
_I_ shou