l
streets. In it is a covered market. Opposite to the chateau, on the
other side of the square, which is neither paved nor macadamized, and
where the rain has made various little gutters, is a fine esplanade,
called the Avenue of Sighs. Is that to the honor or to the blame of the
leaders of the town? This singular ambibology is no doubt a stroke of
native wit.

Two handsome side avenues, planted with lindens, lead from the square
to a circular boulevard which forms another promenade, though usually
deserted, where more dirt and rubbish than promenaders may commonly be
seen.

At the height of the discussion which Achille Pigoult was dramatizing
with a coolness and courage worthy of a member of a real parliament,
four personages were walking down one of the linden avenues which led
from the Avenue of Sighs. When they reached the square, they stopped as
if by common consent, and looked at the inhabitants of Arcis, who were
humming before the chateau like so many bees before returning to their
hives at night. The four promenaders were the whole ministerial
conclave of Arcis, namely: the sub-prefect, the _procureur-du-roi_, his
substitute, and the examining-judge, Monsieur Martener. The judge of the
court, Monsieur Michu, was, as we know already, a partisan of the Elder
Branch and a devoted adherent of the house of Cinq-Cygne.

"No, I don't understand the action of the government," repeated the
sub-prefect, Antonin Goulard, pointing to the groups which seemed to
be thickening. "At such an important crisis to leave me without
instructions!"

"In that you are like the rest of us," said Olivier Vinet, the
substitute, smiling.

"Why do you blame the government?" asked the _procureur-du-roi_,
Frederic Marest.

"The ministry is much embarrassed," remarked young Martener. "It knows
that this arrondissement belongs, in a certain way, to the Kellers, and
it is very desirous not to thwart them. It is forced to keep on good
terms with the only man who is comparable to Monsieur de Talleyrand. It
is not to the prefect, but to the Comte de Gondreville that you ought to
send the commissary of police."

"Meanwhile," said Frederic Marest, "the Opposition is bestirring itself;
you see yourselves the influence of Monsieur Giguet. Our mayor, Monsieur
Beauvisage, is presiding over that preparatory meeting."

"After all," said Olivier Vinet slyly to the sub-prefect, "Simon Giguet
is your friend and schoolmate; he will belong to the Thi