d to
him when giving up his position as cashier: "I am to be bailiff for my
colonel, and all my fortune, except what my wife needs, is to go to
the children of our little Modeste." Every one in Havre had therefore
propounded the same question that the notary had already put to himself:
"If Dumay's share in the profits is six hundred thousand francs, and
he is going to be Monsieur Mignon's bailiff, then Monsieur Mignon must
certainly have a colossal fortune. He arrived at Marseilles on a ship of
his own, loaded with indigo; and they say at the Bourse that the cargo,
not counting the ship, is worth more than he gives out as his whole
fortune."

The colonel was unwilling to dismiss the servants he had brought back
with him, whom he had chosen with care during his travels; and he
therefore hired a house for them in the lower part of Ingouville, where
he installed his valet, cook, and coachman, all Negroes, and three
mulattos on whose fidelity he could rely. The coachman was told to
search for saddle-horses for Mademoiselle and for his master, and for
carriage-horses for the caleche in which the colonel and the lieutenant
had returned to Havre. That carriage, bought in Paris, was of the
latest fashion, and bore the arms of La Bastie, surmounted by a count's
coronet. These things, insignificant in the eyes of a man who for four
years had been accustomed to the unbridled luxury of the Indies and of
the English merchants at Canton, were the subject of much comment
among the business men of Havre and the inhabitants of Ingouville and
Graville. Before five days had elapsed the rumor of them ran from one
end of Normandy to the other like a train of gunpowder touched by fire.

"Monsieur Mignon has come back from China with millions," some one said
in Rouen; "and it seems he was made a count in mid-ocean."

"But he was the Comte de La Bastie before the Revolution," answered
another.

"So they call him a liberal just because he was plain Charles Mignon for
twenty-five years! What are we coming to?" said a third.

Modeste was considered, therefore, notwithstanding the silence of her
parents and friends, as the richest heiress in Normandy, and all eyes
began once more to see her merits. The aunt and sister of the Duc
d'Herouville confirmed in the aristocratic salons of Bayeux Monsieur
Charles Mignon's right to the title and arms of count, derived from
Cardinal Mignon, for whom the Cardinal's hat and tassels were added as a
crest.