illed the poor cripple with joy
unspeakable. "She is not in love!" he whispered to himself, rubbing his
hands till the skin was nearly peeled off. At this moment Exupere
tore through the garden and the house, plunged into the salon like an
avalanche, and said to Dumay in an audible whisper, "The young man is
here!" Dumay sprang for his pistols and rushed out.

"Good God! suppose he kills him!" cried Madame Dumay, bursting into
tears.

"What is the matter?" asked Modeste, looking innocently at her friends
and not betraying the slightest fear.

"It is all about a young man who is hanging round the house," cried
Madame Latournelle.

"Well!" said Modeste, "why should Dumay kill him?"

"Sancta simplicita!" ejaculated Butscha, looking at his master as
proudly as Alexander is made to contemplate Babylon in Lebrun's great
picture.

"Where are you going, Modeste?" asked the mother as her daughter rose to
leave the room.

"To get ready for your bedtime, mamma," answered Modeste, in a voice as
pure as the tones of an instrument.

"You haven't paid your expenses," said the dwarf to Dumay when he
returned.

"Modeste is as pure as the Virgin on our altar," cried Madame
Latournelle.

"Good God! such excitements wear me out," said Dumay; "and yet I'm a
strong man."

"May I lose that twenty-five sous if I have the slightest idea what you
are about," remarked Gobenheim. "You seem to me to be crazy."

"And yet it is all about a treasure," said Butscha, standing on tiptoe
to whisper in Gobenheim's ear.

"Dumay, I am sorry to say that I am still almost certain of what I told
you," persisted Madame Mignon.

"The burden of proof is now on you, madame," said Dumay, calmly; "it is
for you to prove that we are mistaken."

Discovering that the matter in question was only Modeste's honor,
Gobenheim took his hat, made his bow, and walked off, carrying his ten
sous with him,--there being evidently no hope of another rubber.

"Exupere, and you too, Butscha, may leave us," said Madame Latournelle.
"Go back to Havre; you will get there in time for the last piece at the
theatre. I'll pay for your tickets."

When the four friends were alone with Madame Mignon, Madame Latournelle,
after looking at Dumay, who being a Breton understood the mother's
obstinacy, and at her husband who was fingering the cards, felt herself
authorized to speak up.

"Madame Mignon, come now, tell us what decisive thing has struck your
mind."

"Ah, my g