nd is
a retired officer, with a pension of six hundred francs, and we live at
Presles, where your steward has offered us insult after insult, although
we are persons of good station. Monsieur de Reybert, who is not an
intriguing man, far from it, is a captain of artillery, retired in 1816,
having served twenty years,--always at a distance from the Emperor,
Monsieur le comte. You know of course how difficult it is for soldiers
who are not under the eye of their master to obtain promotion,--not
counting that the integrity and frankness of Monsieur de Reybert were
displeasing to his superiors. My husband has watched your steward for
the last three years, being aware of his dishonesty and intending to
have him lose his place. We are, as you see, quite frank with you.
Moreau has made us his enemies, and we have watched him. I have come to
tell you that you are being tricked in the purchase of the Moulineaux
farm. They mean to get an extra hundred thousand francs out of you,
which are to be divided between the notary, the farmer Leger, and
Moreau. You have written Moreau to invite Margueron, and you are going
to Presles to-day; but Margueron will be ill, and Leger is so certain
of buying the farm that he is now in Paris to draw the money. If we
have enlightened you as to what is going on, and if you want an upright
steward you will take my husband; though noble, he will serve you as he
has served the State. Your steward has made a fortune of two hundred
and fifty thousand francs out of his place; he is not to be pitied
therefore."

The count thanked Madame de Reybert coldly, bestowing upon her the
holy-water of courts, for he despised backbiting; but for all that, he
remembered Derville's doubts, and felt inwardly shaken. Just then he saw
his steward's letter and read it. In its assurances of devotion and its
respectful reproaches for the distrust implied in wishing to negotiate
the purchase for himself, he read the truth.

"Corruption has come to him with fortune,--as it always does!" he said
to himself.

The count then made several inquiries of Madame de Reybert, less to
obtain information than to gain time to observe her; and he wrote a
short note to his notary telling him not to send his head-clerk to
Presles as requested, but to come there himself in time for dinner.

"Though Monsieur le comte," said Madame de Reybert in conclusion, "may
have judged me unfavorably for the step I have taken unknown to my
husband, he