bnoxious to justice; for your position
with regard to the d'Esgrignons excuses you up to a certain point,
but----"

"Pardon me, sir, if I interrupt you," said Chesnel. "I have just spoken
aloud the things which your superiors are thinking and dare not avow;
though what those things are any intelligent man can guess, and you are
an intelligent man.--Grant that the young man had acted imprudently, can
you suppose that the sight of a d'Esgrignon dragged into an Assize Court
can be gratifying to the King, the Court, or the Ministry? Is it to the
interest of the kingdom, or of the country, that historic houses should
fall? Is not the existence of a great aristocracy, consecrated by time,
a guarantee of that Equality which is the catchword of the Opposition
at this moment? Well and good; now not only has there not been the
slightest imprudence, but we are innocent victims caught in a trap."

"I am curious to know how," said the examining magistrate.

"For the last two years, the Sieur du Croisier has regularly allowed
M. le Comte d'Esgrignon to draw upon him for very large sums," said
Chesnel. "We are going to produce drafts for more than a hundred
thousand crowns, which he continually met; the amounts being remitted by
me--bear that well in mind--either before or after the bills fell due.
M. le Comte d'Esgrignon is in a position to produce a receipt for the
sum paid by him, before this bill, this alleged forgery was drawn. Can
you fail to see in that case that this charge is a piece of spite and
party feeling? And a charge brought against the heir of a great house
by one of the most dangerous enemies of the Throne and Altar, what is
it but an odious slander? There has been no more forgery in this affair
than there has been in my office. Summon Mme. du Croisier, who knows
nothing as yet of the charge of forgery; she will declare to you that
I brought the money and paid it over to her, so that in her husband's
absence she might remit the amount for which he has not asked her.
Examine du Croisier on the point; he will tell you that he knows nothing
of my payment to Mme. du Croisier.

"You may make such assertions as these, sir, in M. d'Esgrignon's salon,
or in any other house where people know nothing of business, and they
may be believed; but no examining magistrate, unless he is a driveling
idiot, can imagine that a woman like Mme. du Croisier, so submissive as
she is to her husband, has a hundred thousand crowns lying in