ot only in carefully observing the enemy's movements, but
also in guessing his intentions from those movements, and in modifying
his own plan whenever the enemy interferes with it by some unexpected
action. Now, if my uncle and Max drive out together, they are going
to Vatan; Maxence will have promised to reconcile him with Flore, who
'fugit ad salices,'--the manoeuvre is General Virgil's. If that's the
line they take, I don't yet know what I shall do; I shall have some
hours to think it over, for my uncle can't sign a power of attorney at
ten o'clock at night; the notaries will all be in bed. If, as I
rather fancy, Max goes on in advance of my uncle to teach Flore her
lesson,--which seems necessary and probable,--the rogue is lost! you
will see the sort of revenge we old soldiers take in a game of this
kind. Now, as I need a helper for this last stroke, I must go back to
Mignonnet's and make an arrangement with my friend Carpentier."

Shaking hands with Monsieur Hochon, Philippe went off down the
Petite-Narette to Mignonnet's house. Ten minutes later, Monsieur Hochon
saw Max ride off at a quick trot; and the old miser's curiosity was
so powerfully excited that he remained standing at his window, eagerly
expecting to hear the wheels of the old demi-fortune, which was not long
in coming. Jean-Jacques's impatience made him follow Max within twenty
minutes. Kouski, no doubt under orders from his master, walked the horse
through the town.

"If they get to Paris, all is lost," thought Monsieur Hochon.

At this moment, a lad from the faubourg de Rome came to the Hochon house
with a letter for Baruch. The two grandsons, much subdued by the events
of the morning, had kept their rooms of their own accord during the day.
Thinking over their prospects, they saw plainly that they had better be
cautious with their grandparents. Baruch knew very well the influence
which his grandfather Hochon exerted over his grandfather and
grandmother Borniche: Monsieur Hochon would not hesitate to get their
property for Adolphine if his conduct were such as to make them pin
their hopes on the grand marriage with which his grandfather had
threatened him that morning. Being richer than Francois, Baruch had the
most to lose; he therefore counselled an absolute surrender, with no
other condition than the payment of their debt to Max. As for Francois,
his future was entirely in the hands of his grandfather; he had no
expectations except from him, and