he boulevard Baron, "we are very uneasy; for Gilet
is clever with all weapons."

"Never mind," said the old provincial diplomatist; "Philippe has managed
this thing well from the beginning. I should never have thought that
big, easy-going fellow would have succeeded as he has. The two have
rolled together like a couple of thunder-clouds."

"Oh!" said Carpentier, "Philippe is a remarkable man. His conduct before
the Court of Peers was a masterpiece of diplomacy."

"Well, Captain Renard," said one of the townsfolk to Max's friend. "They
say wolves don't devour each other, but it seems that Max is going
to set his teeth in Colonel Bridau. That's pretty serious among you
gentlemen of the Old Guard."

"You make fun of it, do you? Because the poor fellow amused himself a
little at night, you are all against him," said Potel. "But Gilet is a
man who couldn't stay in a hole like Issoudun without finding something
to do."

"Well, gentlemen," remarked another, "Max and the colonel must play out
their game. Bridau had to avenge his brother. Don't you remember Max's
treachery to the poor lad?"

"Bah! nothing but an artist," said Renard.

"But the real question is about the old man's property," said a third.
"They say Monsieur Gilet was laying hands on fifty thousand francs a
year, when the colonel turned him out of his uncle's house."

"Gilet rob a man! Come, don't say that to any one but me, Monsieur
Canivet," cried Potel. "If you do, I'll make you swallow your
tongue,--and without any sauce."

Every household in town offered prayers for the honorable Colonel
Bridau.

CHAPTER XVI

Towards four o'clock the following day, the officers of the old army
who were at Issoudun or its environs, were sauntering about the place
du Marche, in front of an eating-house kept by a man named Lacroix, and
waiting the arrival of Colonel Philippe Bridau. The banquet in honor
of the coronation was to take place with military punctuality at five
o'clock. Various groups of persons were talking of Max's discomfiture,
and his dismissal from old Rouget's house; for not only were the
officers to dine at Lacroix's, but the common soldiers had determined
on a meeting at a neighboring wine-shop. Among the officers, Potel and
Renard were the only ones who attempted to defend Max.

"Is it any of our business what takes place among the old man's heirs?"
said Renard.

"Max is weak with women," remarked the cynical Potel.

"There'll be sabr