bout; and as we have eleven hundred francs of
savings between us, we thought we could not do better than put them in
the mistress' hands----"

"Die misdress," echoed Kolb fervently.

"Kolb," cried David, "you and I will never part. Pay a thousand francs
on account to Maitre Cachan, and take a receipt for it; we will keep the
rest. And, Kolb, no power on earth must extract a word from you as to my
work, or my absences from home, or the things you may see me bring back;
and if I send you to look for plants for me, you know, no human being
must set eyes on you. They will try to corrupt you, my good Kolb;
they will offer you thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of francs, to
tell----"

"Dey may offer me millions," cried Kolb, "but not ein vort from me shall
dey traw. Haf I not peen in der army, and know my orders?"

"Well, you are warned. March, and ask M. Petit-Claud to go with you as
witness."

"Yes," said the Alsacien. "Some tay I hope to be rich enough to dust der
chacket of dat man of law. I don't like his gountenance."

"Kolb is a good man, madame," said Big Marion; "he is as strong as a
Turk, and as meek as a lamb. Just the one that would make a woman happy.
It was his notion, too, to invest our savings this way--'safings,' as he
calls them. Poor man, if he doesn't speak right, he thinks right, and
I understand him all the same. He has a notion of working for somebody
else, so as to save us his keep----"

"Surely we shall be rich, if it is only to repay these good folk," said
David, looking at his wife.

Eve thought it quite simple; it was no surprise to her to find
other natures on a level with her own. The dullest--nay, the most
indifferent--observer could have seen all the beauty of her nature in
her way of receiving this service.

"You will be rich some day, dear master," said Marion; "your bread is
ready baked. Your father has just bought another farm, he is putting by
money for you; that he is."

And under the circumstances, did not Marion show an exquisite delicacy
of feeling by belittling, as it were, her kindness in this way?

French procedure, like all things human, has its defects; nevertheless,
the sword of justice, being a two-edged weapon, is excellently adapted
alike for attack or defence. Procedure, moreover, has its amusing side;
for when opposed, lawyers arrive at an understanding, as they well may
do, without exchanging a word; through their manner of conducting their
case, a suit bec