o match his wits against
the little lawyer. Petit-Claud made an effort over himself, and gave
his acquaintance to understand that he (Petit-Claud) was only an
insignificant little country attorney, with no sort of craft nor
subtlety.

The whole machinery of modern society is so infinitely more complex than
in ancient times, that the subdivision of human faculty is the result.
The great men of the days of old were perforce universal geniuses,
appearing at rare intervals like lighted torches in an antique world. In
the course of ages the intellect began to work on special lines, but the
great man still could "take all knowledge for his province." A man "full
cautelous," as was said of Louis XI., for instance, could apply that
special faculty in every direction, but to-day the single quality is
subdivided, and every profession has its special craft. A peasant or a
pettifogging solicitor might very easily overreach an astute diplomate
over a bargain in some remote country village; and the wiliest
journalist may prove the veriest simpleton in a piece of business.
Lucien could but be a puppet in the hands of Petit-Claud.

That guileful practitioner, as might have been expected, had written
the article himself; Angouleme and L'Houmeau, thus put on their
mettle, thought it incumbent upon them to pay honor to Lucien. His
fellow-citizens, assembled in the Place du Murier, were Cointets'
workpeople from the papermills and printing-house, with a sprinkling
of Lucien's old schoolfellows and the clerks in the employ of Messieurs
Petit-Claud and Cachan. As for the attorney himself, he was once more
Lucien's chum of old days; and he thought, not without reason, that
before very long he should learn David's whereabouts in some unguarded
moment. And if David came to grief through Lucien's fault, the poet
would find Angouleme too hot to hold him. Petit-Claud meant to secure
his hold; he posed, therefore, as Lucien's inferior.

"What better could I have done?" he said accordingly. "My old chum's
sister was involved, it is true, but there are some positions that
simply cannot be maintained in a court of law. David asked me on the
first of June to ensure him a quiet life for three months; he had a
quiet life until September, and even so I have kept his property out
of his creditors' power, for I shall gain my case in the Court-Royal;
I contend that the wife is a privileged creditor, and her claim is
absolute, unless there is evidence of i