carefully.
He is as weak as a woman, and as vain as a journalist. Besides, he is
ashamed at being poor. No; I can mould him like wax into any shape I
like. He will be just what we wish."

"Are you sure," asked Hortebise, "that Flavia will have nothing to say
in this matter?"

"I had rather, with your permission, say nothing on that head," returned
Mascarin. He broke off his speech and listened eagerly. "There is some
one listening," said he. "Hark!"

The sound was repeated, and the doctor was about to seek refuge in the
inner room, when Mascarin laid a detaining hand upon his arm.

"Stay," observed he, "it is only Beaumarchef;" and as he spoke,
he struck a gilded bell that stood on his desk. In another instant
Beaumarchef appeared, and with an air in which familiarity was mingled
with respect, he saluted in military fashion.

"Ah," said the doctor pleasantly, "do you take your nips of brandy
regularly?"

"Only occasionally, sir," stammered the man.

"Too often, too often, my good fellow. Do you think that your nose and
eyelids are not real telltales?"

"But I assure you, sir--"

"Do you not remember I told you that you had asthmatic symptoms?
Why, the movement of your pectoral muscles shows that your lungs are
affected."

"But I have been running, sir."

Mascarin broke in upon this conversation, which he considered frivolous.
"If he is out of breath," remarked he, "it is because he has been
endeavoring to repair a great act of carelessness that he has committed.
Well, Beaumarchef, how did you get on?"

"All right, sir," returned he, with a look of triumph. "Good!"

"What are you talking about?" asked the doctor.

Mascarin gave his friend a meaning glance, and then, in a careless
manner, replied, "Caroline Schimmel, a former servant of the Champdoce
family, also patronizes our office. How did you find her, Beaumarchef?"

"Well, an idea occurred to me."

"Pooh! do you have ideas at your time of life?"

Beaumarchef put on an air of importance. "My idea was this," he went
on: "as I left the office with Toto Chupin, I said to myself, the woman
would certainly drop in at some pub before she reached the boulevard."

"A sound argument," remarked the doctor.

"Therefore Toto and I took a squint into every one we passed, and before
we got to the Rue Carreau we saw her in one, sure enough."

"And Toto is after her now?"

"Yes, sir; he said he would follow her like her shadow, and will bring
in a report