usand, it would give her, at five
per cent, an income of six thousand francs. Thus, so far from losing her
resources, the old lady actually gained by the transaction. But she
did not leave Nemours. Minoret thought he had been tricked,--as though
Bongrand had had an idea that Ursula's presence was intolerable to him;
and he felt a keen resentment which embittered his hatred to his victim.
Then began a secret drama which was terrible in its effects,--the
struggle of two determinations; one which impelled Minoret to drive his
victim from Nemours, the other which gave Ursula the strength to
bear persecution, the cause of which was for a certain length of time
undiscoverable. The situation was a strange and even unnatural one,
and yet it was led up to by all the preceding events, which served as a
preface to what was now to occur.

Madame Minoret, to whom her husband had given a handsome silver service
costing twenty thousand francs, gave a magnificent dinner every Sunday,
the day on which her son, the deputy procureur, came from Fontainebleau,
bringing with him certain of his friends. On these occasions Zelie
sent to Paris for delicacies--obliging Dionis the notary to emulate
her display. Goupil, whom the Minorets endeavored to ignore as a
questionable person who might tarnish their splendor, was not invited
until the end of July. The clerk, who was fully aware of this intended
neglect, was forced to be respectful to Desire, who, since his entrance
into office, had assumed a haughty and dignified air, even in his own
family.

"You must have forgotten Esther," Goupil said to him, "as you are so
much in love with Mademoiselle Mirouet."

"In the first place, Esther is dead, monsieur; and in the next I have
never even thought of Ursula," said the new magistrate.

"Why, what did you tell me, papa Minoret?" cried Goupil, insolently.

Minoret, caught in a lie by a man whom he feared, would have lost
countenance if it had not been for a project in his head, which was,
in fact, the reason why Goupil was invited to dinner,--Minoret having
remembered the proposition the clerk had once made to prevent the
marriage between Savinien and Ursula. For all answer, he led Goupil
hurriedly to the end of the garden.

"You'll soon be twenty-eight years old, my good fellow," said he, "and
I don't see that you are on the road to fortune. I wish you well, for
after all you were once my son's companion. Listen to me. If you can
persuade that