ock in the
morning, she will marry M. Leon Renault, your benefactor!"

"And I forbid it--do you hear, Madame Aunt? And if she pretends to marry
this boy----"

"What will you do?"

"I'll curse her!"

Leon could not help laughing. The malediction of this
twenty-five-year-old Colonel appeared rather more comic than terrible.
But Clementine grew pale, burst into tears, and fell, in her turn, at
the feet of Fougas.

"Monsieur," cried she, kissing his hands, "do not overwhelm a poor girl
who venerates you, who loves you, who will sacrifice her happiness if
you demand it! By all the marks of tenderness which I have lavished upon
you for a month, by the tears I have poured upon your coffin, by the
respectful zeal with which I have urged on your resuscitation, I conjure
you to pardon our offences. I will not marry Leon if you forbid me; I
will do anything to please you; I will obey you in everything; but, for
God's sake, do not pour upon me your maledictions!"

"Embrace me," said Fougas. "You yield; I pardon."

Clementine raised herself, all radiant with joy, and held up her
beautiful forehead. The stupefaction of the spectators, especially of
those most interested, can be better imagined than described. An old
mummy dictating laws, breaking off marriages, and imposing his desires
on the whole house! Pretty little Clementine, so reasonable, so
obedient, so happy in the prospect of marrying Leon Renault,
sacrificing, all at once, her affections, her happiness, and almost her
duty, to the caprice of an interloper. M. Nibor declared that it was
madness. As for Leon, he would have butted his head into all the walls,
if his mother had not held him back.

"Ah, my poor child!" said she, "why did you bring that thing from
Berlin?"

"It's my fault!" cried old Monsieur Renault.

"No," interrupted Dr. Martout, "it's mine."

The members of the Parisian committee discussed with M. Rollon the new
aspect of the case. "Had they resuscitated a madman? Had the
revivification produced some disorder of the nervous system? Had the
abuse of wine and other drinkables during the first repast caused a
delirium? What an interesting autopsy it would be, if they could dissect
M. Fougas at the next regular meeting!"

"You would do very well as far as you would go, gentlemen," said the
Colonel of the 23d. "The autopsy might explain the delirium of our
unfortunate friend, but it would not account for the impression produced
upon the young lad