head of the Colonel. She had always heard M. Langevin spoken of as her
maternal grandfather, and now she seemed to hear that her mother was the
daughter of Fougas. But she knew at the first words, that it was no
longer possible for her to marry the Colonel, and that she would soon be
married to Leon Renault. It was, therefore, from an impulse of joy and
gratitude that she flung herself into the arms of the young-old man.

"Ah, Monsieur!" said she, "I have always loved and respected you like a
grandfather!"

"And I, my poor child, have always behaved myself like an old beast! All
men are brutes, and all women are angels. You divined with the delicate
instinct of your sex, that you owed me respect, and I, fool that I am,
didn't divine anything at all! Whew! Without the venerable Aunt there,
I'd have made a pretty piece of work!"

"No," said the aunt. "You would have found out the truth in going over
our family papers."

"Would that I could have seen them and nothing more! Just to think that
I went off to seek my heirs in the department of Meurthe, when I had
left my family in Fontainebleau! Imbecile! Bah! But never mind.
Clementine! You shall be rich, you shall marry the man you love! Where
is he, the brave boy? I want to see him, to embrace him, to tell him--"

"Alas, Monsieur; you just threw him out of the window."

"I? Hold on, it _is_ true. I had forgotten all about it. Fortunately
he's not hurt, and I'll go at once and make amends for my folly. You
shall get married when you want to; the two weddings shall come off
together.--But in fact, no! What am I saying? I shall not marry now! It
will all be well soon, my child, my dear granddaughter. Mademoiselle
Sambucco you're a model aunt; embrace me!"

He ran to M. Renault's house, and Gothon, who saw him coming, ran down
to shut him out.

"Ain't you ashamed of yourself," said she, "to act this way with them as
brought you to life again? Ah! If it had to be done over again! We
wouldn't turn the house upside down again for the sake of your fine
eyes! Madame's crying, Monsieur is tearing his hair, M. Leon has just
been sending two officers to hunt you up. What have you been at again
since morning?"

Fougas gave her a twirl on her feet and found himself face to face with
the engineer. Leon had heard the sound of a quarrel, and on seeing the
Colonel excited, with flashing eyes, he expected some brutal aggression
and did not wait for the first blow. A struggle took pl