and chivalry, and there was no proof that there had been
anything more than a few mad caresses between the two misdemeanants; yet
here was the woman with the man for whom she had imperilled her future
and that of her husband and child!

As though Carmen understood what was going on in his mind, she said:
"Since you know everything, you can understand that I want a few words
with M'sieu' George here alone."

"Madame, I beg of you," the Clerk of the Court answered instantly, his
voice trembling a little--"I beg that you will not be alone with him.
As I believe, your husband is willing to let bygones be bygones, and to
begin to-morrow as though there was no to-day. In such case you should
not see Monsieur Masson here alone. It is bad enough to see him here in
the office of the Clerk of the Court, but to see him alone--what would
Monsieur Jean Jacques say? Also, outside there in the street, if our
neighbours should come to know of the trouble, what would they say? I
wish not to be tiresome, but as a friend, a true friend of your whole
family, madame--yes, in spite of all, your whole family--I hope you
will realize that I must remain here. I owe it to a past made happy by
kindness which is to me like life itself. Monsieur Masson, is it
not so?" he added, turning to the master-carpenter. More flushed
and agitated than when he had faced Jean Jacques in the flume, the
master-carpenter said: "If she wants a few words-of farewell--alone
with me, she must have it, M'sieu' Fille. The other room--eh? Outside
there"--he jerked a finger towards the street--"they won't know that you
are not with us; and as for Jean Jacques, isn't it possible for a Clerk
of the Court to stretch the truth a little? Isn't the Clerk of the Court
a man as well as a mummy? I'd do as much for you, little lawyer, any
time. A word to say farewell, you understand!" He looked M. Fille
squarely in the eye.

"If I had to answer M. Jean Jacques on such a matter--and so much at
stake--"

Masson interrupted. "Well, if you like we'll bind your eyes and put wads
in your ears, and you can stay, so that you'll have been in the room
all the time, and yet have heard and seen nothing at all. How is that,
m'sieu'? It's all right, isn't it?"

M. Fille stood petrified for a moment at the audacity of the
proposition. For him, the Clerk of the Court, to be blinded and made
ridiculous with wads in his ears-impossible!

"Grace of Heaven, I would prefer to lie!" he answered