of local history
which suddenly placed two centuries of family feuds upon the table
between two covers. The Nabob was afraid that his breakfasts would end
tragically, and tried to calm all those violent natures with his
kindly, conciliatory smile. But Paganetti reassured him. According to
him, the vendetta, although still kept alive in Corsica, very rarely
employs the stiletto and the firearm in these days. The anonymous
letter has taken their place. Indeed, unsigned letters were received
every day at Place Vendome, after the style of this one:--

"You are so generous, Monsieur Jansoulet, that I can do no less
than point out to you Sieur Bornalinco (Ange-Marie) as a traitor
who has gone over to your enemies; I have a very different story to
tell of his cousin Bornalinco (Louis-Thomas), who is devoted to the
good cause," etc.

Or else:

"Monsieur Jansoulet, I fear that your election will be badly
managed and will come to nothing if you continue to employ Castirla
(Josue) of the canton of Odessa, while his kinsman, Luciani, is the
very man you need."

Although he finally gave up reading such missives, the poor candidate
was shaken by all those doubts, by all those passions, being caught in
a network of petty intrigues, his mind full of terror and distrust,
anxious, excited, nervous, feeling keenly the truth of the Corsican
proverb:

"If you are very ill-disposed to your enemy, pray that he may have an
election in his family."

We can imagine that the check-book and the three great drawers in the
mahogany commode were not spared by that cloud of devouring locusts
that swooped down upon "Moussiou Jansoulet's" salons. Nothing could be
more comical than the overbearing way in which those worthy islanders
negotiated their loans, abruptly and with an air of defiance. And yet
they were not the most terrible, except in the matter of boxes of
cigars, which vanished in their pockets so rapidly as to make one think
they proposed to open a _Civette_ on their return to the island. But
just as wounds grow red and inflamed on very hot days, so the election
had caused an amazing recrudescence in the systematic pillage that
reigned in the house. The expenses of advertising were considerable:
Moessard's articles, sent to Corsica in packages of twenty thousand,
thirty thousand copies, with portraits, biographies, pamphlets, all the
printed clamor that it is possible to raise around a name. And th