--"

Vimeux. "All the more because the charming Madame Colleville won't
invite Fleury to her house. He backbites her in revenge."

Fleury. "She may not receive me on the same footing that she does
Thuillier, but I go there--"

Thuillier. "When? how?--under her windows?"

Though Fleury was dreaded as a bully in all the offices, he received
Thuillier's speech in silence. This meekness, which surprised the other
clerks, was owing to a certain note for two hundred francs, of doubtful
value, which Thuillier agreed to pass over to his sister. After this
skirmish dead silence prevailed. They all wrote steadily from one to
three o'clock. Du Bruel did not return.

About half-past three the usual preparations for departure, the brushing
of hats, the changing of coats, went on in all the ministerial offices.
That precious thirty minutes thus employed served to shorten by just so
much the day's labor. At this hour the over-heated rooms cool off;
the peculiar odor that hangs about the bureaus evaporates; silence
is restored. By four o'clock none but a few clerks who do their duty
conscientiously remain. A minister may know who are the real workers
under him if he will take the trouble to walk through the divisions
after four o'clock,--a species of prying, however, that no one of his
dignity would condescend to.

The various heads of divisions and bureaus usually encountered each
other in the courtyards at this hour and exchanged opinions on the
events of the day. On this occasion they departed by twos and threes,
most of them agreeing in favor of Rabourdin; while the old stagers,
like Monsieur Clergeot, shook their heads and said, "Habent sua sidera
lites." Saillard and Baudoyer were politely avoided, for nobody knew
what to say to them about La Billardiere's death, it being fully
understood that Baudoyer wanted the place, though it was certainly not
due to him.

When Saillard and his son-in-law had gone a certain distance from the
ministry the former broke silence and said: "Things look badly for you,
my poor Baudoyer."

"I can't understand," replied the other, "what Elisabeth was dreaming
of when she sent Godard in such a hurry to get a passport for Falleix;
Godard tells me she hired a post-chaise by the advice of my uncle
Mitral, and that Falleix has already started for his own part of the
country."

"Some matter connected with our business," suggested Saillard.

"Our most pressing business just now is to look after