l which had met Quennebert's
wedding party at the church door.

Everything turned out as Quennebert had anticipated. Madame Quennebert,
furious at the deceit which had been practised on her, refused to listen
to her husband's justification, and Trumeau, not letting the grass grow
under his feet, hastened the next day to launch an accusation of bigamy
against the notary; for the paper which had been found in the nuptial
camber was nothing less than an attested copy of a contract of marriage
concluded between Quennebert and Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois. It
was by the merest chance that Trumeau had come on the record of the
marriage, and he now challenged his rival to produce a certificate of
the death of his first wife. Charlotte Boullenois, after two years of
marriage, had demanded a deed of separation, which demand Quennebert had
opposed. While the case was going on she had retired to the convent of
La Raquette, where her intrigue with de Jars began. The commander easily
induced her to let herself be carried off by force. He then concealed
his conquest by causing her to adopt male attire, a mode of dress which
accorded marvellously well with her peculiar tastes and rather masculine
frame. At first Quennebert had instituted an active but fruitless
search for his missing wife, but soon became habituated to his state of
enforced single blessedness, enjoying to the full the liberty it brought
with it. But his business had thereby suffered, and once having made the
acquaintance of Madame Rapally, he cultivated it assiduously, knowing
her fortune would be sufficient to set him straight again with the
world, though he was obliged to exercise the utmost caution and reserve
in has intercourse with her, as she on her side displayed none of these
qualities. At last, however, matters came to such a pass that he
must either go to prison or run the risk of a second marriage. So he
reluctantly named a day for the ceremony, resolving to leave Paris with
Madame Rapally as soon as he had settled with his creditors.

In the short interval which ensued, and while Trumeau was hugging the
knowledge of the discovery he had made, a stroke of luck had brought the
pretended chevalier to La Constantin. As Quennebert had kept an eye
on de Jars and was acquainted with all his movements, he was aware
of everything that happened at Perregaud's, and as Charlotte's death
preceded his second marriage by one day, he knew that no serious
consequences w