shall need your intelligence; that of a judge may not perhaps be
enough----"

Nine magistrates out of ten would deny the influence of the wife over
her husband in such cases; but though this may be a remarkable exception
in society, it may be insisted on as true, even if improbable. The
magistrate is like the priest, especially in Paris, where the best of
the profession are to be found; he rarely speaks of his business in
the Courts, excepting of settled cases. Not only do magistrates'
wives affect to know nothing; they have enough sense of propriety to
understand that it would damage their husbands if, when they are told
some secret, they allowed their knowledge to be suspected.

Nevertheless, on some great occasions, when promotion depends on the
decision taken, many a wife, like Amelie, has helped the lawyer in his
study of a case. And, after all, these exceptions, which, of course, are
easily denied, since they remain unknown, depend entirely on the way in
which the struggle between two natures has worked out in home-life. Now,
Madame Camusot controlled her husband completely.

When all in the house were asleep, the lawyer and his wife sat down to
the desk, where the magistrate had already laid out the documents in the
case.

"Here are the notes, forwarded to me, at my request, by the Prefet of
police," said Camusot.

"_The Abbe Carlos Herrera_.

"This individual is undoubtedly the man named Jacques Collin,
known as _Trompe-la-Mort_, who was last arrested in 1819, in the
dwelling-house of a certain Madame Vauquer, who kept a common
boarding-house in the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve, where he lived
in concealment under the alias of Vautrin."

A marginal note in the Prefet's handwriting ran thus:

"Orders have been sent by telegraph to Bibi-Lupin, chief of the
Safety department, to return forthwith, to be confronted with the
prisoner, as he is personally acquainted with Jacques Collin, whom
he, in fact, arrested in 1819 with the connivance of a
Mademoiselle Michonneau.

"The boarders who then lived in the Maison Vauquer are still
living, and may be called to establish his identity.

"The self-styled Carlos Herrera is Monsieur Lucien de Rubempre's
intimate friend and adviser, and for three years past has
furnished him with considerable sums, evidently obtained by
dishonest means.

"This partnership, if the identity of the Spaniard with Jacques
Collin