otograph frankly, in
order to have it always before her, she had asked for it, and Saniel had
given it to her, in her mother's presence.

"If she has it!" exclaimed Mme. Cormier. "Ah! my dear sir, you do not
know the place that all your goodness, and the services that you have
rendered us, have made for you in our hearts."

And passing into the next room, she brought a small velvet frame in
which was the photograph. Saniel took it out, on explaining the study
for which he wanted it, and after promising to bring it back soon, he
returned to his rooms.

Decidedly, everything was going well. The plate was destroyed, Phillis's
proof in his hands; he had nothing more to fear from this side. As to
the experiment made on the mother, it was decisive enough to inspire him
with confidence. If Madame Cormier, who had seen him so often and for so
long a time, and who thought of him at every instant, did not recognize
him, how was it possible that Madame Dammauville, who had only seen him
from a distance and for a few seconds, could recognize him after several
months?

Would he never accustom himself to the idea that his life could not have
the tranquil monotony of a bourgeois existence, that it would experience
shocks and storms, but that if he knew how to remain always master of
his force and will, it would bring him to a safe port?

The calm that was his before this vexation came back to him, and when
the last proofs of his concours, confirming the success of the first,
had given him the two titles that he so ardently desired and pursued
at the price of so many pains, so many efforts and privations, he could
enjoy his triumph in all security.

He held the present in his strong hands, and the future was his.

Now he could walk straight, boldly, his head high, jostling those who
annoyed him, according to his natural temperament.

Although these last months had been full of terrible agitation for
him, on account of everything connected with the affair of Caffie and
Florentin, and above all, on account of the fatigue, emotion, and the
fever of his 'concours', yet he had not interrupted his special works
for a day or even an hour, and his experiments followed for so many
years had at length produced important results, that prudence alone
prevented him from publishing. In opposition to the official teaching
of the school, these discoveries would have caused the hair to stand
upright on the old heads; and it was not the time, w