to each other in this
business."

"You can augment the pay of M. Badinot if you deem it necessary."

"Why, really, five hundred francs a month, and his expenses, amounting
to nearly the same sum, appear to me quite sufficient; we shall see by
and by."

"And does he not seem ashamed of the part he plays?"

"On the contrary, he is not a little vain of his employment, and when he
brings me any particulars assumes a certain air of importance he would
fain pass off as due to his diplomatic functions; for the fellow either
thinks, or feigns to do so, that he is deeply engaged in state affairs,
and ventures to observe at times, in a sort of undertone, how very
marvellous it is that such close and intimate relationship should be
found to exist between every-day events and the destinies of kingdoms!
Yes, really, he had the impudence to remark to me the other day, 'What
complicated machinery is contained in the grand machine of state
affairs! Who would think now, M. le Baron, those little humble notes
collected by me will have their part to play in directing and regulating
the affairs of Europe!'"

"Yes, yes, rascals generally seek to veil their mean and base practices
beneath some high-sounding pretext. But the notes you are to give me, my
dear baron, have you them with you?"

"Here they are, drawn up precisely from the accounts furnished by M.
Badinot."

"Pray let me hear them; I am all attention."

M. de Grauen then read as follows:

"_Note relative to Fleur-de-Marie._--About the beginning of the year
1827, a man named Pierre Tournemine, then under sentence in the galleys
at Rochefort for forgery, proposed to a woman named Gervais, but also
known as La Chouette, to take perpetual charge of a little girl, then
between five and six years of age, for a sum of one thousand francs paid
down.

"The bargain being concluded, the child was delivered over to the woman,
with whom she remained two years, when, unable longer to endure the
cruelty shown her, the little girl disappeared; nor did the Chouette
hear anything of her for several years, when she unexpectedly met with
her at a small public-house in the Cite, nearly seven weeks ago. The
infant, now grown into a young woman, then bore the appellation of La
Goualeuse.

"A few days previously to this meeting, the above mentioned Tournemine,
who had become acquainted with the Schoolmaster at the galleys of
Rochefort, had sent to Bras Rouge (the regular, though concealed