r.

All this passed so rapidly that the young painter felt as if a tornado
had passed through his humble dwelling; but as peace and calm returned,
he began to see that Providence had directly interposed in his favor,
and had sent Rose and Gaston to his place to furnish him with fresh and
important facts. All that Rose had said, incomplete as her statement
was, had thrown a ray of light upon an intrigue which, up till now, had
been shaded in the thickest gloom. The relations of Paul with Mascarin
explained why Catenac had been so anxious to have Rose imprisoned, and
also seemed to hint vaguely at the reason for the extraction of the
forged signatures from the simple Gaston. What could be the meaning
of the Company started by De Croisenois at the very moment when he was
about to celebrate his union with Sabine?

Andre desired to see the advertisement of the Company for himself; and
without stopping to change his blouse, ran downstairs to the corner
of the street, where Gaston had told him that the announcement of the
Company was placarded up. He found it there, in a most conspicuous
position, with all its advantages most temptingly set forth. Nothing
was wanting; and there was even a woodcut of Tafila, in Algiers, which
represented the copper mines in full working operation; while at the
top, the name of the chairman, the Marquis de Croisenois, stood out in
letters some six inches in height.

Andre stood gazing at this wonderful production for fully five minutes,
when all at once a gleam of prudence flashed across his mind.

"I am a fool," said he to himself. "How do I know how many watchful eyes
are now fixed on me, reading on my countenance my designs regarding this
matter and its leading spirit?"

Upon his return to his room, he sat for more than an hour, turning over
the whole affair in his mind, and at length he flattered himself that
he had hit upon an expedient. Behind the house in which he lodged was a
large garden, belonging to some public institution, the front of which
was in the Rue Laval. A wall of about seven feet in height divided these
grounds from the premises in the Rue de la Tour d'Auvergne. Why should
he not go out by the way of these ornamental grounds and so elude the
vigilance of the spies who might be in waiting at the front of the
house?

"I can," thought he, "alter my appearance so much that I shall not
be recognized. I need not return here to sleep. I can ask a bed from
Vignol, who will h