"the bourse is perfidious; and the man
who drives his own carriage to-day, to-morrow may have no shoes to
wear."

M. Costeclar nodded with a smile.

"Exactly so," said he. "A marriage protects one against such
reverses.

"Every man in active business, when he marries, settles upon his
wife reasonable fortune. I expect to settle six hundred thousand
francs upon mine."

"So that, if you were to meet with an--accident?"

"We should enjoy our thirty thousand a year under the very nose of
the creditors."

Blushing with shame, Mlle. Gilberte rose.

"But then," said she, "it isn't a wife that you are looking for: it
is an accomplice."

He was spared the embarrassment of an answer, by the servant, who
came in, bringing in tea. He accepted a cup; and after two or
three anecdotes, judging that he had done enough for a first visit,
he withdrew, and a moment later they heard his carriage driving off
at full gallop.

XVI

It was not without mature thought that M. Costeclar had determined
to withdraw, despite M. Favoral's pressing overtures. However
infatuated he might be with his own merits, he had been compelled
to surrender to evidence, and to acknowledge that he had not exactly
succeeded with Mlle. Gilberte. But he also knew that he had the
head of the house on his side; and he flattered himself that he
had produced an excellent impression upon the guests of the house.

"Therefore," had he said to himself, "if I leave first, they will
sing my praise, lecture the young person, and make her listen to
reason."

He was not far from being right. Mme. Desclavettes had been
completely subjugated by the grand manners of this pretender; and
M. Desclavettes did not hesitate to affirm that he had rarely met
any one who pleased him more.

The others, M. Chapelain and old Desormeaux, did not, doubtless,
share this optimism; but M. Costeclar's annual half-million
obscured singularly their clear-sightedness.

They thought perhaps, they had discovered in him some alarming
features; but they had full and entire confidence in their friend
Favoral's prudent sagacity.

The particular and methodic cashier of the Mutual Credit was not
apt to be enthusiastic; and, if he opened the doors of his house to
a young man, if he was so anxious to have him for his son-in-law,
he must evidently have taken ample information.

Finally there are certain family matters from which sensible people
keep away as they would from the pl