of discouragement.

"I might as well give up the fight, then," he said, "and try to
compromise."

"Why so? We don't know what may happen. Keep quiet, be patient;
I am here, and I am looking out for squalls."

He got up and prepared to leave.

"You have more experience than I have," said M. de Tregars; "and,
since that's your opinion----"

M. d'Escajoul had resumed all his good humor.

"Very well, then, it's understood," he said, pressing M. de Tregars'
hand. "I am watching for both of us; and if I see a chance, I come
at once, and you act."

But the outer door had hardly closed, when suddenly the countenance
of Marius de Tregars changed. Shaking the hand which M. d'Escajoul
had just touched,--"Pouah!" he said with a look of thorough
disgust,--"pouah!"

And noticing Maxence's look of utter surprise,

"Don't you understand," he said, "that this old rascal has been sent
to me by Thaller to feel my intentions, and mislead me by false
information? I had scented him, fortunately; and, if either one of
us is dupe of the other, I have every reason to believe that it will
not be me."

They had finished their breakfast. M. de Tregars called his servant.

"Have you been for a carriage?" he asked.

"It is at the door, sir."

"Well, then, come along."

Maxence had the good sense not to over-estimate himself. Perfectly
convinced that he could accomplish nothing alone, he was firmly
resolved to trust blindly to Marius de Tregars.

He followed him, therefore; and it was only after the carriage had
started, that he ventured to ask,

"Where are we going?"

"Didn't you hear me," replied M. de Tregars, "order the driver to
take us to the court-house?"

"I beg your pardon; but what I wish to know is, what we are going
to do there?"

"You are going, my dear friend, to ask an audience of the judge who
has your father's case in charge, and deposit into his hands the
fifteen thousand francs you have in your pocket."

"What! You wish me to--"

"I think it better to place that money into the hands of justice,
which will appreciate the step, than into those of M. de Thaller,
who would not breathe a word about it. We are in a position where
nothing should be neglected; and that money may prove an indication."

But they had arrived. M. de Tregars guided Maxence through the
labyrinth of corridors of the building, until he came to a long
gallery, at the entrance of which an usher was seated reading a
newspaper