ou were called two years
since, and your defence in the case of Simeuse and Hauteserre had raised
you high in your profession."

"I had supposed that my interest in those unfortunate emigres had done
me no good."

"You are still very young," said the great man gravely. "But the High
Chancellor," he went on, after a pause, "was greatly pleased with you
this evening. Get a judgeship in the lower courts; we want men. The
nephew of a man in whom Cambaceres and I take great interest must not
remain in the background for lack of encouragement. Your uncle helped
us to tide over a very stormy season, and services of that kind are not
forgotten." The Minister sat silent for a few minutes. "Before long," he
went on, "I shall have three vacancies open in the Lower Courts and
in the Imperial Court in Paris. Come to see me, and take the place you
prefer. Till then work hard, but do not be seen at my receptions. In the
first place, I am overwhelmed with work; and besides that, your rivals
may suspect your purpose and do you harm with the patron. Cambaceres
and I, by not speaking a word to you this evening, have averted the
accusation of favoritism."

As the great man ceased speaking, the carriage drew up on the Quai des
Augustins; the young lawyer thanked his generous patron for the two
lifts he had conferred on him, and then knocked at his door pretty
loudly, for the bitter wind blew cold about his calves. At last the old
lodgekeeper pulled up the latch; and as the young man passed his window,
called out in a hoarse voice, "Monsieur Granville, here is a letter for
you."

The young man took the letter, and in spite of the cold, tried to
identify the writing by the gleam of a dull lamp fast dying out. "From
my father!" he exclaimed, as he took his bedroom candle, which the
porter at last had lighted. And he ran up to his room to read the
following epistle:--

"Set off by the next mail; and if you can get here soon enough,
your fortune is made. Mademoiselle Angelique Bontems has lost her
sister; she is now an only child; and, as we know, she does not
hate you. Madame Bontems can now leave her about forty thousand
francs a year, besides whatever she may give her when she marries.
I have prepared the way.

"Our friends will wonder to see a family of old nobility allying
itself to the Bontems; old Bontems was a red republican of the
deepest dye, owning large quantities of the nationalized land,
that he bought