An honest deputy! ah, good heavens! yes, he would have liked to be one; but was he not perpetually "hard-up," ever in search of a hundred-franc note, and thus, perforce, a deputy for sale?
And withal he led such a pitiable life, so badgered by the women folk about him, that to satisfy their demands he would have picked up money no matter where or how.
"Just fancy, Monsieur le Baron, I have at last found a husband for my eldest girl.

It is the first bit of luck that I have ever had; there will only be three women left on my hands if it comes off.

But you can imagine what a disastrous impression such an article as that of this morning must create in the young man's family.

So I have come to see the Minister to beg him to give my future son-in-law a prefectoral secretaryship.

I have already promised him the post, and if I can secure it things may yet be arranged." He looked so terribly shabby and spoke in such a doleful voice that it occurred to Duvillard to do one of those good actions on which he ventured at times when they were likely to prove remunerative investments.