It is, indeed, an excellent plan to give a crust of bread to some poor devil whom one can turn, if necessary, into a valet or an accomplice.

So the banker dismissed Chaigneux, undertaking to do his business for him in the same way as he had undertaken to do Duthil's.

And he added that he would be pleased to see him on the morrow, and have a chat with him, as he might be able to help him in the matter of his daughter's marriage.
At this Chaigneux, scenting a loan, collapsed into the most lavish thanks.

"Ah! Monsieur le Baron, my life will not be long enough to enable me to repay such a debt of gratitude." As Duvillard turned round he was surprised to see Abbe Froment waiting in a corner of the ante-room.

Surely that one could not belong to the batch of _suspects_, although by the manner in which he was pretending to read a newspaper it seemed as if he were trying to hide some keen anxiety.