His recital finished, the abbe reflected long and earnestly.
"There is," said he, at the end of his meditations, "a clever maxim, which bears upon what I was saying to you some little while ago, and that is, that unless wicked ideas take root in a naturally depraved mind, human nature, in a right and wholesome state, revolts at crime.
Still, from an artificial civilization have originated wants, vices, and false tastes, which occasionally become so powerful as to stifle within us all good feelings, and ultimately to lead us into guilt and wickedness.

From this view of things, then, comes the axiom that if you visit to discover the author of any bad action, seek first to discover the person to whom the perpetration of that bad action could be in any way advantageous.

Now, to apply it in your case,--to whom could your disappearance have been serviceable ?" "To no one, by heaven! I was a very insignificant person." "Do not speak thus, for your reply evinces neither logic nor philosophy; everything is relative, my dear young friend, from the king who stands in the way of his successor, to the employee who keeps his rival out of a place.

Now, in the event of the king's death, his successor inherits a crown,--when the employee dies, the supernumerary steps into his shoes, and receives his salary of twelve thousand livres.

Well, these twelve thousand livres are his civil list, and are as essential to him as the twelve millions of a king.