After breakfast the attorney-general took Montcornet by the arm and led him to the Prefect's study.

When the general left that room after their conference, he wrote to his wife that he was starting for Paris and should be absent a week.

We shall see, after the execution of certain measures suggested by Baron Bourlac, the attorney-general, whether the secret advice he gave to Montcornet was wise, and whether in conforming to it the count and Les Aigues were enabled to escape the "Evil grudge." Some minds, eager for mere amusement, will complain that these various explanations are far too long; but we once more call attention to the fact that the historian of the manners, customs, and morals of his time must obey a law far more stringent than that imposed on the historian of mere facts.

He must show the probability of everything, even the truth; whereas, in the domain of history, properly so-called, the impossible must be accepted for the sole reason that it did happen.

The vicissitudes of social or private life are brought about by a crowd of little causes derived from a thousand conditions.