He made no allusion to his neglected advice; he presented Bordin as an oracle whose counsel must be followed to the letter, and young de Grandville as a defender in whom the utmost confidence might be placed.
Laurence held out her hand to the kind old man, and pressed his with an eagerness which delighted him.
"You were right," she said.
"Will you now take my advice ?" he asked.
The young countess bowed her head in assent, as did Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre.
"Well, then, come to my house; it is in the middle of town, close to the courthouse.

You and your lawyers will be better off there than here, where you are crowded and too far from the field of battle.

Here, you would have to cross the town twice a day." Laurence, accepted, and the old man took her with Madame d'Hauteserre to his house, which became the home of the Cinq-Cygne household and the lawyers of the defence during the whole time the trial lasted.

After dinner, when the doors were closed, Bordin made Laurence relate every circumstance of the affair, entreating her to omit nothing, not the most trifling detail.

Though many of the facts had already been told to him and his young assistant by the marquis on their journey from Paris to Troyes, Bordin listened, his feet on the fender, without obtruding himself into the recital.