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Before long I communed with the flora of the fields, as a man whom I met in after days at Grandlieu communed with his bees.

The house of Grandlieu requires of the dear boy an estate worth a million francs before securing for him the title of Marquis, and handing over to him that may-pole named Clotilde, by whose help he will rise to power.

"If you do not lose your head for ten minutes," Jacques Collin had said in his note, and Lucien by keeping cool would have gained all his desire. He might have paid his debt to Jacques Collin and have cut him adrift, have been rich, and have married Mademoiselle de Grandlieu.

Monsieur de Saint-Denis listened coldly and respectfully, amusing himself by studying this grand gentleman, by penetrating the tufa beneath the velvet cover, by scrutinizing this being, now and always absorbed in whist and in regard for the House of Grandlieu.

"All the Conciergerie must know that we have caught Jacques Collin. Well, I have come on purpose to tell you that this daring felon has in his possession the most compromising letters of Lucien's correspondence with Madame de Serizy, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, and Mademoiselle Clotilde de Grandlieu." "Are you sure of that?" asked Monsieur de Granville, his face full of pained surprise.

Destroy that picture, my sweetheart, wipe it out, never give it to any one unless, indeed, the gift might win back the heart of that walking, well-dressed maypole, that Clotilde de Grandlieu, who will make you black and blue in her sleep, her bones are so sharp. Yes, to that I consent, and then I shall still be of some use to you, as when I was alive.

The congratulations came from the four witnesses, and the men present; the tears were in the eyes of the Duchesse de Grandlieu and her daughter Clotilde, who both trembled under the weight of the same thought, "She is launched upon the sea of life! Poor Sabine! at the mercy of a man who does not marry entirely of his own free will."

The Vicomtesse de Grandlieu, be it said, was one of the greatest ladies in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, by reason of her fortune and her ancient name; and though it may seem improbable that a Paris attorney should speak so familiarly to her, or be so much at home in her house, the fact is nevertheless easily explained.

"You can set down the charges of the case among those you are in the habit of undertaking." Corentin bowed and went away. Henri de Lenoncourt, for whom Ferdinand de Grandlieu had a carriage brought out, went off forthwith to the King, whom he was privileged to see at all times in right of his office.

"Will you take a glass of eau sucree?" asked the Vicomtesse, interrupting Derville. "I should be glad of it." "But I can see nothing in this that can touch our concerns," said Mme. de Grandlieu, as she rang the bell. "Sardanapalus!" cried Derville, flinging out his favorite invocation.