notary wants the house and we filch it from him, there are means by
which he can recover it; he can put himself into the skin of a
registered creditor. By the present legal system relating to
mortgages, when a house is sold at the request of creditors, if the
price obtained for it at auction is not enough to pay all debts, the
owners have the right to bid it in and hold it for a higher sum; now
the notary, seeing himself caught, may back out of the sale in that
way."

"Well," said la Peyrade, "it needs attention."

"Very good," replied Dutocq, "we'll go and see Cerizet."

These words, "go and see Cerizet," were overheard by Minard, who was
following the two associates; but they offered no meaning to his mind.
The two men were so outside of his own course and projects that he
heard them without listening to them.

"This has been one of the finest days in our lives," said Brigitte to
her brother, when she found herself alone with him in the deserted
salon, at half-past two in the morning. "What a distinction! to be
thus selected by your fellow-citizens!"

"Don't be mistaken about it, Brigitte; we owe it all, my child, to one
man."

"What man?"

"To our friend, la Peyrade."