"Is monsieur about to sell Gondreville?" asked the bailiff.

"Yes, Michu, yes. You will have a man of powerful influence for your
master. He is the friend of the First Consul, and very intimate with
all the ministers; he will protect you."

"Then you were holding the estate for him?"

"I don't say that," replied Marion. "At the time I bought it I was
looking for a place to put my money, and I invested in national
property as the best security. But it doesn't suit me to keep an
estate once belonging to a family in which my father was--"

"--a servant," said Michu, violently. "But you shall not sell it! I
want it; and I can pay for it."

"You?"

"Yes, I; seriously, in good gold,--eight hundred thousand francs."

"Eight hundred thousand francs!" exclaimed Marion. "Where did you get
them?"

"That's none of your business," replied Michu; then, softening his
tone, he added in a low voice: "My father-in-law saved the lives of
many persons."

"You are too late, Michu; the sale is made."

"You must put it off, monsieur!" cried the bailiff, seizing his master