I replied: "It is all the same; you are nothing but a pig." And I took a
thousand francs which he gave me, to employ them as I thought best, but
as I did not care venturing to her uncle's house alone, I begged Rivet
to go with me, which he agreed to do, on the condition that we went
immediately, for he had some urgent business at La Rochelle that
afternoon. So two hours later we rang at the door of a nice country
house. A pretty girl came and opened the door to us, who was assuredly
the young lady in question, and I said to Rivet in a low voice:
"Confound it! I begin to understand Morin!"

The uncle, Monsieur Tonnelet subscribed to _The Fanal_, and a fervent
political co-religionist of ours, who received us with open arms and
congratulated us and wished us joy; he was delighted at having the two
editors in his house and Rivet whispered to me: "I think we shall be
able to arrange the matter of that _Pig of a Morin_ for him."

The niece had left the room, and I introduced the delicate object. I
waved the scepter of scandal before his eyes: I accentuated the
inevitable depreciation which the young lady would suffer if such an
affair got known, for nobody would believe in a simple kiss, and the
good man seemed undecided, but he could not make up his mind about
anything without his wife, who would not be in until late that evening,
but suddenly he uttered an exclamation of triumph: "Look here, I have an
excellent idea. I will keep you here to dine and sleep, and when my wife
comes home, I hope we shall be able to arrange matters."

Rivet resisted at first, but the wish to extricate that _Pig of a
Morin_, decided him, and we accepted the invitation, and so the uncle
got up radiant, called his niece, and proposed that we should take a
stroll in his grounds, saying: "We will leave serious matters until the