with a coolness and courage worthy of a member of a real parliament,
four personages were walking down one of the linden avenues which led
from the Avenue of Sighs. When they reached the square, they stopped
as if by common consent, and looked at the inhabitants of Arcis, who
were humming before the chateau like so many bees before returning to
their hives at night. The four promenaders were the whole ministerial
conclave of Arcis, namely: the sub-prefect, the _procureur-du-roi_,
his substitute, and the examining-judge, Monsieur Martener. The judge
of the court, Monsieur Michu, was, as we know already, a partisan of
the Elder Branch and a devoted adherent of the house of Cinq-Cygne.

"No, I don't understand the action of the government," repeated the
sub-prefect, Antonin Goulard, pointing to the groups which seemed to
be thickening. "At such an important crisis to leave me without
instructions!"

"In that you are like the rest of us," said Olivier Vinet, the
substitute, smiling.

"Why do you blame the government?" asked the _procureur-du-roi_,
Frederic Marest.

"The ministry is much embarrassed," remarked young Martener. "It knows
that this arrondissement belongs, in a certain way, to the Kellers,
and it is very desirous not to thwart them. It is forced to keep on
good terms with the only man who is comparable to Monsieur de
Talleyrand. It is not to the prefect, but to the Comte de Gondreville
that you ought to send the commissary of police."

"Meanwhile," said Frederic Marest, "the Opposition is bestirring