To this man, the honour of Derues was an article of faith; he had not yet
ceased to wonder at the probity of this sainted person, and to doubt it
in the least was as good as suspecting his own.

"My dear friend," he said, "we all know what to think of you. I know you
well. Send to me tomorrow, and you shall have what goods you want, on
credit, for as long as is necessary. Now, evil tongue, what do you say
to that?"

"I say that you are as great a fool as the rest. Adieu, friend Derues;
go on as you have begun, and I shall be selling your 'sentence' some
day"; and dispersing the crowd with a few twirls of her right arm, she
passed on, crying--

"Sentence pronounced by the Parliament of Paris against John Robert
Cassel, accused and convicted of Fraudulent Bankruptcy!"

This accusation emanated from too insignificant a quarter to have any
effect on Derues' reputation. However resentful he may have been at the
time, he got over it in consequence of the reiterated marks of interest
shown by his neighbours and all the quarter on account of his supposed
ruin, and the hawker's attack passed out of his mind, or probably she
might have paid for her boldness with her life.

But this drunken woman had none the less uttered a prophetic word; it was
the grain of sand on which, later, he was to be shipwrecked.

"All passions," says La Bruyere,--"all passions are deceitful; they
disguise themselves as much as possible from the public eye; they hide