house in the Rue aux Ours, where I found Vauversin the barrister. No
sooner had I arrived than he went to business without any prefatory
remarks.

"The midwife," he said, "will call on you with a witness apparently with
the intention of maintaining to your face that you are her man; but she
won't be able to recognize you. She will then proceed with the witness to
the court, and will declare that she has made a mistake, and the criminal
lieutenant will forthwith put an end to the proceedings. You will thus be
certain of gaining your case against the lady's mother."

I thought the plan well conceived, and said that they would find me at
the Temple any day up to noon.

"But the midwife wants a hundred louis badly."

"You mean that the worthy woman rates her perjury at that price. Well,
never mind, I will pay the money, and you may trust to my word; but I
can't do so before she has taken oath to her mistake before the court."

"Very good, but you must first give me twenty-five louis to reimburse me
for my costs and fees."

"Certainly, if you will give me a formal receipt for the money."

He hesitated at first, but after talking it over the money proved too
strong a bait, and he wrote out the receipt and I gave him the
twenty-five louis. He thanked me, and said that though Madame X. C. V.
was his client, he would let me know confidentially how best to put a
stop to the proceedings. I thanked him with as much gratitude as if I had