present, I open the testament in his presence, as it has been ordered."

So saying, the notary drew from its envelope the will, which had been
previously opened by the President of the Tribunal, with the formalities
required by law. Father d'Aigrigny leaned forward, and resting his elbow
on the table, seemed to pant for breath. Gabriel prepared himself to
listen with more curiosity than interest. Rodin was seated at some
distance from the table, with his old hat between his knees, in the
bottom of which, half hidden by the folds of a shabby blue cotton
handkerchief, he had placed his watch. The attention of the socius was
divided between the least noise from without, and the slow evolution of
the hands of the watch, which he followed with his little, wrathful eye,
as if hastening their progress, so great was his impatience for the hour
of noon.

The notary, unfolding the sheet of parchment, read what follows, in the
midst of profound attention:

Hameau de Villetaneuse,

"'February 13th, 1682.

"'I am about to escape, by death, from the disgrace of the galleys, to
which the implacable enemies of my family have caused me to be condemned
as a relapsed heretic.

"'Moreover, life is too bitter for me since the death of my son, the
victim of a mysterious crime.

"'At nineteen years of age--poor henry!--and his murderers unknown--no,