had he himself cast it from him? Just then some one ran against
him with more than usual violence. He looked up. It was an
acquaintance from the time when he and Alphonse had been in the
Credit Lyonnais.

"Ah, good-day, Monsieur Charles!" cried he, "It is long since we
met. Odd, too, that I should meet you to-day. I was just thinking
of you this morning."

"Why, may I ask?" said Charles, half absently.

"Well, you see, only to-day I saw up at the bank a paper--a bill
for thirty or forty thousand francs--bearing both your name and
that of Monsieur Alphonse. It astonished me, for I thought that
you two--hm!--had done with each other."

"No, we have not quite done with each other yet," said Charles
slowly.

He struggled with all his might to keep his face calm, and asked,
in as natural a tone as he could command, "When does the bill fall
due? I don't quite recollect."

"To-morrow or the day after, I think," answered the other, who was
a hard-worked business man, and was already in a hurry to be off.
"It was accepted by Monsieur Alphonse."

"I know that," said Charles; "but could you not manage to let ME
redeem the bill to-morrow? It is a courtesy--a favor I am anxious
to do."