Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/372

 Madame Goupil coming in. “So changed am I,” he said, “that I find a great deal of intelligence in my Cousin Crémière, I am training her; and so her daughter never talks any more about pistons. In fact, yesterday you see, she said that Monsieur Savinien’s dog was splendid aux arrêts—in confinement—: well then, I did not repeat this joke, however good it might be, and I immediately explained to her the difference between etre à l’arrêt—setting, of a dog—; en arrêt—couched as a lance—, and aux arrêts—in confinement—. And so, as you see, I am quite another man, and I would prevent any client from doing a dirty trick.”

“Then make haste,” said Bongrand. “See that I have that in an hour’s time, and the notary Goupil will have made up for some of the misdeeds of the head clerk.”

After having asked the Nemours doctor to lend him his horse and gig, the justice of the peace went to fetch the two accusing volumes, Ursule’s bond, and, armed with the extract from the inventory, he hastened to Fontainebleau to see the public prosecutor. Bongrand readily proved the purloining of the three bonds by some one of the heirs, and, subsequently, the guilt of Minoret.

“His behavior is explained,” said the public prosecutor.

As a measure of precaution, the magistrate forthwith wrote a stay for the treasury to the transfer of the three bonds, and instructed the justice of the peace to go and inquire into the proportion