On the last day of the year Jules bade farewell to his associates at the wool-house. Most of them regretted his departure, for before his sudden accession of dignity he had been well liked among them. The next morning, on the first day of his emancipation, when he went to the apartment in the _rue St. Honoré_, he found some pieces of silver there, the gift of his old comrades. He knew at once that the twins had started a subscription for him, and he felt ashamed of his treatment of them during his last weeks among them. He soon forgot about them, however, and was absorbed in the preparations for his new life. He had sold most of his furniture, save a few pieces that were so intimately associated with the memory of his mother that he could not part with them. For Madeleine this was a trying time; she performed her numerous duties, involving several journeys to the _rue St. Honoré_, with a look of bewilderment in her face, as if she could not adjust herself to the change that was about to take place in her life. Two days before the time chosen for their civil marriage, Jules was sitting alone with Blanche, beside the fireplace where he had passed most of his courtship. They had been making plans for Vienna, and Jules felt as if he were already at the head of a household. "Do you know," he said, glancing at the engagement ring on her left hand that sparkled in the firelight, "I haven't been able to make up my mind yet what to give you for a wedding present. I wish you'd tell me what you'd like. I want to give you something that will please you very much." She looked intently into the fireplace, and did not reply. "Isn't there something that you want especially?" Then Jules saw her face flush, and he went on quickly: "Ah, I know there is, but you're afraid to tell. Now, out with it. Is it a diamond brooch, or one of those queer little gold watches that women carry, set with jewels, or one of those bracelets that we saw in the shop in the _rue de la Paix_ the other day?" She began to laugh, and without turning her eyes toward him, she said:-- "You know I don't care for those things. But there--there is something--" "Well, out with it." "It isn't a--it isn't what you think--a present or anything like that; but it is something I should like to have you--something that would make me very happy." "Then tell me what it is," said Jules, impatiently. "What are you afraid of? Am I such an ogre?" For a moment she did not answer. Then she said timidly: "I wish you'd go to confession before we're married." He burst into a laugh that rang through the apartment. "Oh, is that all? So you're afraid to marry such a wicked person as I am till the Church has forgiven him and made him good again." She shook her head. "No, it isn't that, Jules. I don't believe you are wicked. I don't believe you ever were; but I should be so much happier if you would go to confession, and then before we're married in church we could go to communion together."