"My dear girl," answered Henri coldly, in a voice that trembled, "it seems to me that you are interfering in things that don't concern you. And you will allow me to say that for a young girl----" "Ah, you mean this is dirt that I ought to know nothing of; that is quite true, and I should never have known of it but for you." "Renee!" Henri approached his sister. He was in one of those white rages which are terrible to witness, and Renee was alarmed and stepped back. He took her by the arm and pointed to the door. "Go!" he said, and a moment later he saw her in the corridor, putting her hand against the wall for support. XXV "Go up, Henri," said M. Mauperin to his son, and then as Henri wanted his father to pass first M. Mauperin repeated, "No, go on up." Half an hour later father and son were coming downstairs again from the office of the Keeper of the Seals. "Well, you ought to be satisfied with me, Henri," observed M. Mauperin, whose face was very red. "I have done as you and your mother wished. You will have this name." "Father----" "All right, don't let us talk about it. Are you coming home with me?" he asked, buttoning his frock-coat with that military gesture with which old soldiers gird up their emotions. "No, father, I must ask you to let me leave you now. I have so many things to do to-day. I'll come to dinner to-morrow." "Good-bye, then, till to-morrow. You'd better come; your sister is not well." When the carriage had driven away with his father Henri drew himself up, looked at his watch, and with the brisk, easy step of a man who feels the wind of fortune behind him blowing him along, walked briskly towards the Rue de la Paix. At the corner of the Chaussee d'Antin he went into the Cafe Bignon, where some heavy-looking young men, suggestive of money and the provinces, were waiting for him. During luncheon the conversation turned on provincial cattle shows and competitions, and afterward, while smoking their cigars on the boulevards, the questions of the varied succession of crops, of drainage, and of liming were brought up, and there was a discussion on elections, the opinions of the various departments, and on the candidatures which had been planned, thought of, or attempted at the agricultural meetings.