"I have not received it. It will be sent to you at the proper time." "Good. Now may I give you a message I have for you?" "I am at your service." "Do you want to add to the scandal?" "What scandal?" "There is a third person mixed up in this affair." "Nobody knows her. I do not even know her name myself." "You are wrong. To-morrow that name will be on everybody's lips." "So much the worse." "Could we not, as is often done, agree upon another reason for separation? We will accept it in advance. We shall not try to defend." "You know very well that the judge does not admit such an obvious disguise of mutual consent, and besides M. Salvage would not be a party to any deception." "Suppose I saw Mme. Derize?" "Her lawyer tells me she does not wish to concern herself about it on any account." "Nevertheless I shall see her before the trial begins. Wait until to-morrow to draw up your petition. Do you agree?" Maître Tabourin made a weak gesture of protest: "You are unreasonable. The case must be begun." "Well, well," replied Philippe, "it won't run away from you. But now it is time for the opening of court. Come with me, I want to talk to you about one or two other cases." And they set out together for the court house. As soon as they were gone, the clerks began to deliberate again: "Did you notice M. Lagier's anxious face?" questioned Vitrolle. The romantic Malaunay hazarded: "He is in love with Mme. Derize and can't make up his mind to plead against her." The two others protested: "What do you know about it?" "One always loves the wife of one's best friend." The office boy's psychology was pessimistic. "For the time being he has set aside the petition," Vitrolle concluded. "It will not come up again," said the little man. "What do you bet?" cried Dauras and Lestaque in chorus. And they made bets on the Derize separation, as if it were a horse race. Malaunay alone bet the husband would win. So the inevitable chorus, with its laughter, accompanied the tragedy of three people, a tragedy which these men of law were about to record with the aid of a set formula and with the usual professional indifference. II THE FIRST JUDGES The Molay-Norrois lived on the Quai de la République on the first floor of a spacious apartment, whose eight windows looked out on the Isère. Because of the rapidity of the current and the continual variation of volume, the water of this river, flowing from the glaciers of the great Aiguille Rousse, sometimes shallow and sometimes overflowing, is not clear, but is undoubtedly fresh and cold. Above the bridge is a narrow section of the right bank, backed by the ramps of Mont Rachais and dominated by the fortress and the Monastery of Sainte-Marie-d'En-Haut. The mountains of Vercors on the left and the Saint-Eynard on the right complete the outline of a fairly wide horizon. One feels surrounded by plenty of space and splendid air.