"The police were on the alert. One night an old brother officer knocked at my friend's door. It was late; the veteran (he was a cripple, by the way, like myself,--strange coincidence!) was in bed. He came down in haste, when his servant woke, and told him that his old friend, wounded and bleeding, sought an asylum under his roof. The wound, however, was slight. The guest had been attacked and robbed on the road. The next morning the proper authority of the town was sent for. The plundered man described his loss,--some billets of five hundred francs in a pocketbook, on which was embroidered his name and coronet (he was a vicomte). The guest stayed to dinner. Late in the forenoon, the son looked in. The guest started to see him; my friend noticed his paleness. Shortly after, on pretence of faintness, the guest retired to his room, and sent for his host. 'My friend,' said he, 'can you do me a favor? Go to the magistrate and recall the evidence I have given.' "'Impossible,' said the host. 'What crotchet is this?' "The guest shuddered. 'Peste!' said he, 'I do not wish in my old age to be hard on others. Who knows how the robber may have been tempted, and who knows what relations he may have,--honest men, whom his crime would degrade forever! Good heavens! if detected, it is the galleys, the galleys!' "And what then? The robber knew what he braved. 'But did his father know it?' cried the guest. "A light broke upon my unhappy comrade in arms; he caught his friend by the hand: 'You turned pale at my son's sight,--where did you ever see him before? Speak!' "'Last night on the road to Paris. The mask slipped aside. Call back my evidence!' "'You are mistaken,' said my friend, calmly. 'I saw my son in his bed, and blessed him, before I went to my own.' "'I will believe you,' said the guest; 'and never shall my hasty suspicion pass my lips,--but call back the evidence.' "The guest returned to Paris before dusk. The father conversed with his son on the subject of his studies; he followed him to his room, waited till he was in bed, and was then about to retire, when the youth said, 'Father, you have forgotten your blessing.'