M. Wyse becoming dissatisfied with the business, sold a portion of the stock, whereupon Mrs. Ronalds prosecuted him criminally. M. De Vallat was stony-hearted enough to throw every possible difficulty in the way of her demands for justice, and M. Wyse triumphed for a time, and sued M. De Sancy for selling rights, which he did not possess. His success was not, however, to be of long duration. Both M. De Sancy and Mrs. Ronalds had friends in high places, and M. De Vallat was recalled. The incidents of the agricultural adventures of Mrs. Ronalds and her partners for a moment seemed to obscure the graver matters at stake, and for a time even the _prépondérance naturelle_ was forgotten. The Baron de Billing was appointed to the vacant Consulate-Generalship, and came to Tunis irrevocably pledged to work out a Sancy-Ronalds policy with energy and zeal. M. De Billing joined his post in May 1874. The various judgments pronounced in the _affaire_ Wyse were made the subject of an appeal to Aix, and Mrs. Ronalds went thither in person to interest in the woes of the partnership Sancy-Ronalds the President of the court and the Cardinal Archbishop. Complete success attended her efforts, and on the 20th August the whole of the decrees issued in favour of M. Wyse were reversed. The time had now arrived for decided action at Tunis, and the annihilation of M. Wyse was intrusted to M. Elève-Consul Cassas, who has since distinguished himself by very nearly involving the Republic in a war with the Queen of Madagascar. Bonaparte Wyse was arrested and conducted through the streets to the public prison, and the _raison sociale_ Sancy-Ronalds reigned supreme. The Baroness de Billing now took the Tunisian question in hand; Mustapha Ben Ismael was accused of trespassing on the premises of the Saint Louis Memorial Chapel, and publicly insulted at a ball given at the French Consulate; and General Kheir-ed-din received letters of so menacing a character that he was obliged to refer them to the Duc Decazes. During the short reign of M. De Billing, M. Musalli was a candidate for employment in the Tunisian Foreign Office, and his wife became a conspicuous member of the Sancy- Ronalds party, which waged a deadly warfare against the faction Bonaparte-Wyse. During the autumn of 1874 M. Oscar Gay arrived at Tunis with an aggressive scheme in his pocket. While the Baroness de Billing was giving her attention to the weightier details of Tunisian politics, her husband and M. Musalli supported the plan for rebuilding Carthage, and once more utilising the Cothon or harbour of Rome’s ancient rival. The Bey, however, turned a deaf ear to their proposals, and M. Gay was forced to postpone his projects for a more convenient season.