“You guessed right,” said du Portail. “That woman Lambert, being obliged to conceal the existence of her booty, and wanting to draw interest on her stolen property, must have taken it into her head to consult la Peyrade; his devout exterior may have recommended him to her. She probably gave him that money without taking a receipt. In what kind of money was Dutocq paid?” “In nineteen thousand-franc notes, and twelve of five-hundred francs.” “That’s precisely it,” said du Portail. “There can’t be the slightest doubt left. Now, what use do you expect to make of this information bearing upon Thuillier.” “I expect to put it into his head that la Peyrade, to whom he is going to give his goddaughter and heiress, is over head and ears in debt; that he makes enormous secret loans; and that in order to get out of his difficulties he means to gnaw the newspaper to the bone; and I shall insinuate that the position of a man so much in debt must be known to the public before long, and become a fatal blow to the candidate whose right hand he is.” “That’s not bad,” said du Portail; “but there’s another and even more conclusive use to be made of the discovery.” “Tell me, master; I’m listening,” said Cerizet. “Thuillier has not yet been able, has he, to explain to himself the reason of the seizure of the pamphlet?” “Yes, he has,” replied Cerizet. “La Peyrade was telling me only yesterday, by way of explaining Thuillier’s idiotic simplicity, that he had believed a most ridiculous bit of humbug. The ‘honest bourgeois’ is persuaded that the seizure was instigated by Monsieur Olivier Vinet, substitute to the procureur-general. The young man aspired for a moment to the hand of Mademoiselle Colleville, and the worthy Thuillier has been made to imagine that the seizure of his pamphlet was a revenge for the refusal.” “Good!” said du Portail; “to-morrow, as a preparation for the other version of which you are to be the organ, Thuillier shall receive from Monsieur Vinet a very sharp and decided denial of the abuse of power he foolishly gave ear to.” “Will he?” said Cerizet, with curiosity. “But another explanation must take its place,” continued du Portail; “you must assure Thuillier that he is the victim of police machinations. That is all the police is good for, you know,--machinations.” “I know that very well; I’ve made that affirmation scores of times when I was working for the republican newspapers and--”