“Before our friend Desroches sent us off to protect our rights, he ought to have explained to us the means of doing so,” he exclaimed.

“So far as my poor head, which whirls at the thought of Philippe in prison,—­without tobacco, perhaps, and about to appear before the Court of Peers!—­leaves me any distinct memory,” returned Agathe, “I think young Desroches said we were to get evidence of undue influence, in case my brother has made a will in favor of that—­that—­woman.”

“He is good at that, Desroches is,” cried the painter.  “Bah! if we can make nothing of it I’ll get him to come himself.”

“Well, don’t let us trouble our heads uselessly,” said Agathe.  “When we get to Issoudun my godmother will tell us what to do.”

This conversation, which took place just after Madame Bridau and Joseph changed coaches at Orleans and entered the Sologne, is sufficient proof of the incapacity of the painter and his mother to play the part the inexorable Desroches had assigned to them.

In returning to Issoudun after thirty years’ absence, Agathe was about to find such changes in its manners and customs that it is necessary to sketch, in a few words, a picture of that town.  Without it, the reader would scarcely understand the heroism displayed by Madame Hochon in assisting her goddaughter, or the strange situation of Jean-Jacques Rouget.  Though Doctor Rouget had taught his son to regard Agathe in the light of a stranger, it was certainly a somewhat extraordinary thing that for thirty years a brother should have given no signs of life to a sister.  Such a silence was evidently caused by peculiar circumstances, and any other sister and nephew than Agathe and Joseph would long ago have inquired into them.  There is, moreover, a certain connection between the condition of the city of Issoudun and the interests of the Bridau family, which can only be seen as the story goes on.

CHAPTER VII

Issoudun, be it said without offence to Paris, is one of the oldest cities in France.  In spite of the historical assumption which makes the emperor Probus the Noah of the Gauls, Caesar speaks of the excellent wine of Champ-Fort ("de Campo Forti”) still one of the best vintages of Issoudun.  Rigord writes of this city in language which leaves no doubt as to its great population and its immense commerce.  But these testimonies both assign a much lesser age to the city than its ancient antiquity demands.  In fact, the excavations lately undertaken by a learned archaeologist of the place, Monsieur Armand Peremet, have brought to light, under the celebrated tower of Issoudun, a basilica of the fifth century, probably the only one in France.  This church preserves, in its very materials, the sign-manual of an anterior civilization; for its stones came from a Roman temple which stood on the same site.