“Twelve louis.”

“You must come with me before the magistrate and deposit twelve louis, and from that moment you will be able to have him arrested.  Where is he staying?”

“In the same hotel as I am, but I do not wish to have him arrested there, so I will get him to the ‘Ste. Baume,’ and put him under arrest.  Here are the twelve louis caution-money, so you can get the magistrate’s order, and we will meet again to-morrow.”

“Give me his name, and yours also.”

I returned in haste to the “Treize Cantons,” and met the abbe, dressed up to the nines, and just about to go out.

“Follow me,” said I, “I am going to take you to Marcoline, and you shall have an explanation in her presence.”

“With pleasure.”

He got into a carriage with me, and I told the coachman to take us to the “Ste. Baume” inn.  When we got there, I told him to wait for me, that I was going to fetch Marcoline, and that I would return with her in a minute.

I got into the carriage again, and drove to the advocate, who gave the order for arrest to a policeman, who was to execute it.  I then returned to the “Treize Cantons” and put his belongings into a trunk, and had them transported to his new abode.

I found him under arrest, and talking to the astonished host, who could not understand what it was all about.  I told the landlord the mythical history of the abbe debt to me, and handed over the trunk, telling him that he had nothing to fear with regard to the bill, as I would take care that he should be well paid.

I then began my talk with the abbe, telling him that he must get ready to leave Marseilles the next day, and that I would pay for his journey to Paris; but that if he did not like to do so, I should leave him to his fate, and in three days he would be expelled from Marseilles.  The coward began to weep and said he would go to Paris.

“You must start for Lyons to-morrow, but you will first write me out an I O U for twelve louis.”

“Why?”

“Because I say so.  If you do so I will give you twelve louis and tear up the document before your face.”

“I have no choice in the matter.”

“You are right.”

When he had written the I O U, I went to take a place in the diligence for him, and the next morning I went with the advocate to withdraw the arrest and to take back the twelve louis, which I gave to my brother in the diligence, with a letter to M. Bono, whom I warned not to give him any money, and to send him on to Paris by the same diligence.  I then tore up his note of hand, and wished him a pleasant journey.

Thus I got rid of this foolish fellow, whom I saw again in Paris in a month’s time.

The day I had my brother arrested and before I went to dine with Madame d’Urfe I had an interview with Possano in the hope of discovering the reason of his ill humour.

“The reason is,” said he, “that I am sure you are going to lay hands on twenty or thirty thousand crowns in gold and diamonds, which the marchioness meant me to have.”