“Luckily, we shall have plenty of time to talk over it, for our statesman lives at some distance.”

“In two words, here’s the mystery,” answered Adrienne.  “I told you what reasons I had to interest myself in that honest workman.  This morning he came to me in great grief, to inform me that he was compromised by some songs he had written (for he is a poet), and that, though innocent, he was threatened with an arrest; and if they put him into prison, his family, whose sole support he is, would die of hunger.  Therefore he came to beg me to procure bail for him, so that he might be left at liberty to work:  I promised immediately, thinking of your interest with the minister; for, as they were already in pursuit of the poor lad, I chose to conceal him in my residence, and you know how my aunt has twisted that action.  Now tell me, do you think, that, by means of your recommendation, the minister will grant me the freedom of this workman, bail being given for the same?”

“No doubt of it.  There will not be the shadow of a difficulty—­especially when you have explained the facts to him, with that eloquence of the heart which you possess in perfection.”

“Do you know, my dear Dr. Baleinier, why I have taken the resolution (which is perhaps a strange one) to ask you to accompany me to the minister’s?”

“Why, doubtless, to recommend your friend in a more effective manner.”

“Yes—­but also to put an end, by a decisive step, to the calumnies which my aunt will be sure to spread with regard to me, and which she has already, you know, had inserted in the report of the commissary of police.  I have preferred to address myself at once, frankly and openly, to a man placed in a high social position.  I will explain all to him, who will believe me, because truth has an accent of its own.”

“All this, my dear Mdlle.  Adrienne, is wisely planned.  You will, as the saw says, kill two birds with one stone—­or rather, you will obtain by one act of kindness two acts of justice; you will destroy a dangerous calumny, and restore a worthy youth to liberty.”

“Come,” said Adrienne, laughing, “thanks to this pleasing prospect, my light heart has returned.”

“How true that in life,” said the doctor, philosophically, “everything depends on the point of view.”

Adrienne was so completely ignorant of the forms of a constitutional government, and had so blind a confidence in the doctor, that she did not doubt for an instant what he told her.  She therefore resumed with joy:  “What happiness it will be! when I go to fetch the daughters of Marshal Simon, to be able to console this workman’s mother, who is now perhaps in a state of cruel anxiety, at not seeing her son return home!”

“Yes, you will have this pleasure,” said M. Baleinier, with a smile; “for we will solicit and intrigue to such purpose, that the good, mother may learn from you the release of her son before she even knows that he has been arrested.”