be in fault if you imperilled their happiness.  It is only those who have neither home nor hearth, who have nothing to lose, who want to be shooting people.  Surely you don’t want to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them!  So stay quietly at home, you foolish fellow, sleep comfortably, eat well, make money, keep an easy conscience, and leave France to free herself of the Empire if the Empire annoys her.  France can get on very well without you.”

She laughed her bright melodious laugh as she finished; and Quenu was now altogether convinced.  Yes, she was right, after all; and she looked so charming, he thought, as she sat there on the edge of the bed, so trim, although it was so early, so bright, and so fresh in the dazzling whiteness of her linen.  As he listened to her his eyes fell on their portraits hanging on either side of the fireplace.  Yes, they were certainly honest folks; they had such a respectable, well-to-do air in their black clothes and their gilded frames!  The bedroom, too, looked as though it belonged to people of some account in the world.  The lace squares seemed to give a dignified appearance to the chairs; and the carpet, the curtains, and the vases decorated with painted landscapes—­all spoke of their exertions to get on in the world and their taste for comfort.  Thereupon he plunged yet further beneath the eider-down quilt, which kept him in a state of pleasant warmth.  He began to feel that he had risked losing all these things at Monsieur Lebigre’s—­his huge bed, his cosy room, and his business, on which his thoughts now dwelt with tender remorse.  And from Lisa, from the furniture, from all his cosy surroundings, he derived a sense of comfort which thrilled him with a delightful, overpowering charm.

“You foolish fellow!” said his wife, seeing that he was now quite conquered.  “A pretty business it was that you’d embarked upon; but you’d have had to reckon with Pauline and me, I can tell you!  And now don’t bother your head any more about the Government.  To begin with, all Governments are alike, and if we didn’t have this one, we should have another.  A Government is necessary.  But the one thing is to be able to live on, to spend one’s savings in peace and comfort when one grows old, and to know that one has gained one’s means honestly.”

Quenu nodded his head in acquiescence, and tried to commence a justification of his conduct.

“It was Gavard—­,” he began.

But Lisa’s face again assumed a serious expression, and she interrupted him sharply.

“No, it was not Gavard.  I know very well who it was; and it would be a great deal better if he would look after his own safety before compromising that of others.”

“Is it Florent you mean?” Quenu timidly inquired after a pause.

Lisa did not immediately reply.  She got up and went back to the secretaire, as if trying to restrain herself.

“Yes, it is Florent,” she said presently, in incisive tones.  “You know how patient I am.  I would bear almost anything rather than come between you and your brother.  The tie of relationship is a sacred thing.  But the cup is filled to overflowing now.  Since your brother came here things have been constantly getting worse and worse.  But now, I won’t say anything more; it is better that I shouldn’t.”